Bond's "Casino" on Fire!

Blace breaks out at soundstage where latest James Bond adventure was filmed; no one injured

By Josh Grossberg Jul 31, 2006 9:00 PMTags

James Bond's haunt went up in flames on Sunday, but in typical 007 fashion, the superspy remained unscathed.

A blaze ripped through the set of the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale at Pinewood Shepperton Studios, just west of London. No one was hurt.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the fire that severely damaged the soundstage housing sets for the 21st 007 installment, and the first one featuring new Bond Daniel Craig, but this has SPECTRE written all over it.

Per British media accounts, the flames came into contact with flammable gas canisters that ignited, sparking several large fireballs that collapsed the roof and could be seen up to 10 miles away.

It took more than 60 firefighters an hour and a half to bring the inferno under control.

According to statement issued by the studio, three people were at the studio at the time of the blaze escaped without injury.

"The cause of the fire has not yet been established," the studio said. "We do not know the extent of the damage to the 007 stage, although it is believed to be significant. Fire crews are still in attendance at the site."

Fortunately for Bond's producers, Casino had finished shooting on the soundstage and "its film sets were in the process of being removed" when the fire erupted.

Sunday's blaze wasn't the first to plague Pinewood.

The studio, famed for Indiana Jones and Star Wars shoots and home to nearly every 007 adventure dating back to 1962's Dr. No, was burned to the ground in 1984 after production wrapped on Ridley Scott's fantasy film Legend.

Casino's soundstage, originally built for the 1977 Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me, sustained heavy damage in the 1984 fire. It was rebuilt--only to die another day.

With authorities still sifting through the smoking ruins, it's not immediately known whether any key Bond paraphernalia was lost. But there's a little time to reconstruct any lost sets. Earlier this month, producers announced that Craig would be back for another Bond flick due in 2008.

The Bond blaze comes less than a year after another devastating fire destroyed part of Britain's cinematic legacy. Last October, flames claimed a Victorian warehouse in Bristol and its priceless trove of material from all of Aardmann Animation productions, including several Wallace & Gromit Oscar-winning shorts.

Casino Royale, directed by GoldenEye helmer Martin Campbell, hits theaters worldwide Nov. 16.