Heineken SkyFall screening in Amsterdam

This week, the movie SkyFall premiered in The Netherlands, with Bérénice Marlohe promoting SkyFall and Heineken in the beer’s country of origin. Bond Lifestyle’s Remmert van Braam was invited to interview Bérénice Marlohe and attend the Heineken SkyFall screening.

Bond girl Bérénice Marlohe was in Holland to promote SkyFall and attended the dutch gala premiere on Sunday, October 28th in the Tuschinski cinema in Amsterdam.

On Monday the 29th, Marlohe attended several promotional events for Heineken, the beer brand featured in SkyFall. In the afternoon I was able to interview Bérénice Marlohe in the Conservatorium Hotel, where she was taking some photos for the Heineken Crack The Case campaign.

After the interview, I put on my tuxedo and a green bow tie (as provided by Heineken) and made my way to the Conference Factory in Amsterdam where a SkyFall screening and party would take place for Heineken International employees from The Netherlands and all over Europe.

Invitation and Heineken goodies, including green bow tie

At the entrance of the building, every guest walked over a green carpet, where a photo was taken and green-clad Heineken girls welcomed everyone. Inside, more beautiful girls took coats and umbrellas, and served Heineken beer and delicious snacks.

In a huge gunbarrel set, guests could have their photo taken in James Bond poses, using their limited edition Heineken bottles as their weapon of choice. In the picture above the final result, your reporter Remmert van Braam in the middle, surrounded by Benjamin Williams (left) of MI6 Confidential and Luke Williams of 007 Magazine, all demonstrating their license to drink.

When all guests had arrived, it was time for the screening of SkyFall in the large cinema built in the old factory building. Again making sure that no one would get thirsty, each guest received another aluminum bottle of Heineken, which, as was later shown, glows up in blacklight, suddenly showing the silhouette of a Bond girl and the autograph of Bérénice Marlohe.

The film was introduced by Dutch film critic René Mioch. He introduced Bérénice Marlohe to the stage and interviewed her briefly before giving the stage to a Heineken manager who explained how Heineken got involved in the SkyFall movie. Already two years ago, their involvement started with talks with EON and both the Bond producers and Heineken wanted to have a unique and intense collaboration between the brands on an unprecedented scale. The result is the Crack The Case campaign, including a commercial featuring Daniel Craig and Bérénice Marlohe, partly directed by SkyFall director Sam Mendes and award winning Dutch filmmaker Matthijs Van Heijningen. Heineken sponsors the Bond franchise already since Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), but this time, the brand wanted to be completely involved in the film. The result we can see in SkyFall, where Bond finally drinks the Dutch beer himself, and bottles of Heineken can be spotted several times (although sometimes hard to find).
The news of Bond drinking a Heineken stirred some negative reactions around the globe, but Heineken and the filmmakers made sure that Bond drinking Heineken would appear natural in the movie. They never planned to replace the famous martini with a beer, although that is usually what the media write. Bond just consumes the appropriate drink and the right moment, and the beer does fit the profile.

After a short film, featuring some of Heineken’s marketing team, it was time to see the SkyFall, which was well received by the hundreds of attendees. Not only did the film get many laughs, but also every time a Heineken bottle was spotted, it was greeted with applause.

When the movie ended, guests were led into a new room which was completely decorated with Bond inspired sets, including a casino, table with card house similar to the one seen in the Heineken commercial, and a large ice sculpture. Two large bars provided every guest with enough drinks to keep the party going for many hours, and the DJ creating the right atmosphere for a successful evening.

During this afterparty, I had the chance to talk to Hans Erik Tuijt, Global Heineken Activation Director, who was directly involved in the production of the Crack the Case commercial (watch the commercial above). Hans Erik told me the commercial was filmed at the Shepperton Studios in the UK, at the time that SkyFall was filmed (SkyFall filming took place in the Pinewood Studios). He was not only involved in the planning but was active on set as well. The creation of the commercial took a lot of careful planning. Making a commercial that can be broadcast all over the world is more complicated that it seems, as one has to take into account the legal requirements of dozens of different countries.

One day on the set, Hans Erik was approached by Daniel Craig, who was furious about one particular scene: in the script it was written that Bond would ‘salute’ someone, and Daniel Craig told Hans Erik that Bond never would salute anyone! Hans Erik told him this was a misunderstanding and translation error, as he had meant ‘greeting’ instead of ‘saluting’. Overall it was a great collaboration and the fact that SkyFall director Sam Mendes even took part in directing the commercial shows that the creation of the commercial was supported by everyone, and together with Craig, Marlohe and dutch filmmaker Matthijs Van Heijningen, this dream team created one of the more memorable Bond ads.

After sharing some more beers with Hans Erik, he introduced me to the personable Gregg Wilson, son of Bond producer Michael G. Wilson, and after telling him how much I think SkyFall was great Bond film, it was time to collect the 1 Litre Heineken Bottle at the exit of the venue, and leave green fairytale land behind and go back to the reality of rainy Amsterdam.

Many thanks to Heineken. Read more about Heineken and James Bond.

© 2012 Remmert van Braam, Bond Lifestyle