Through the location’s inclusion in co-writer/director Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World Dominion, the island nation of Malta has scored a new nickname. Now dubbed “The Jurassic Island,” the site of many major film productions, including Game of Thrones and Gladiator, has a new claim to fame in its bid to become a hot spot of cinematic business. Which only makes the fact that Malta film commissioner Johann Grech wants the James Bond movies to revisit the island all the more fitting.
007’s adventures sit firmly on the man’s bucket list, a fact I personally found out while interviewing Commissioner Grech during the on-location interviews for the latest Jurassic World home entertainment release. Talking amid the junket day venue of Villa Bighi, located in the inner harbor of Malta, I had to mention the fact that The Spy Who Loved Me (and according to some reports For Your Eyes Only) had previously brought the series to the country’s shores.
With the Malta Film Commission looking to attract more productions to its array of locations and studios, Johann Grech is at the head of making those ambitions happen. So naturally, the following Bond-ing opportunity is right on the laundry list of goals to achieve:
I think that is one in my bucket list as film commissioner, to get the James Bond brand here in Malta. I literally wish that we would achieve that one day.
The one confirmed moment that shows off Malta’s beauty in the James Bond legacy is the conclusion of The Spy Who Loved Me. At the very end of Roger Moore’s third 007 movie, the escape pod that his James Bond uses to escape along with Colonel Anya “XXX” Amasova is seen floating in the beautiful waters off the coast of Malta. One could think of worse places to appear after taking out another crazed industrialist obsessed with reshaping the world in his own image.
While it’s not a substantial appearance, The Spy Who Loved Me’s big Malta moment is a memorable highlight. This is especially valid when taking into context that the movie’s finale is one of the best moments of humor from Roger Moore’s lighter and more cavalier tenure as Commander Bond. Yes, it’s exactly the moment you’re thinking of, and you can relive it below in all of its campy glory:
As any James Bond fan would know, one look at the Malta environment is all a person needs to be convinced that EON Productions should heartily consider using the island as a backdrop. Jurassic World Dominion made the case for such a prospect even greater, as a section of the Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard-led adventure film mixed espionage, dinosaurs and stunts in this exact setting. The results were impressive and a fine audition for Malta to become a larger part of Bond history.
Not only as a fan of the 007 legacy, but also as someone who took part in recreating some of those Jurassic stunts, I’m on the same page as Johann Grech. Malta is ready to reenter the James Bond world, and with a new Bond on the horizon, there couldn’t be a better time. All that’s left is for Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson to make the decision, and history can be made yet again.
Almost the entire canon of James Bond adventures, including The Spy Who Loved Me, is currently available for streaming to Amazon Prime subscribers. So is another famous alum of the Malta Film Studios, the Academy Award-winning Ridley Scott Gladiator, which saw Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, among others, gracing some pretty exciting shooting locations that are still in use to this day.
