Tuxedos, guns, luxury supercars and Bollinger Champagne is really all one needs to create the next 007 movie. All these elements came together last year not to defeat an eyepatch-wearing villain with a plan for world domination, but to sell a house.
The $22 million home at 5340 Seaside Place in West Vancouver is built on a 12,626 square foot waterfront property with access to 89 feet of shoreline. The house itself, all 6,412 sq. ft. of it, comes with a theatre room, wine cellar and infinity pool. It was here that last year the property's realtor Matt Gul brought together a group of Bond fans to create the ultimate 007-themed real estate photo shoot.
Michael Downie of DownieLive, a travel YouTuber who tells various stories across North America was one of those involved. Tagging along with the photoshoot for the house, Downie created his own short film with the help of some friends where he steps into the dress shoes of the British spy and lives out a Bond-esque action scene.
In Downie’s film called No Time to Sleep, he drives to the West Vancouver mansion in a BMW Z8, the car driven by Pierce Brosnan’s interpretation of Bond in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough. When he arrives he finds parked in the driveway two cars, a replica of the Aston Martin DB5 first seen on the silver screen in 1963 driven by Sean Connery as Bond in Goldfinger. Dubbed the Q car, it is normally shown at Aston Martin Vancouver’s dealership and features all the same gadgets and weapons (although non-functional) as the original. The second car was the brand new Aston Martin DBS Superleggera also on loan from Aston Martin Vancouver and worth over $360,000.
Murray Gillespie, the managing editor of James Bond Canada and considered the country’s expert on all things 007 was also in attendance. While there, Gillespie spoke with Andrew Smith, the production designer for four different Bond movies who had brought his personally owned, screen-used vehicle from the franchise: the Q-boat.
"When I pulled up to it I'm like 'okay this is just wack,' this is really the Q boat,” Gillespie said. "You could tell that this boat had been well used, there was rust on the back, on the motors and everything."
The Q-boat was used in the final shot of Downie’s No Time to Sleep as he attempts to catch the “bad guys” getting away on it but jumping into the water -- missing it by a mile.
For more information on the Q car, you can check out its website, to see behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot and Downie’s short film you can see everything on his YouTube channel.
