Bond producer remembers 'very sad' meeting with Amy Winehouse about recording 007 song

Which James Bond song does longtime 007 franchise producer Barbara Broccoli most enjoy singing in the shower?

"Oh god, sing in the shower? I don't know," says Broccoli, laughing. "I mean, the song that has a lot of resonance with me is 'We Have All The Time in The World,' which is just such a beautiful beautiful ballad. But singing in the shower? [Laughs] I'm not very good at singing in the shower, I have to say. I don't wake up in the morning and start humming the Bond theme in the shower, if that's what you think!"

EW has asked Broccoli about her shower-singing habits because of the documentary The Sound of 007, which relates the history of Bond music and premieres on Prime Video Oct. 5.

"It was a labor of love," says Broccoli's producing partner Michael G. Wilson about the film. "We were thinking of something to do for the 60th anniversary, and we'd done different kinds of documentaries over the years, and the idea of doing a music one seemed to fit. So many great songs, and so many great performers, and so many great composers, it just seemed like the time."

Directed by Mat Whitecross, the film goes all the way back to the beginnings of the spy series, describing how Monty Norman initially wrote that famous theme tune for the first Bond adventure, 1962's Dr. No, and how it was then arranged and transformed by legendary composer John Barry.

"What happened very early on is the theme, in its various orchestrations by John, became a signature," says Wilson. "When that happens, it can be used to anticipate action, or to show when Bond's going to get up and start acting out, and things like that. Really John Barry created something fairly unique and new."

Much of the documentary, of course, details the history of the Bond songs, with interviewees including Billie Eilish, Sheena Easton, Lulu, Garbage, and Duran Duran members Simon Le Bon and John Taylor. The film also relates how both Radiohead and the late Amy Winehouse both came close to producing tunes for the franchise. Today, Broccoli recalls sitting down with the troubled Winehouse about the proposed plan that she record the song for 2008's Quantum of Solace.

"Well, that was a very very distressing meeting, she was not at her best and my heart really went out to her," says the producer. "She was very fragile emotionally and, you know, you understood how she could create such moving material, because she has a great depth of feeling and it was very very tragic. What an incredible talent, what an incredible voice, what an incredible person she was and it was very very sad."

Karen Ballard/MGM; Daniel Boczarski/Redferns Daniel Craig in Qunatum of Solace and Amy Winehouse

The Academy Awards took a while to start nominating Bond songs but in recent times Adele's "Skyfall," Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall," and Billie Eilish's "No Time to Die" have all won Oscars, much to the two producers' satisfaction.

"It's really pleasing to us," says Broccoli. "It was so great when Adele won, and then Sam Smith, and then Billie and Finneas (O'Connell, who co-wrote "No Time to Die" with Eilish), so we couldn't be more pleased really. It's been a fantastic time at the Oscars for our music."

All of which just leaves one more answer to get before EW's mission is complete. Which Bond song does Wilson like to sing in the shower?

"I have such a poor singing voice that I was discouraged [at] an early age from singing anywhere," says the producer. "But certainly anything with Shirley Bassey is something you can belt out. And of course Marvin Hamlisch's 'Nobody Does is Better' is a great Bond song. 'Live and Let Die.' I mean, there's so many songs, you can't single out any!"

The Sound of 007 premieres on Prime Video Oct. 5. Watch the documentary's trailer below.

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