4 APRIL 2002
Still reeling from her historic triumph at this year’s Academy Awards, Best Actress winner Halle Berry has just arrived in the Spanish city of Cadiz, along with Pierce Brosnan, to film scenes for the latest James Bond film. In the up-coming instalment, called Die Another Day, the south-western Spanish town doubles as Cuban capital Havana, with Bond on the trail of a traitor.

Halle, standing alongside 48-year-old Pierce at a packed press conference, said working on the movie will only “add shine to my Oscar”. The actress, who plays a baddie, also said that she had yet to come to terms with what it meant to win Hollywood’s most prestigious acting gong. The 33-year-old actress picked up the award for her portrayal of a death row widow in the crime drama Monster’s Ball. Halle is the first black performer in the 74-year history of the Academy to scoop the accolade.

Pierce, who recently injured himself during filming, took a well earned rest and spent his first morning in Spain on a tour around the Andulsian capital of Seville with his family. The Irish actor said he was delighted to be in Spain. He also confirmed that in this instalment of the Bond series the British secret agent once more drives a “spectacular” Aston Martin.

The cast and crew of the new film have just completed its traditional scene-setting opening segment of the movie. The movie begins with a grizzled Bond – sporting shoulder length hair and beard – escaping across the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea. The filming actually took place a little closer to home, however, just outside the English town of Aldershot in Hampshire.

After wrapping in Spain, filming will continue in Iceland and Hawaii, with additional scenes being filmed in Cornwall, England. Die Another Day is due out in the UK and US in November.