Executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment discussed getting as much as $20 million in incentives from Mexico’s government if they changed characters and storyline details related to Mexico in the latest James Bond film, leaked emails show.
The changes, reported by tax news website TaxAnalysts.com, included replacing a scene set originally at a cage-match with a lavish Day of the Dead parade, and altering a scene in which the mayor of Mexico City is killed.
Film executives also responded to requests described in emails to make sure that the villain in “Spectre” not be Mexican, and that the new “Bond Girl” be Mexican.
Well into filming, the official ’007’ site revealed on March 9 that the franchise’s first ever Mexican Bond Girl will be actress Stephanie Sigman, known for her starring role in the film “Miss Bala.”
The TaxAnalysts.com report was based on leaked emails thought to come from the massive cyber-attack suffered by Sony last December.