James Bond and The Queen at the Olympics

Posted July 29th, 2012

James Bond was the star of this Friday's Olympic opening ceremonies, with Daniel Craig having the privilege of escorting the Queen to the Olympic stadium, in a pre-filmed sequence directed by Danny Boyle. Her guest appearance in the short film was actually the Queen's first ever acting role, a joint celebration of her 60 years of rein, and Bond's 50th anniversary in film.

The sequence featured 007 arriving at Buckingham Palace in a black taxi. Walking through the palace halls, past two Corgi dogs, he entered the Queen's study. The Queen, getting up from her writing desk, greeted Bond with her only line in the film, "Good evening, Mr. Bond".

The two got into a helicopter, and flew across London to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford. As they reached the stadium, a real helicopter appeared to complement the film with live action at the event. Two stuntmen jumped out of the helicopter with Union Jack parachutes, landing in the center of the stadium, and then the Queen appeared at her seat, to a lengthly round of applause.

Due to her age, the Queen only filmed the scenes in the Palace. When she entered the helicopter, it was actually actress Julia McKenzie, known for playing Agatha Cristie's Miss Marple. The two stunt parachutists were Gary Connery and Mark Sutton, who played the Queen and Bond respectively.

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