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How Bond climax finds its emotional core

Daniel Craig as James Bond stands at cliff's edge overlooking the sea.
A raw and vulnerable Daniel Craig as James Bond at the climax of “No Time to Die.”
(DANJAQ and MGM)
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Helmed by director Cary Joji Fukunaga and strikingly photographed by cinematographer Linus Sandgren, “No Time to Die” marks the end of an era as 007 (Daniel Craig) finds himself making the ultimate sacrifice to save the ones he loves in a jaw-dropping climax set against a painterly sky. As Bond says goodbye, his emotions are visually romanticized by an impressionistic color palette subliminally connecting us to the tear-jerking moment. “We were fortunate to have a script that had more of a heartbreaking story line that helped us be more expressive with the visuals,” Sandgren tells The Envelope. “We took realistic color temperatures from the world and emphasized them to make it feel more expressive.”
The cinematographer took a “less is more” approach in framing the melancholy journey rife with adventure, comedy and love while underlining the emotional arc in each scene. For its climax, Sandgren says, “there are raw feelings in there. A word for Bond could have been ‘rawmantic.’ It’s a combination of how he is so naked and raw as a character at the same time it’s sort of romantic.”

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