20 Things You Didn't Know About SPECTRE (2015)

14. "Well, It's All A Matter Of Perspective."

Spectre Drill Torture
MGM/Columbia Pictures

SPECTRE’s headquarters were depicted by Gara Medouar, an erosion crater near Erfoud, Morocco, which had previously appeared as Hamunaptra, the Egyptian City of the Dead in The Mummy (1999), starring Daniel Craig’s wife, Rachel Weisz.

The filmmakers built the compound outside the rock formation to avoid damaging it, whilst Blofeld’s post-modern house was a villa named Dar Bianca designed by Algerian architect, Imaad Rahmouni in Marrakesh, overlooking the Atlas Mountains.

The scene where Bond’s exploding Omega Seamaster 300 wristwatch starts a chain of destruction that levels the facility was filmed in the desert outside Gara Medouar and later enhanced with CGI.

Special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould and his team used 33 kilograms of powder explosives and 8,418 litres of kerosene - equivalent to 68 metric tonnes of TNT - to create the blast. The explosion lasted for 7.5 seconds onscreen, was the biggest that Corbould had worked on in his career, and earned the film a Guinness World Record for the largest movie stunt explosion ever.

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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.