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  1. Spirit Yachts Bonds With 007 In Casino Royale

    By Devin Zydel on 2006-11-23

    007 bonded with Spirit Yachts, an Ipswich-based company managed by boatbuilder Mick Newman during the making of Casino Royale–reports EADT 24.

    The 54ft yacht Spirit was used for the newest James Bond film and Mick, his wife Wiss and son Will were also on hand to double for the stars of the film.

    ‘It was a wonderful experience and totally unexpected,’ said Newman. ‘The whole thing took about four-and-a-half months from start to finish.’

    ‘It was just so unreal. I remember the day we arrived on set. A lovely Italian make-up lady appeared whisked Wiss away and an hour later I saw her walking back with this glamorous looking woman who looked vaguely familiar–then I realised that it was my wife. We’ve been married for 25 years so I would have been in trouble if I hadn’t recognised her.’

    According to Newman, their involvement in Casino Royale began ‘with a phone call from production manager Richard Carless who said he wanted to borrow one of our yachts for the new Bond film. I said that we preferred to sell them and if he was going blow them up then some our owners were a bit funny about that sort of thing. But he assured us that this was to be Bond’s yacht and would be required for two scenes one in the Bahamas and one in Venice and would we sail it for them? It sounded great.’

    ‘I was very pleased that the yacht and even the name of the yacht was given such a high profile in Casino Royale,’ he says. ‘The Venice scenes looked spectacular and we feel very proud to be involved in such a high profile film. For us it was even better to be chosen as James Bond’s preferred method of transport. That puts us alongside such leading brands as Aston Martin.’

    Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest Casino Royale coverage.

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