Location Hamburg Airport: For almost 40 years, the Hanseatic city's airport has been a coveted film and photo backdrop. Almost 100 film and photo productions are made here every year.

The Hanseatic city's airport has long been a coveted location as a film and photo backdrop. Camera teams, extras, artists and prominent actors such as Moritz Bleibtreu, Veronica Ferres, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Luna Marie Maxeiner, Smudo and Heiner Lauterbach bustle about here almost every day. Exactly 25 years ago, in March 1997, scenes from the legendary James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” starring Pierce Brosnan were shot for a whole day at Hamburg Airport.

For the then brand new James Bond film "Tomorrow never dies" with actor Pierce Brosnan playing 007, several scenes should also be shot at Hamburg Airport! If that wasn't a reason for everyone involved to do their utmost - because flight operations had to continue without any problems despite the immense effort involved in filming. However, the approximately eleven-hour shooting with the James Bond actor did not take place on a secret mission: early in the morning of the day of shooting, what was then Terminal 4 (today T2) was besieged by hundreds of fans and the entire Hamburg media scene. They all wanted to catch a glimpse of the stars, an autograph or an interview. Passengers also took their time in Terminal 4 that day. “Tomorrow never dies” was released in cinemas at Christmas 1997 – including a 30-second scene at Hamburg Airport.

Aviation as a backdrop

Airplanes have repeatedly acted as coveted backdrops for film and photo productions at Hamburg Airport - for example in the ZDF production "Deutschlandspiel" (2002) on the 10th anniversary of German unity. Here, a decommissioned B707 served as a fictitious government machine of the then General Secretary of the CPSU, Michael Gorbachev, during a visit by the GDR State Council Chairman Erich Honecker. It was also used as a location for the film comedy "Kick it like Beckham" (2001), the feature film "Im Schatten der Macht" (2003) about the last days before Willi Brandt's resignation and for "Rocca Changes the World" (2018). .