The No Time To Die Deleted Scene That Should Have Been In The Movie
Cary Joji Fukunaga's latest film, "No Time to Die," takes on Daniel Craig's James Bond on one last ride in the actor's final feature-length 007 adventure. "No Time to Die" was infamously delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the film and movie theater industries — in fact, the movie was originally scheduled to hit theaters in November 2019 after original director Danny Boyle dropped out of the project (via Deadline). A spring 2020 release date then led to a carousel of endless delays as the industry struggled to find its footing amid the constant uncertainty caused by the pandemic. The film finally arrived in the U.S. on October 8, 2021, nearly two years after the production completed principal photography.
When fans and critics finally got to feast their eyes on "No Time to Die," they enjoyed it. The movie reached a positive critical and audience consensus from Rotten Tomatoes, with 83% of critics and 88% of fans enjoying Craig's final turn as 007 and Ana de Armas' supporting role. Fukunaga's film wound up as the seventh-highest grossing film of 2021, earning $160.77 million at the American box office (via Box Office Mojo). At 163 minutes long, the runtime of "No Time to Die" gives hardcore Bond fans plenty to love until the future of the James Bond franchise is decided, but some fans out there are clamoring for more information on any deleted scenes that did not make Fukunaga's final cut.
An advertised sequence featuring cranes didn't quite make the final cut of No Time to Die
The official James Bond Twitter account posted a behind-the-scenes video in September 2021 advertising the film production's collaboration with shipping and logistics company CMA CGM Group for a sequence that involved flying a getaway plane through a seaport. The scene and production looked impressive; the video notes that the port in question is the largest in the Caribbean and that CMA CGM changed its shipping schedules and worked with authorities in Jamaica to ensure the "No Time to Die" crew could work safely.
"They've just been up for it and incredible partners in this, allowing us to fly a plane essentially under their cranes, which nobody's ever done before," location production manager Martin Joy says in the video.
Despite the clear effort put into this sequence, it doesn't appear that director Cary Joji Fukunaga used this getaway scene in full in the final cut of "No Time to Die." Many users on the "James Bond" subreddit noted the video in a compendium of known scenes and shots that didn't make it to the film's theatrical cut. u/ESF007 pointed out that while the released film has a shot of the plane leaving Jamaica, none of the material involving the cranes that Joy speaks about in the video is included. Given that Bond retires in Jamaica at the start of the film and spends part of its first act in Cuba, u/UnlovedSeason suggested that the larger sequence intended to capture Bond's initial getaway from Cuba after rescuing MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev.