Long-awaited James Bond film ‘No Time to Die’ kicked off at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall after several failed release dates.
Gatekeepers News reports that the star actor, Daniel Craig who attended his last Bond outing on Tuesday, said “we don’t make it (the film) for ourselves, we make it for people to see in the cinema, and we’re going to watch it on a huge screen…which is exactly where Bond movies should be.”
Craig was joined on the red carpet by co-stars like Rami Malek, Lea Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris, director Cary Joji Fukunaga and musician Billie Eilish, whose title song, “No Time to Die,” has already won a Grammy.
From the royalty were Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles, who arrived last and were introduced to the cast just prior to the screening by Bond gatekeepers and Eon Production heads Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. They were then welcomed into the royal box by a 12-piece marching band onstage. The top brass from both MGM and Universal were also in attendance.
“This is amazing,” Daniel Craig said on the red carpet stage. “I really genuinely didn’t think we’d get here, but we are.”
Gatekeepers News reports that Tuesday’s world premiere is the biggest film premiere in the U.K in several years and since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. All guests were required to show negative COVID-19 tests before entering the venue, and guests were “strongly encouraged” to wear masks throughout, per the official invite.
‘No Time to Die’ faced unprecedented turbulence before coming into reality. Danny Boyle, who had originally been attached to direct, left with writer John Hodge due to “creative differences” in August 2018.
Fukunaga came on board a month later, with principal photography taking place from April to October 2019 and a release scheduled for April 2020, but was hindered by the outbreak of COVID-19. When MGM and Eon announced on March 4, 2020, with the marketing blitz already in full swing, that ‘No Time to Die’ was being postponed until November 2020. It was later postponed for the second time to April 2021 (a date that moved again in February 2021), U.K. cinema giant Cineworld closed its theatres indefinitely.
“I have a fear that halfway through No Time to Die, someone’s going to walk into the cinema screen, turn it off and announce it’s been delayed again,” a Twitter fan wrote.
