2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
Preparations
Preparations
------------

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games ([LOCOG](/wiki/LOCOG "LOCOG")) approached [Danny Boyle](/wiki/Danny_Boyle "Danny Boyle") to be the director of the ceremony in June 2010, and he immediately accepted. Boyle explained that there had been four things that made him take the job: he was a big Olympics fan, he lived a mile from the Stadium and so felt invested in the area, his late father's birthday was on the ceremony's date, and he felt his 'Oscar clout' would enable him to push through what he wanted to do. He said it "felt weirdly more like a ... civic or national responsibility" to take the job.

[thumb\|left\|[Danny Boyle](/wiki/Danny_Boyle "Danny Boyle"), the director of the opening ceremony](/wiki/File:Danny_talks_about_tonight%27s_ceremony_%28cropped%29.jpg "Danny talks about tonight's ceremony (cropped).jpg")

Boyle acknowledged that the extravagance of the 2008 opening ceremony was an impossible act to follow — "you can't get bigger than Beijing" — and that this realisation had in fact liberated his team creatively. He said "..obviously I'm not going to try and build on Beijing, because how could you? We can't, and you wouldn't want to, so we're going back to the beginning. We're going to try and give the impression that we're rethinking and restarting, because they've (*opening ceremonies*) escalated since Los Angeles in 1984\. They've tried to top themselves each time and you can't do that after Beijing." Beijing's budget had been £65m, whereas London's final budget was £27m, which was twice the original provision. The London stadium had the same number of seats as [Beijing's](/wiki/Beijing_National_Stadium "Beijing National Stadium"), but was half the size; this intimacy of scale meant that Boyle felt he could achieve something personal and connecting.

The different sections of the ceremony were designed to reflect aspects of British history and culture, with the title *Isles of Wonder* partly inspired by [Shakespeare](/wiki/Shakespeare "Shakespeare")'s play *[The Tempest](/wiki/The_Tempest "The Tempest")* (particularly Caliban's 'Be not afeard' speech), and partly by the [G. K. Chesterton](/wiki/G._K._Chesterton "G. K. Chesterton") aphorism: "The world shall perish not for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder."

In July 2010, Boyle started brainstorming ideas with designer [Mark Tildesley](/wiki/Mark_Tildesley_%28production_designer%29 "Mark Tildesley (production designer)"), writer [Frank Cottrell\-Boyce](/wiki/Frank_Cottrell-Boyce "Frank Cottrell-Boyce") and costume designer [Suttirat Anne Larlarb](/wiki/Suttirat_Anne_Larlarb "Suttirat Anne Larlarb"). They considered "what was essentially British", with the non\-British Larlarb able to offer a view of what the world thought Britain meant. Cottrell\-Boyce had given Boyle a copy of *[Pandaemonium](/wiki/Pandaemonium_%28history_book%29 "Pandaemonium (history book)")*, (named after the capital of Hell in *[Paradise Lost](/wiki/Paradise_Lost "Paradise Lost")*) by [Humphrey Jennings](/wiki/Humphrey_Jennings "Humphrey Jennings"), which collated contemporary reports from the [Industrial Revolution](/wiki/Industrial_Revolution "Industrial Revolution"). It had become traditional during the opening ceremony to 'produce' the [Olympic rings](/wiki/Olympic_symbols%23Rings "Olympic symbols#Rings") in a spectacular manner. Cottrell\-Boyce commented "Danny had a very clear idea that in the first 15 minutes you had to have a great, startling image that could go around the world; it had to climax with something that made people go 'Oh my God!'". Boyle decided that "the journey from the pastoral to the industrial, ending with the forging of the Olympic rings" would be that image.

The ten distinct chapters on which the team started work were gradually compressed into three principal movements: the violent transition from 'Green and Pleasant Land' to the 'Pandemonium' of industrial revolution, a salute to the NHS and children's literature, and a celebration of pop culture, technology and the digital revolution.

When Boyle returned to work on the ceremony in the spring of 2011 he asked [Rick Smith](/wiki/Rick_Smith_%28Underworld%29 "Rick Smith (Underworld)") of [Underworld](/wiki/Underworld_%28band%29 "Underworld (band)"), with whom he had worked on several film projects as well as his [theatrical production](/wiki/Frankenstein_%282011_play%29 "Frankenstein (2011 play)") of [Mary Shelley](/wiki/Mary_Shelley "Mary Shelley")'s *[Frankenstein](/wiki/Frankenstein "Frankenstein")*, to be the musical director. At the same time the team moved to the [Three Mills](/wiki/Three_Mills "Three Mills") studio complex in east London, where a 4x4 metre scale model of the stadium was built. For security reasons, a single CGI\-assisted version of the ceremony was kept on editor Sascha Dhillon's laptop; anyone needing it had to come to the studio.

The cast included professional performers and 7,500 volunteers. Boyle considered the volunteers to be "the most valuable commodity of all". In November 2011 they auditioned at Three Mills, and rehearsals began in earnest in spring 2012 at an open\-air site at [Dagenham](/wiki/Dagenham "Dagenham") (the abandoned [Ford](/wiki/Ford_Dagenham "Ford Dagenham") plant), often in foul weather. Although key contributors had to sign non\-disclosure agreements and some elements were codenamed, Boyle placed immense trust in the volunteers by asking them simply to "save the surprise" and not leak any information. Further volunteers were recruited to help with security and marshalling, and to support the technical crew. Three weeks before the ceremony, [Mark Rylance](/wiki/Mark_Rylance "Mark Rylance"), who was to have taken a leading part, pulled out after a family bereavement and was replaced by [Kenneth Branagh](/wiki/Kenneth_Branagh "Kenneth Branagh").

