20 Things You Didn’t Know About GoldenEye (1995)
3. “Ladies First.”
The Bond producers often strike a deal with car companies for their vehicles to feature in the Double-0 Seven movies for product placement purposes. However, the red Ferrari 355 that Xenia Onatopp drives in a daring race with Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 was only rented for the production.
Car chase stunts arranger, Rémy Julienne - who had worked on all of the Bond films released during the 1980s - fitted nails to the Ferrari’s tyres so that it would retain its grip on the road during the 360-degree skid that it performs when Xenia has to swerve out of the way of an oncoming tractor.
Unfortunately, one take of this scene led to a collision between the Aston Martin and the Ferrari, necessitating overnight repair work to the Italian sports car at a cost of $80,000.
Famke Janssen performed some of her own driving stunts, but one of her other stunts in the film went awry. During the sauna fight at the Grand Hotel Europe, she insisted that Pierce Brosnan run into her at full speed when Xenia tries to crush Bond’s ribcage between her thighs. Even though the walls of the set were padded, she broke a rib when he did so!