The Bondwagon

Welcome to Beijing, Mr. Bond.

Producer Albert (Cubby) Broccoli and about a dozen colleagues have been in China scouting possible locations for the next--as yet untitled--007 saga, to film next summer under director John Glen.

“We toured the studios in Beijing and Shanghai and saw as much of the country as was humanly possible in 10 days,” Broccoli told us. But, according to Broccoli and writer-producer Michael Wilson, China’s no bargain.

“They have no set rates for hotels or rentals,” said Wilson. “They’re basically inventing prices and only time will tell if we can negotiate something better if indeed we decide to base a major location there.”

The Bond films still haven’t scaled China’s Great Wall, but “For Your Eyes Only” was shown on closed-circuit TV during the scouting party’s stay.

“They also held an invitational screening of ‘The Living Daylights’ for film and party dignitaries,” Broccoli said. “It was a great response. You know, they’re used to seeing stuff like ‘Love Story,’ so this was an eye opener.”