The [Olympic Bell](/wiki/Olympic_Bell "Olympic Bell"), the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world, weighing 23 tonnes, had been cast in brass under the direction of the [Whitechapel Bell Foundry](/wiki/Whitechapel_Bell_Foundry "Whitechapel Bell Foundry") by [Royal Eijsbouts](/wiki/Royal_Eijsbouts "Royal Eijsbouts") of the Netherlands, and hung in the Stadium. It was inscribed with a line from [Caliban](/wiki/Caliban "Caliban")'s speech in *The Tempest*: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises".

Boyle gave significant emphasis to the London 2012 theme 'inspire a generation' and devised a programme relying heavily on children and young people, and built around themes that would relate to the young. 25 schools in the six original East London host boroughs were used to recruit child volunteers for the performance, and 170 [sixth formers](/wiki/Sixth_form "Sixth form") (16–18\-year\-olds), between them speaking more than 50 languages, were recruited from their colleges.

On 12 June 2012 at a press conference, Boyle had promised a huge set of rural [Britain](/wiki/Great_Britain "Great Britain"), which was to include a [village cricket](/wiki/Village_cricket "Village cricket") team, farm animals, a model of [Glastonbury Tor](/wiki/Glastonbury_Tor "Glastonbury Tor"), as well as a [maypole](/wiki/Maypole "Maypole") and a rain\-producing cloud. His intention was to represent the rural and urban [landscape](/wiki/Landscape "Landscape") of Britain. The design was to include a mosh pit at each end of the set, one with people celebrating a [rock festival](/wiki/Rock_festival "Rock festival") and the other the [Last Night of the Proms](/wiki/The_Proms "The Proms").

Boyle promised a ceremony with which everyone would feel involved; he said, "I hope it will reveal how peculiar and contrary we are – and how there's also, I hope, a warmth about us." Some of the set was designed with real grass turf and soil. The use of animals (40 sheep, 12 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese and 3 sheep dogs, looked after by 34 animal handlers) drew some criticism from [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)](/wiki/People_for_the_Ethical_Treatment_of_Animals "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals"). Boyle, who was being advised by the [RSPCA](/wiki/RSPCA "RSPCA"), assured PETA that the animals would be well cared for. After the press conference, much commentary in the UK Press was negative and attracted "hundreds of comments online completely supporting...the view that the opening ceremony would be a disaster."

The overwhelming majority of the music used was British. The team worked next door to the office of the musical director for the closing ceremony, [David Arnold](/wiki/David_Arnold "David Arnold"), and so hearing each other's music there was a scramble to claim a particular song first. [A.R. Rahman](/wiki/A.R._Rahman "A.R. Rahman"), who worked with Boyle on *[Slumdog Millionaire](/wiki/Slumdog_Millionaire "Slumdog Millionaire")* and *[127 Hours](/wiki/127_Hours "127 Hours")*, composed a [Punjabi](/wiki/Punjabi_language "Punjabi language") song 'Nimma Nimma' to showcase [Indian influence in the UK](/wiki/India%E2%80%93United_Kingdom_relations "India–United Kingdom relations"), according to Boyle's wishes. More Indian music was also scheduled for inclusion in the medley. [Paul McCartney](/wiki/Paul_McCartney "Paul McCartney") was to be the ceremony's closing act.

[Sebastian Coe](/wiki/Sebastian_Coe%2C_Baron_Coe "Sebastian Coe, Baron Coe") was instrumental in asking the Queen to take part, responding positively when Boyle first pitched the *Happy and Glorious* film sequence featuring the Queen. Boyle suggested that the Queen be played either a lookalike, or by a world\-class actress such as [Helen Mirren](/wiki/Helen_Mirren "Helen Mirren"), in a location to double as Buckingham Palace. Coe asked [Princess Anne](/wiki/Princess_Anne "Princess Anne"), a [British member of the IOC](/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_International_Olympic_Committee "List of members of the International Olympic Committee") and [LOCOG](/wiki/LOCOG "LOCOG"), what she thought, and she told him to ask the Queen. Coe presented the idea to the Queen's Deputy Private Secretary.*Our Queen*, documentary film, first broadcast on ITV on 17 March 2013\. Boyle was surprised to hear that the Queen would be happy to play herself, and wanted a speaking part. Filming took place in late March 2012, and *Happy and Glorious* was produced by the BBC, as was the opening film sequence *Journey along the Thames*.

Changes were still being made to the programme in the final days before the ceremony: a [BMX](/wiki/BMX "BMX") bike section was dropped due to time constraints, and the 'Pandemonium' and 'Thanks..Tim' sections were edited down. In 2016 Boyle recounted how he had come under pressure from [Jeremy Hunt](/wiki/Jeremy_Hunt "Jeremy Hunt"), then the [Olympics and Culture Secretary](/wiki/Secretary_of_State_for_Digital%2C_Culture%2C_Media_and_Sport "Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport"), to cut back the NHS section, which he had saved only by threatening to resign and take the volunteers with him.

Two full dress and technical rehearsals took place in the Olympic stadium, on 23 and 25 July, in front of an audience of 60,000 comprising volunteers, cast members' families, competition winners, and others connected to the Games. Boyle asked them not to 'spoil the surprise' by using the hashtag \#savethesurprise on social media, keeping the performance a secret for the hundreds of millions who would watch on the Friday night.


Are there other ways that Boyle could have incorporated more Indian music into the medley?