No Time to Die spoilers follow.
No Time to Die filmmakers brought on "seasoned" editors (and fans of the franchise) to deliver depth to the final scenes of Daniel Craig's last outing as Bond.
Editors Tom Cross (Oscar winner for Whiplash) and Elliot Graham (Academy Award nominee for Milk) sculpted the film as a "character-driven drama that has action", they explained in a recent chat with The Hollywood Reporter.
The duo understood they had to deliver the "thrilling action and suspense" that Bond fans expect while also "balancing the action with an emotional story".
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Particularly poignant are Bond's final moments, when he realises that he has come into contact with a biological weapon at the hands of villain Safin, and will not be able to see his loved ones again without infecting them. The camera purposefully lingers on Bond's face to allow time to see a breadth of emotions pass across the normally poker-faced spy.
"[We stay] on that shot long enough to see Daniel go through all those different emotional movements, first of confusion and then of shock," Cross said.
Still, Bond takes the opportunity to kill his nemesis, with Cross adding that it's done on autopilot – he doesn't even look at Safin as he shoots him – as his mind is elsewhere now with the realities of the end being near.
"[He kills him] with no vengeance in a way, really just matter-of-fact, because he's not even thinking about revenge. He's thinking about much deeper things.
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"[Daniel] wanted to create this character that was vulnerable, a real person [with] all of those vulnerabilities and that emotion and that pain – all that stuff is threaded from Casino Royale to No Time to Die."
No Time to Die is out now in UK and US cinemas. All the previous Bond movies are available on DVD or Blu-ray.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment The James Bond Collection 1-24 Blu-ray 2017
Titan Books (UK) No Time To Die: The Making of the Film by Mark Salisbury
MGM Skyfall
Lego James Bond™ Aston Martin DB5
MGM Casino Royale
MGM Everything or Nothing: The Untold Story of 007
MGM Spectre
Orion Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz (with original material by Ian Fleming)
MGM/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment James Bond - The Daniel Craig Collection 4-Pack DVD
Winning Moves James Bond Trivial Pursuit - 007 Edition
MGM/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment James Bond - The Daniel Craig Collection 4K UHD + BD Blu-ray 2019
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