It had been strongly rumoured for several months that Daniel Craig would appear in a short film alongside the Queen that would be screened at the opening of the London Olympics. While many of the rumours turned out to be spot on, the film turned out to be rather surreal in many respects.
James Bond arrives at Buckingham Palace in a Black Cab: check; 007 walks with Corgis: check; A helicopter takes him to the Olympic Stadium: check; Daniel Craig parachutes into the stadium revealing a Union Jack canopy; well, kind of.
However, there were several elements that made this film truly weird. The Queen joins 007 in the helicopter; the flight is clearly shot in daylight, but arrives at a night time Olympic stadium (bit of a continuity error there methinks); and the Queen appears to jump from the chopper and parachute in too!
Furthermore, a statue of Sir Winston Churchill comes to life and salutes the helicopter; surely Bond should double take at this point and look at his vodka martini.
And despite watching the video live and the footage above, I still can’t work out if anyone actually parachuted into the stadium. You don’t see anyone land (unless I’m looking in the wrong place) but suddenly the Queen emerges into the stadium.
Truly weird, and in my opinion a mistake.
