20 Things You Didn't Know About SPECTRE (2015)
12. “A Place Without Mercy.”
SPECTRE is the first Bond film to feature Rome, Italy, despite a fleeting mention of The Eternal City in Live And Let Die (1973).
The focal point of the Roman scenes (and their finale) is the car chase between Bond’s custom-built Aston Martin DB10 and the Jaguar C-X75 driven by SPECTRE assassin, Mr Hinx (Dave Bautista).
The sequence was run with military precision, as the filmmakers were concerned for the safety of the crew members performing it and for the buildings surrounding the chase, many of which were thousands of years old.
Special effects supervisor, Chris Corbould clocked the vehicles' travelling speeds at around 100 miles per hour, so it was understandable that the local authorities dictated which streets the stunt team could use. Even though recognisable locations such as the Colosseum, a section of road in front of Vatican City, and a further stretch alongside the Tiber were secured, stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell was very concerned that one of the cars might skid right into The Vatican.
Seven cars were totalled during the chase - a worrying number as only 10 Aston Martin DB10s were ever built and all of them were allocated to the film.
SPECTRE’s total car budget was an eyebrow-raising £24 million.