by Richard Sherman

“No Time to Die,” the latest James Bond movie was released to theaters in October. Ahead of watching Daniel Craig’s latest film as the timeless James Bond, I decided to re-watch a few films, including “Quantum of Solace.” The explosive climax occurs in the desert where Commander Bond has to rescue the girl and dispatch with the evil Dominic Green amidst a fusillade of gunfire and burning buildings.

I wondered where this was shot, so I googled it and learned the scene was shot at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Paranal in the Atacama Desert. This location is perhaps best known among astronomers as the host site for the Very Large Telescope (VLT). The website for ESO Paranal has a lot of great information and can be found at:  https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/.

There is also an excellent YouTube video, including comments from Daniel Craig at:  https://www.eso.org/public/usa/videos/eso0838a/?lang