Location Guide - Tomorrow Never Dies

The Khyber Pass James Bond is deployed to the snowy Khyber Pass that separates Pakistan from Afghanistan. Here he is providing eyes and ears for M and her opposite numbers at the Russian army and British navy. The strong-willed Admiral Roebuck intends to call an end to the terrorist's arms bazaar and authorises a missile strike on the locale. Bond has to work quickly to prevent the destruction of two Russian MiGs, armed with nuclear warheads - escaping in one of the fighter jets and destroying much of the merchandise himself.

Oxford & London, UK Called away from his linguistics lesson at Brasenose College of Oxford, Bond is summoned to M in London where he is briefed about a missing warship and the sabotaging of the Navy's GPS satellites. Briefed on the go, 007, M and Moneypenny race through the British capital, past the Museum of London. Bond is to investigate Elliott Carver, who is launching his global media network in Hamburg but who is also under suspicion for tampering with the Navy's GPS transmissions.

Hamburg, Germany Touching down in Fuhlsbüttel Airport, Bond is met by Q at and introduced to his new BMW, before checking into his Hotel and rigging a invitation to Carver's launch party. Here Bond stages a station break and returns to his hotel, the Atlantic Hotel, in St. Georg. An old flame, now going by the name Mrs. Paris Carver, invites herself into Bonds hotel room. Bond stages at break-in at Carver's printing press and after escaping with the GPS encoder, doubles back to his hotel room where Paris is dead and the villainous Doctor Kauffman has the same fate in store for 007.

Okinawa, Japan / Saigon, Vietnam Having escaped the Carver goons, Bond rendevous at the American base at Okinawa where an old ally, Jack Wade, arranges for Bond to HALO jump into the wreckage of his Navy's craft. Bond searches the Vietnamese waters and rendezvous with Wai Lin, a co-conspirator against Carver, Bond and the Chinese officer are captured by Elliot's efficient German henchman. A daring escape from Carver's new Saigon highrise and a high-octane Motorbike chase through downtown Saigon later, Bond and the efficient Wai Lin agree to join forces.

Halong Bay, Vietnam In a remote fishing village where the locals dare not go, General Chang and Elliot Carver have assembled a stealth boat from which Carver can orchestrate his newsworthy war. Bond and his girl take a Junk to the bay and proceed to board the stealth boat. Onboard, an almighty firefight ensues with Wai Lin captured and strapped to a pregnant missile.

Shooting Tomorrow Never Dies
Bond veteran Vic Armstrong lead a team of second unit and stunt men into the French Alps, where, at the Aérodrome de Courchevel, they captured the explosive pre-titles sequence. The snowy Pyrénées was home to the 007 team from 18th January 1997.

It would not be until Tuesday, April 1st that Roger Spottiswoode rolled cameras on the first unit of "Tomorrow Never Dies". They began their shoot for the 18th James Bond adventure at EON studios, located at Frogmore, Hertfordshire. The site was once Radlett Aerodrome but had been converted to a studio system for the purposes of capturing the 18th Bond adventure. Both Pinewood and Leavesden Studios (set up by the 007 team for "GoldenEye") were unavailable when EON Productions came to shoot this adventure.

Above: From the snowy peaks of the Khyber Pass [rarely are they seen with any snow at all] to the lavish colleges of Oxford.

On home turf, Somerset House (in central London) would stand in for the MI6 headquarters, where Bond is briefed by M, and RAF Lakenheath, a location which doubled for the US Far East post at Okinawa.

Shooting was disrupted when the location shoot planned in Vietnam had to be cancelled. The official line had it that the newly emerging Vietnamese cinema industry wasn't equipped to deal with a production on the scale of a Bond film. EON Productions had been applying for a visa for their cast and crew in order to shoot elements of the film in the Communist state, however, come May 1st, best laid plans fell through and alternate locations were required. The shoot at Lakenheath was brought forwards - with Brosnan and his co-star Joe Don Baker capturing scenes here in May 1997 - whilst the production office scrambled for a new locale. Stoke Poges, the site of Connery and Goldfinger's famous golf match in the 1960s was to be used once more by 007 - this time the clubrooms served as Bond's suite in Hamburg, where he and Paris spend the night.

Above: Bond is deployed to Germany after the MI6 chief suspects Carver of sabotaging the Navy's GPS readouts.

A suitable double for Saigon was found in Thailand. Here the first and second units rendezvoused to capture the frantic motorcycle chase at Mahogany Wharf, Bangkok. The crew left the city limits with all but the amazing helicopter jump in the can (this would be completed on the backlot of the studio at home) and moved to Phuket. The amazing backdrop would serve for Ha Long Bay and the surrounding villages. Just as when Roger Moore and his co-stars journeyed to Thailand for "The Man With The Golden Gun", Brosnan noted the humidity and the less-than-glamourous facilities of these remote outer islands.

Back in the UK, Brosnan and the second unit worked tirelessly at Brent Cross Shopping Centre of North West London to capture the high-speed BMW car park chase.

Above: Bond escapes the clutches of Carver's goon and high-tails it to the Far East where he finds an ally in Jack Wade.

One of the last locations to be visited by the 007 team was Hamburg itself, where a large portion of the film is set. The shooting here, however, was limited, with locations in the UK doubling for the German city. The Atlantic hotel exteriors, a car journey down Mönckebergstraße and a visit to the airport was about all that Spottiswoode and his team had time for. After this, production on Bond 18, which Brosnan candidly described as "like pulling teeth", came to a wrap.