‘Bond 24 Spectre’ Ready To Film In Austria's East Tirol Alps

Actors Naomie Harris, Lea Seydoux, Daniel Craig, Monica Bellucci and Christoph Waltz (L-R) pose on stage during an event to mark the start of production for the new James Bond film "Spectre", at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, southern England December 4, 2014. Reuters/Stefan Wermuth

Production is underway for the Bond 24 movie, "Spectre." Cast and crew are set to head over to the East Tirol Alps in Austria for one of their on-location filming.

Daily Mail reports around 500 cast members and crew will be staying at the ski resort of Sölden, in the Ӧtztal and Obertilliach over the next few weeks. Around 150 local filmmakers are set to cover various filming spots in Tirol for 22 days. Filming for "Spectre" has been scheduled from mid-January to February 2015, which will generate a total of 26,000 overnight stays. According to the site, as early as August, a production office was already set up in the location to coordinate the filming.

Production crew reportedly started looking for suitable filming locations since January, with Norway and Italy being on the list. However, with the help of Location Austria (FISA Film Location Austria) including Austria's local communities, mountain railway companies and tourist boards, director Sam Mendes was eventually persuaded to choose the country for "Spectre." Coincidentally, as per The Local, a Vienna-born actor, Christoph Waltz, will represent his country since he's been cast as the villain Ernst Blofeld in the James Bond 24 movie.

Josef Margreiter, founder of Cine Tirol in Austria, even felt honoured and happy, knowing the said filming can potentially attract more tourists to Tirol. He had expressed his excitement knowing "the joint efforts, help and support will result in the most famous secret agent in the world on location in Ötztal and East Tirol," he says.

"This fills us with great confidence that the action-packed scenes for the new Bond film will be seen by an audience of millions when the film is released in Autumn 2015, and that will make people want to visit the locations for themselves in the Heart of the Alps," he adds. Margreiter hopes the Tirol location will entice millions of possible tourists as much as "Skyfall" gained 130 million viewers from around the world.

Likewise, Cine Tirol Director Johannes Köck hopes filming for the James Bond 24 movie will be the "driving force" in drawing the attention of the entire film industry to the region of Tirol. Eventually, Köck claims the attention will help facilitate for more possible international movie followup projects.

However, as per Daily Mail, filming "Spectre" at the Tirol Alps will be costly. An estimated 5 million pounds will supposedly be spent for production costs, accommodation and meals, transportation, and not to mention the salaries of the local Tirolean filmmakers. CNN Money adds that the latest Sony Pictures hacking even revealed a huge $300 million (around 191 million pounds) on total movie budget, which MGM president Jonathan Glickman reportedly had to cut back to $250 million (about 159 million pounds). Still, as per Daily Mail, the Austria location will memorialise the childhood life of Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, who lived in Kitzbühel in the 1920s.