that they insisted on using it. The title was the first not to have any relation to Fleming's life or work. Casting Teri Hatcher was three months pregnant when shooting started, although her publicist stated the pregnancy did not affect the production schedule. Hatcher later regretted playing Paris Carver, saying, "It's such an artificial kind of character to be playing that you don't get any special satisfaction from it." Actress Sela Ward auditioned for the role; the producers reportedly said they wanted her "but ten years younger". Hatcher, at 32, was seven years Ward's junior, and playing Lois Lane on the television show Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, where she was voted the "Sexiest Woman on Television" by readers of TV Guide the previous year. According to Brosnan, Monica Bellucci also screen-tested for the role, but as Brosnan remarked, "The fools said no." Daphne Deckers, who portrays the PR woman, also confirms that she saw Bellucci the same day she herself auditioned. Bellucci subsequently had a role in the 24th Bond film, Spectre. The role of Elliot Carver was initially offered to Anthony Hopkins (who was also offered a role in GoldenEye), but he declined in favor of The Mask of Zorro. Natasha Henstridge was rumoured as cast in the lead Bond Girl role, but eventually, Yeoh was confirmed. Brosnan was impressed, describing her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work". She reportedly wanted to perform her own stunts, but was prevented because director Spottiswoode ruled it too dangerous and prohibited by insurance restrictions. When Götz Otto was called in for casting, his hair had been cropped short for a television role. He was given 20 seconds to introduce himself, but did it in five: "I'm big, I'm bad, and I'm German." Filming With Vic Armstrong directing the second unit, filming of the $11 million 4-minute pre-title sequence began on 18 January 1997 at Peyresourde-Balatestas Airport, Peyragudes in the French Pyrenees. The plane Bond is seen to purloin in the movie was a Czech-built Aero Vodochody L-39ZO Albatros weapons jet trainer, supplied by a British company and flown by stunt pilots Tony "Taff" Smith and Mark (son of Ray) Hanna. After completing work in France, the second unit moved on to Portsmouth to film the scenes where the Royal Navy prepares to engage the Chinese, with standing in for the various fictional