Development , director of
No Time to Die Development of
No Time to Die began in February 2016. In March 2017, screenwriters
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade—who have worked on every
Bond film since
The World Is Not Enough (1999)—were approached to write the script by producers
Barbara Broccoli and
Michael G. Wilson. Purvis and Wade mapped out the story for the film in 2017.
Sam Mendes stated that he would not return after directing
Skyfall and
Spectre.
Christopher Nolan ruled himself out to direct. By July 2017,
Yann Demange,
David Mackenzie and
Denis Villeneuve (who was later announced as the director of the upcoming 26th
Bond film in June 2025) were courted to direct. In December 2017, Villeneuve decided against the role due to his commitments to the first
Dune film from 2021. In February 2018,
Danny Boyle was established as a frontrunner for the directing position. Boyle's original
pitch to Broccoli and Wilson saw
John Hodge writing a screenplay based on Boyle's idea with Purvis and Wade's version scrapped. Hodge's draft was greenlit, and Boyle was confirmed to direct with a production start date of December 2018. However, Boyle and Hodge left in August 2018 due to creative differences. It was reported at the time that Boyle's exit was due to the casting of
Tomasz Kot as the lead villain; however, Boyle later confirmed the dispute was over the script. The release date became contingent on whether the studio could find a replacement for Boyle within sixty days.
Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced as the new director in September 2018. Fukunaga became the first American to direct an
Eon Productions Bond film and the first director to receive a writing credit for any version. Fukunaga had been considered for
Spectre before Mendes was hired, and afterwards had expressed an interest to Broccoli and Wilson about directing a future
Bond film. Purvis and Wade were brought back to start working on a new script with Fukunaga in September 2018.
Casino Royale and
Quantum of Solace screenwriter
Paul Haggis turned in an uncredited rewrite in November 2018, with
Scott Z. Burns doing the same in February 2019. At
Daniel Craig's request,
Phoebe Waller-Bridge provided a script polish in April 2019. Waller-Bridge is the second female screenwriter credited with writing a
Bond film after
Johanna Harwood co-wrote
Dr. No and
From Russia with Love. Barbara Broccoli was questioned about the
MeToo movement at the
Bond 25 launch event, where she stated that Bond's attitude towards women would move with the times and the films should reflect that. Some concepts changed during development with Fukunaga. An early unrealised idea he considered was to have seen the film take place "inside Bond's head", while being tortured by Blofeld in
Spectre, up until the end of act two of a
three-act structure. Originally, Safin, the villain, and his henchman would wear masks based on Siberian bear-hunting armour. The henchman character was written out before filming, and Fukunaga requested changes to Safin's costume. A new mask based on
Noh, a Japanese style of theatre, was introduced as Fukunaga felt that the original mask was dominating the costume. Paloma's costume, a navy
Michael Lo Sordo gown, was chosen by costume designer
Suttirat Anne Larlarb to enable the character to fight alongside Bond while still being dressed elegantly and formally for the
black tie event in the plot. The film entered production under the working title of
Bond 25. The title
No Time to Die was announced on 20 August 2019. Broccoli said: "We were struggling to find a title. We wanted a title that wouldn't give away anything but would be understandable, and after you see the movie, have a deeper resonance, because that's often what Fleming titles are all about."
Writing When Boyle was hired, he pitched the film to take place in present-day Russia and explore Bond's origins; he left the production after Broccoli and Wilson "lost confidence" in the idea. During Boyle's time, a leaked casting sheet described the male leading role as a "cold and charismatic Russian" and the female leading role as a "witty and skillful survivor". Production also sought male supporting roles of
Māori descent with "advanced combat skills". The idea of Bond having a child was introduced by Hodge and retained for the final script. The character of Paloma was made more significant from originally being a simple contact; Purvis and Wade indicated this was probably written by Waller-Bridge at Fukunaga's request. Wilson said it was "the fitting way to deal with a situation where a person is risking their life all the time. Eventually, the odds catch up with you."
Casting After
Spectre, there was speculation that it would be Craig's final
Bond film. Immediately after the film's release, Craig had complained about the rigours of performing the part, saying he would rather "slash [his] wrists" than play Bond again. In May 2016, it was reported that Craig had received a $100 million offer from
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to do two more
Bond films, but turned it down. In October 2016, Craig denied having made a decision but praised his time in the role, describing it as "the best job in the world doing Bond". He further denied that $150 million was offered to him for the next two instalments. Eventually, Craig was paid $25 million for his involvement. In August 2017, on
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Craig said that the next film would mark his final appearance as Bond. His position was reaffirmed between November 2019 and March 2020. Craig later acknowledged that the physicality of the part had deterred him from returning, as he had sustained injuries when making earlier
Bond films. In December 2018, Fukunaga said that
Ben Whishaw,
Naomie Harris and
Ralph Fiennes would all be reprising their roles in the film. Fukunaga also said that
Léa Seydoux would be reprising her role as Madeleine Swann, making her the first female lead to appear in successive
Bond films. Wright makes his third appearance in the series after
Casino Royale and
Quantum of Solace and becomes the first actor to play Leiter three times.
Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah,
David Dencik,
Lashana Lynch,
Billy Magnussen and
Rami Malek were announced as cast members in a live stream, at
Ian Fleming's
Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. The event was on 25 April 2019 and marked the official start of production. The film is the second to unite de Armas with Craig, after
Knives Out (filmed in 2018). Malek was further announced as playing Safin,
the film's villain, and the actor revealed in an interview that his character would not be connected to any religion or ideology. After the release of
Spectre it was reported that
Christoph Waltz had signed on to return as Blofeld for further
Bond films, on the condition that Craig returned as Bond. Despite Craig's definite casting as Bond, Waltz announced in October 2017 that he would not return as Blofeld, but did not give a reason for his departure. Waltz's casting as Blofeld in
No Time to Die was not announced at the press launch but was revealed in the
trailer in December 2019.
Filming Production was scheduled to begin on 3 December 2018 at
Pinewood Studios, but filming was delayed until April 2019 after Boyle's departure. The film is the first in the series to have sequences shot with 65mm
IMAX film cameras. Fukunaga and Sandgren pushed for using film over digital to enhance the look of the film. while B25 Limited, Eon's subsidiary company created for the film's production, reported a total production cost of £214 million. Filming locations included Italy, Jamaica, Norway, the Faroe Islands and London, in addition to Pinewood Studios. On 28 April 2019,
principal photography officially began in Jamaica, including
Port Antonio. In May 2019, Craig sustained an ankle injury while filming in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. In June 2019, production was further interrupted when a controlled explosion damaged the
007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries. Also in June 2019, production went back to Norway to shoot a driving sequence along the
Atlantic Ocean Road featuring an
Aston Martin V8 Vantage.
Aston Martin also confirmed that the
DB5,
DBS Superleggera, and
Valhalla models would feature in the film. Production then moved to the UK. Scenes featuring Craig, Fiennes, Harris and Kinnear were filmed around London, including
Whitehall,
Senate House and
Hammersmith. In July 2019, filming took place in the town of
Aviemore and in the surrounding
Cairngorms National Park area. Some scenes were also shot at the
Ardverikie House Estate and on the banks of
Loch Laggan, just outside the park. The forest scene was filmed in Buttersteep Forest in
Windsor Great Park. In late August 2019, the second unit moved to southern Italy where they began to shoot a chase sequence involving an Aston Martin DB5 through the streets of
Matera, including a
doughnut in
Piazza San Giovanni Battista. In early September 2019, the main production unit, Craig and
Léa Seydoux arrived to film scenes inside several production-built sets, as well as further sequences in
Maratea and
Gravina in Puglia. Scenes were shot in the town of
Sapri in southern Italy throughout September. Locations included the town's "midnight canal" and
railway station. The city is referred to as "Civita Lucana" in the film. In late September 2019, scenes were filmed in the Faroe Islands. The
Ministry of Defence confirmed that filming took place around the
Royal Navy destroyer
HMS Dragon and a
Royal Air Force C-17 aircraft, at
RAF Brize Norton. No weapons were fired. The
British Army's
Household Cavalry unit was also filmed. Filming of an action sequence with a
seaplane took place at
CMA CGM's
Kingston Container Terminal in Jamaica. Whishaw praised Fukunaga's directing work, saying "It was great and you know what was amazing is that he treated it, or was able to approach it, it felt to me almost as if it were an independent film. You know? And it was quite improvisational... we didn't do many takes". He added, "It was very light. Sometimes quite chaotic, but I'm very excited to see how he's constructed the final film". Principal photography wrapped up on 25 October 2019 at Pinewood Studios with the filming of a chase sequence set in
Havana, Cuba. Production had intended to shoot the sequence earlier, but was forced to reschedule when Craig injured his ankle in Jamaica. Further
pick-up shots at Pinewood were confirmed by Fukunaga on 20 December 2019.
Post-production Visual effects for
No Time to Die were created by
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),
Framestore,
DNEG, and
Cinesite. Charlie Noble was the visual effects supervisor. Post-production concluded without further changes, as the film's release date was delayed.
Music In July 2019,
Dan Romer was announced as composer for the film's score, having previously worked with Fukunaga on
Beasts of No Nation and
Maniac. Romer left the film due to creative differences in November 2019.
Hans Zimmer replaced Romer by January 2020. It is the first time in the
Bond series history that a composer has been replaced during post-production, and the second major personnel change for the film after Boyle's departure. Steve Mazzaro produced the score, while
Johnny Marr played guitar. The
No Time to Die score album was set to be released through
Decca Records in March 2020 but was delayed to 1 October 2021 to coincide with the release of the film. In January 2020,
Billie Eilish was announced as the performer of the film's
theme song, with her brother,
Finneas O'Connell, serving as co-writer as well as the track's producer. The song, which
has the same title, was released on 13 February 2020. At the age of 18, Eilish is the youngest artist to record a Bond theme song. The song's music video was subsequently released on 1 October 2020. Despite the film's delay, the song was nominated for and won the
Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the
63rd Annual Grammy Awards, on 14 March 2021, six months before the film's release date, because the song itself was released during the 2019–20 eligibility period, in anticipation of the film's original April 2020 release date. The song "
Dans la ville endormie" by French singer
Dalida is heard briefly in the opening scene.
Louis Armstrong's version of "
We Have All the Time in the World", composed by
John Barry with lyrics by
Hal David, is a recurring theme included three times within the score and originally appeared in ''
On Her Majesty's Secret Service'', recalling both love and loss experienced by Bond following a similar poignancy in this film. The track is played in full during the
closing credits. == Release ==