Bond: no Italian licence to kill

Craig and Bellucci in the Eternal City

ROME – James Bond has set up shop in the Eternal City but villainous bureaucrats are foiling 007.

Filming for the latest instalment of the James Bond saga has moved to Rome. Spectre, the twenty-fourth film in the franchise, is due for release in November and will see Daniel Craig take the lead for the fourth time, starring alongside new Bond Girl Monica Bellucci.

Filming is expected to last five weeks in total and, thus far, a variety of scenes have been recorded across the city, ranging from a funeral scene at Eur's Museum of Roman Civilisation to a car chase along the banks of the Tiber. Sequences yet to be filmed in the Eternal City reportedly include a parachute jump onto the historic Ponte Sisto and a chase on Via Nomentana, the latter of which will involve Bond's new Aston Martin DB10.

Planning the Rome section of Spectre's production has not been a smooth process, however, as director Sam Mendes' plans to film at the famous Verano cemetery were vetoed by the Archconfraternity of the Departed, an ancient religious order historically responsible for providing burials for the poor. Similarly, the production team were denied permission to shoot a chase sequence at the Quattro Fontane crossroads amid concerns regarding the fragility of the four sixteenth-century baroque fountains.

Details of Spectre's plot are being kept under wraps but the official synopsis reads:

"A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE."