20 Things You Didn't Know About Die Another Day

17. “Luckily I Asked For It Shaken.”

Die Another Day
MGM/20th Century Fox

Prior to the scene in which James Bond and Jinx stow away in the landing gear of Gustav Graves’s Antonov An-124 Condor cargo plane in the film’s final act, Double-0 Seven was to have performed a similar daredevil act onboard a British Airways airliner on his return from Cuba.

As the aircraft approached Heathrow Airport, Bond - then a fugitive from MI6 - would have climbed down into the aircraft’s landing gear before dismounting directly onto the tarmac to bypass Customs.

This scene was shot in March 2002 in the British Airways engineering facilities at Heathrow Airport using a green screen and wind machines, but was cut from the final film for timing reasons.

Later, as he and Jinx climb aboard Graves’s taxiing Antonov in North Korea, Double-0 Seven was to have reassured her that he had done this before, but this was also cut for continuity reasons.

Nevertheless, both sequences still feature in Raymond Benson’s novelisation of the film, based on the original shooting script.

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.