New James Bond to be filmed in SA

Cape Town – It’s official. Production on the new Bond film will be moved from India to South Africa, reports Cover Media.

Frustrating battles with red tape drove production on Bond 23 away after the film’s producers reportedly asked that sections of a railroad in both Ahmedabad and Goa be cordoned off in order to film a massive action sequence.

Speculation suggested that the local Indian government was reluctant to allow EON Productions to shoot the action-packed movie, and a back-up plan of shooting in South Africa was kept on hold should an agreement not be reached.

Despite India Railways’ claim that permission was granted to shoot on site, India Take One Productions have announced to The Times of India newspaper that an official EON note had scrapped plans to continue filming in India.

Daniel Craig

Executive director of Indian Railways Chandralekha Mukherjee said the following regarding the matter:

"We’d given them all the permissions. They wanted to shoot between Mumbai and Goa on the hero train, and wanted a special shot where a motorcycle from a bridge would jump on to a train, and the coach on which he’d jump needed to be re-enforced, and we agreed," he said.

"The matter was finalised by 13 September. But a week later, we were informed that after an international discussion, the production team decided not to shoot in India. We’ve been very cooperative with them. We had ourselves hoped that the movie would be shot here."

The as-yet-untitled 23rd Bond film will see British actor Daniel Craig reprise the role of the famous MI6 agent and superspy for the third time since his debut in Casino Royale in 2006. Quantum of Solace followed in 2008.

The film will be the first action project for award winning director Sam Mendes, and is set for release in November 2012.