The Spy Who (Earth) Moved Me

With the latest James Bond film, Skyfall, breaking records at the cinemas, those associated with the film have been quick to bask in its success of the suave/smug spy.

The franchise has never been shy of giving the occasional brand of car or booze a bit of a boost and there are plenty more product placement opportunities in the latest instalment, including one for a well known heavy equipment company - which has been quick off the mark to release the details of its appearance.

In the film’s opening sequence 007 shows some prowess in operating a Caterpillar 320D L excavator to chase down an adversary – on a train. The action took months of planning and tinkering to get right and Cat was only too happy to help with.

“Seeing our machine on the big screen is exciting. Seeing it featured in the world’s longest running film franchise is simply amazing,” said Caterpillar global brand marketing manager Diane Lantz-Rickard.

“Our brand has been featured in more than 20 movies dating as far back as 1927, and we worked with the Bond films previously in The World is Not Enough.”

Two excavators were specially adapted for the scenes which involve Bond making a somewhat dramatic entrance through the roof of a moving train, which makes for some excellent action but the distinct lack of PPE gear and disregard for procedure will no doubt have a few OH&S officers (the polar opposites of 007) scurrying for hard hats when they see the film.

Pic: Skyfall ©2011 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Corporation, Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All rights reserved.