20 Things You Didn’t Know About Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
14. “Keep Firing! We’ve Got To Slow Them Down!”
HMS Westminster (F237) was filmed in Portsmouth, Hampshire to represent Type 23 Royal Navy frigate, HMS Chester, whilst HMS Dryad, a training simulator in Fareham, Hampshire portrayed the operations rooms of HMS Chester, HMS Devonshire, and HMS Bedford.
Footage of naval frigates for distance and non-action shots was shot off the coast of Plymouth, Devon using vessels out of its Royal Naval Dockyard.
Action shots were captured using miniature vessels constructed by miniature effects supervisor, John Richardson and shipped out to Fox Baja Studios near Tijuana, Mexico where a special water tank had been constructed for Titanic. Richardson even constructed underwater seabeds for the miniature Devonshire to sink into.
The model of Carver’s stealth ship was built in sections at Pinewood Studios and shipped out to Mexico whilst the lethal sea drill (which was originally meant to recover gold bullion from the ocean floor) was built in Los Angeles, California.
Meanwhile, the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage was carved in two for filming: half of it became the hi-tech interior of Elliot Carver’s stealth ship, whilst the other half became the Devonshire’s sunken interior.