The new James Bond movie, Skyfall, would have never been made if it wasn’t for one controversial choice: James Bond had to drink Heineken instead of martinis.
Skyfall suffered several setbacks during its creation. In 2010, production on the movie was suspended due to financial troubles at MGM. With sparse funds, the producers had to make a few tough decisions. According to Craig, one of those decisions was to replace James Bond’s famous shaken martini with a nice cold Heineken.
Craig said:
“A movie like this costs $118 million to make – it’s the nature of it, the size of the movie. And it costs another $200 million to sell it. So the $200 million has to come from somewhere. Product placement, whichever way you look at it, whether you like it or you think it’s disgusting or whatever, it’s what it is. Heineken gave us a ton of money for there to be Heineken in a shot in a bar… Without them, the movie couldn’t get sold.”
Craig also said that drinking a beer isn’t out of place for James Bond. The super spy may prefer a shaken martini, but, according to Craig, a man under so much pressure will drink just about anything.
Craig said:
“He likes a lot of drinks – Heineken, Champagne. It’s all in there.”
What do you think? Should Heineken be praised for saving Skyfall ? Or should the new movie be condemned for screwing with tradition.
Here’s a new Heineken commercial featuring 007.