Pinewood at 90: James Bond, Oscar winners and AI

Pinewood Studios has helped shape the history of cinema.

Behind its gates the Avengers have assembled, Jedi have mastered the Force and James Bond has repeatedly saved the world (and drank a lot of Martinis).

Now it is celebrating its 90th anniversary - at a time when the movie industry faces huge change.

Chief executive officer David Conway points out about 180 Oscar-winning films have been shot on the Buckinghamshire site.

He says: "If Pinewood were a country, we would come number two in being the home of Oscar-winning films, and I don't think any studio globally can boast anywhere near those statistics.

"It staggers me how we're a medium-sized company, but we are a household name around the world."

The studio was built on the grounds of Heatherden Hall, a Grade II-listed, Victorian country house which has appeared in Carry On Films and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

"Essentially, we've taken the grounds around it and we've just got bigger and bigger. It takes 30 minutes to walk from one corner of Pinewood to the other," says Conway.

While walking that distance, Conway says you can feel the history: original 1930s sound stages stand alongside facilities built in the last decade, such as those named after Bond leads Sir Sean Connery and Sir Roger Moore.

For nearly a century, the lot has been the workplace for world-famous superstars, from Marilyn Monroe to Zendaya.

It has been home for Oscar-winners such as 2008's The Dark Knight, 1978's Death on the Nile and 1948's The Red Shoes.

Today, it serves as the primary UK production hub for major studio clients including Disney (incorporating Marvel and Lucasfilm), Netflix, and Amazon MGM.

He says: "People want to be here... there's this gold dust about Pinewood that people want to come here... it's the place where successful blockbusters are made."

However, for two-thirds of Pinewood's existence, it has been heavily associated with James Bond, being home to the super spy for most of his big screen adventures since 1962.

A tanker capable of hosting three submarines was built for 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me. This 60,000-square-foot space is now known as the 007 Stage, Pinewood's biggest stage.

"Our two histories are very intertwined," says Conway.

"If you look at the progression not just in filmmaking, but how audience habits have changed from the early days of Dr. No through to No Time to Die, those are two very different films over a 60-plus year history."

As the franchise's future moves with new owners Amazon MGM, Pinewood's ambition has not been shaken or stirred.

Conway says: "There's all sorts of speculation and rumour in the press about what happens next with Bond.

"We've got a 60-year-plus history with Bond and very much it is our ambition to host the next Bond film. But that, of course, is a decision for Amazon MGM, that will be down to them."

The studio has kept up with nine decades of technological advances in cinema.

From the introduction of computer-generated imagery to now exploring the role artificial intelligence (AI) will play on site in the future.

Conway reassures: "Don't worry, people are not suddenly overnight going to watch a computer-generated Tom Cruise with an entirely computer-generated backdrop.

"That didn't happen when CGI was introduced some 40 years ago.

"It's a big audience turnoff to be watching something that looks entirely like a computer game, but it's being used to make things faster and quicker, meaning that our customers can make more films, not less."

His comments come at a time when debate over AI in cinema is growing, from AI-generated actors like Tilly Norwood doing interviews on television, to Martin Scorsese receiving backlash after endorsing AI production tools.

Yet Conway says that no matter how far technology evolves, even CGI-heavy spectacles shot at Pinewood, such as the upcoming Avengers Doomsday film, continue to build real physical sets and props on the sound stages.

He adds: "People want to see human actors interacting with physical sets and props, so there'll be some new technologies but the mainstay of film production, the core of it, to remain the same."

Do you have a story suggestion for Beds, Herts or Bucks? Contact us below.

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.