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  27 January 2019  

OBITUARY – NICK FINLAYSON (1955-2019)
Nick Finlayson with Desmond Llewelyn 'Q' GoldenEye (1995)

Nick Finlayson, who was affectionately known by many as ‘The real Q’, has passed away aged 63.

Nick, like many SFX technicians before him, perfected his craft working for puppetry/miniatures pioneer Gerry Anderson on the television show Terrahawks before moving on to 10 Bond productions; Aliens; Christian Bale's Batman and the Tomb Raider movies, to name only a few. Nick worked on Bond from 1985 on A View To A Kill as part of the Special Effects team followed by The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill; however, it was not until Pierce Brosnan's tenure as 007 on GoldenEye that Nick fell under the spotlight as the creator of Bond's life saving gadgets, including the Piton Gun used in the pre-titles sequence, customising a Ranger paintball gun as the donor weapon. Nick crafted two practical/hero functional weapons and a rubber and resin solid stunt version cast from the hero prop for Wayne Michaels to use when doubling as Bond in the death-defying world record bungee jump in the pre-credit sequence for GoldenEye. For Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, Nick and his team were responsible for crafting Bond's OMEGA Seamaster gadget laden timepieces; Wai Lin’s practical Viper head piton bracelet; also while working with Andy Smith's special vehicles team Nick pimped Bond's BMW 750 IL, BMW Z8 and Aston Martin Vanquish rides; a little known fact is that the Vanquish's SFX machine guns were re-appropriated by Nick for usage on Christian Bale's Tumbler in Batman Begins.

Perhaps the most memorable of Nick's creations was the Ericsson JB988 mobile phone; he and his team created three different prop phones whose combined special effects featured fingerprint scanner, electric stun prods and the BMW’s remote control pad – all featured in the one prop phone Pierce Brosnan's Bond utilises with deadly effect in Tomorrow Never Dies.

Nick was also Senior Effects Technician working closely with Chris Corbould on Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, creating gadgets and pimping Bond's cars as he had previously done for Pierce Brosnan's 007. Nick Finlayson – a true unassuming British gentleman, a Special Effects Genius... RIP.

Mark Hazard
Nick Finlayson with the Tomorrow Never Dies special effects crew

Nick Finlayson – Bond Filmography

1985 A View To A Kill (Special Effects Technician)
1987 The Living Daylights (Special Effects Technician)
1989 Licence To Kill (Special Effects Technician)
1995 GoldenEye (Special Effects Team)
1997 Tomorrow Never Dies (Special Effects Team)
1999 The World Is Not Enough (Workshop Supervisor)
2002 Die Another Day (Workshop Supervisor)
2006 Casino Royale (Senior Effects Technician)
2008 Quantum of Solace (Senior Effects Technician)
2012 Skyfall (Senior Effects Technician)

Ericsson JB988 mobile phone Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Nick FinlaysonUPDATE 9 November 2019
News of Nick’s death in January at the age of 63, was reported on 007 fansites at the start of the year and a GoFundMe page was set up to help raise money for Nick’s wife, Cici. BAFTA also paid tribute to Nick.

You can donate here.

It is not known how Nick died but the fundraising page said he “was not ready to retire when he was cruelly taken from us”.

It was reported that only a few members of the James Bond production team have worked on as many films as Nick.

Chris Corbould, who worked with Finlayson on all of his 10 Bond films, said: “The film industry has lost one of the true gentlemen in Nick Finlayson. His infectious laugh and beaming smile brightened everybody’s day no matter what else was going on. I worked alongside Nick over many, many years where his ingenuity and expertise created many of the greatest moments in Special Effects history whether it be James Bond, Batman or Lara Croft.

“I feel privileged to have known and worked with Nick but his legacy will live on through the many technicians he has mentored over the years.”

Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson said, “He first worked with me on A View To A Kill and together we completed two more Bond films and at least seven other films, including Aliens and the last two of the Harry Potter series. A very clever and talented technician he was an important and valued member of my team. He deservedly earned himself the title of ‘The Real Q’ building many of the iconic Bond gadgets.

He had a great sense of humour and he would often devote his time helping and mentoring younger members of the Effects department. He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him and worked with him.”
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Nick Finlayson Filmography