Plowing the mind: London - Daniel Craig Day

We weren't sure we'd be able to go on the Bond set until I got a call from Rob at 9:30 this morning. Since this was the very same Rob who had put in an 18 hour day the day before and had left for the shoot this morning at 6, I didn't know if he was delirious or not when he gave us the ok. I called Jana who was still asleep and told her we're on. Jana had already cancelled a visit to her sister's for today due to the off chance we could go on set and the off-off-off chance we might see a flash of Daniel Craig. She said she'd been looking to add more men in her life after her husband Richard passed away and Daniel just might fit the bill. So we planned to meet at the Knightsbridge Tube stop and then travel together by train to Bedford.

Right before she left her home, she got a call from her daughter-in-law asking her to babysit Flynn, her grandson, who was home ill from school. "Sorry," said Jana, "I'm off to see James Bond!" "Good luck with that, Grandma," said Flynn with a sigh, much to Jana's dismay. Somehow she managed to overcome her concern that she could be turned in by the authorities for choosing Bond over her own grandson, and on we went.

We took a train to Bedford and then took a taxi to the middle of nowhere, where this 1950's military-test-facility-turned-bodyflight-facility loomed above the fields. We were escorted inside to find this guy:

It turns out that anyone who was going to be in the viewing area of the wind tunnel had to wear the bodyflight suits, so that nothing on their clothing could become dislodged and caught up in the wind and thus hurt Daniel or Olga. With all the bodysuits and monitors and cables, we felt as if we'd stepped into some really awful science fiction movie. Here are the three of us. (And contrary to appearances, I had not been in the wind tunnel earlier in the day...)

The eight Dalsa cameras were behaving admirably and Jana and I could watch the monitors to see Daniel and the stunt girl hovering in mid air. In the 170 mph wind, their skin would ripple and flap as if made of water. It was especially amazing to watch the stunt girl, as she was wearing a dress and heels (!!!) and was as toned as a girl could be. And still, her legs flapped. Jana and I decided our bodies did enough flapping already, so we didn't need to go inside.

Daniel and Olga have been training since November for this one day of shooting which will probably be on the screen for 10 seconds. They wear special contact lenses to protect their eyes, and special ear plugs to protect their ear drums. Daniel was wearing a suit with little green dots on it so that the CGI people could later map him on their computers and complete the special effects. I thought the little green dots looked cute against the red blood on the front of his shirt.

I wasn't sure we were going to see Mr. Bond in person, but you can only stay in a wind tunnel for so long and you've got to come out and have the makeup guy put visine in your eyes. So Jana and I positioned ourselves strategically so that he had no choice but to walk past us when he came out. Jana, being the sensitive and loving person she is, wanted to be there to offer to massage his bruises, were he to require such services. I think she said something about licking them too, but I will leave it to her to explain that further.

Here he is walking past Jana who is trying to catch his eye.... (I had to hold the camera in my lap as I wasn't authorized to take pictures of the actors.) She couldn't decide whether or not to take her glasses off so she would look more alluring, or leave them on so she could actually see him when he walked by. She chose to keep the glasses on.