For three films, James Bond drove BMW — a product placement deal that made headlines in the mid-Nineties and still touches on three model pages of this website today. The English Wikipedia explicitly calls the Z8 appearance the “final part of a three-film product placement deal with BMW”.
The three company cars
| Film | Year | Car |
|---|---|---|
| GoldenEye | 1995 | BMW Z3 |
| Tomorrow Never Dies | 1997 | BMW 750iL |
| The World Is Not Enough | 1999 | BMW Z8 |
GoldenEye: The Roadster Ahead of Its Market Launch
The Z3 appeared in GoldenEye before it was properly available at dealers — a coup that led to its own special series in the US: Neiman Marcus produced a James Bond Edition in Atlanta Blue. 20 units were planned, but demand pushed that to 100.
Tomorrow Never Dies: The Remote-Controlled State Sedan
The 750iL delivered the most famous parking garage scene in film history in 1997: Bond steers the sedan from the back seat using an Ericsson phone. The trick on set: a modified 750i with a steering wheel in the rear. The sequence took three weeks to film, with the Brent Cross car park in London standing in for Hamburg.
The World Is Not Enough: The Z8 Before the Z8
With the Z8 the film was ahead of the factory: filming took place months before the market launch, which is why several drivable mock-ups and models were built. The production car was subsequently built in Munich at the specially set up Z8 Manufaktur — by hand, as befits a film car with a double life. The deal ended with this appearance; Bond subsequently returned to Aston Martin.
Sources: Wikipedia (EN): The World Is Not Enough (three-film deal, mock-ups), Tomorrow Never Dies (remote control, Brent Cross, filming duration), BMW Z3 (Neiman Marcus Edition); BMW PressClub (Z8 Manufaktur). Photo: Thesupermat (CC BY-SA 3.0), Wikimedia Commons — Z8 from 2001.
Bildnachweise
- Lizenziert · Thesupermat · CC BY-SA 3.0