Ever since the Bond car chase sequence in Goldfinger was shot in
the Furka Pass in 1964, Aston Martins and Swiss mountains have
been visually tied. Snow and James Bond have also been regular
bed fellows. To take a still that plays to a Bond vibe is risky as any
shortcomings will be ridiculed by devotees. There needs to be a
strong concept and a strong execution. This lay-by at the top of
the Bernina Pass, one of the great stretches of mountain road in
Europe, connects St. Moritz with the Italian-speaking Val Poschiavo,
in the Italian town of Tirano.
I sourced a DB5 from a collector in Zurich and with great care
it was positioned by the roadside at dawn. My fellow Scot, Sean
Connery, is sadly no longer with us, but I felt I could tell enough of
a Bond story without him, I would just leave the viewer to interpret
the scene. Erica Lawrence is a good friend and so happy to play
this kind of role. I wanted glamour and sex appeal to the point of
parody. After all, we are 15 minutes from St. Moritz, and we have a
Bond car – how could there be any other narrative?