Spectre: 8 Things Sam Mendes Doesn't Want You To Know

8. Production Was Extremely Turbulent

Anyone looking for Hollywood gossip last year could have done a lot worse than the Sony leaks info dump. Revelations included the fact that studio heads like to make racist jokes about Barack Obama, and that Sony sometimes hate their own movies (not even Sony's producers liked The Interview or Aloha), but nestled in there was the insider news that the Spectre crew were having a rough time putting the latest Bond movie together.

For starters, the film's screenplay was originally apparently so unsatisfactory that Neal Purvis and Roger Wade - veterans of the franchise - plus an uncredited Jez Butterworth were called in to tweak Skyfall writer John Logan's script with just weeks to go before cameras rolled.

Then there was also the little/gargantuan problem of the budget, which topped Skyfall's $200 million price tag to reach an enormous $300 million. Frantic emails from the Sony leak reveal execs from various companies trying to figure out ways to cut the cost - one month before filming was set to begin.