Daniel Craig turned down a $5 million offer to use a Sony film in the upcoming James Bond film Spectre, though he and director Sam Mendes declined as they felt the Sony range of smartphones weren’t the “best.”
Product placement in the Craig-led Bond films has been ubiquitous. In Skyfall, Heineken handed over £28 million (almost a third of the film’s production cost) in order for Craig to be seen sipping one of their beers in the movie, with Bond’s typical shaken, not stirred Martini being replaced by the lager.
Also See: Man of Steel Looks Even Better in Color
However, it seems that Sony’s smartphones are where the actor and director drew the line, with Sony Mobile’s offer of an $18 million marketing payment along with an extra $5 million for Craig in order for him to be seen using the upcoming Xperia Z4 falling on deaf ears.
After an email was sent from George Leon, Sony’s executive vice president of consumer marketing, requesting a discussion on whether or not the product placement could go ahead, Andrew Gumpert, President of Worldwide Business Affairs and Operations for Columbia Pictures, replied: “BEYOND the $$ factor, there is, as you may know, a CREATIVE factor whereby Sam and Daniel don’t like the Sony phone for the film (the thinking, subjectively/objectively is that James Bond only uses the ‘best,’ and in their minds, the Sony phone is not the ‘best’).”
So there you have it. Mendes, Craig and co. would happily replace Bond’s signature drink with a Heineken for that cash money, but Bond being filmed in possession of a Sony smartphone is apparently one step too far.
