SOELDEN, Nov 7 — The luxury ski resort of Soelden, Austria, is set to reap the benefits of serving as the backdrop to one of the most dramatic action sequences in the latest James Bond film this winter, with its mountain peaks and glass cube restaurant splashed across movie screens around the world.

It’s an endorsement that few advertising budgets can buy: A placement in Spectre which opens in theaters in the US today.

After scouting mountain-top locations across Europe, production designers settled on the sleepy ski resort town of Soelden — population 3,500 — in the South Tyrol, not only for its jagged mountain peaks but also for its Ice Q restaurant, a three-storey glass-enclosed cube that stands glinting in the sun at nearly 3,500 metres above sea level.

In the film, the restaurant doubles as a lair for Bond’s villainous foe. But in real life, the restaurant serves hearty alpine cuisine such as potato cream soup and veal schnitzel with parsley potatoes and cranberries.

Last winter, 500 cast and crew members from the film descended on the mountain to shoot a wild chase sequence featuring the resort’s gondola and ski slopes, which total 145 km across a trio of mountains that stand more than 3,000 meters tall known as the Big 3.

The longest ski trail is 15km with a 1,900m elevation change. Soelden also hosts the yearly Alpine Ski World Cup Opening.

The official season opens November 21.

The film also features scenes shot in Tangiers, Morocco, Mexico City, London and Rome. — AFP-Relaxnews