James Bond will dance with the dead in Spectre

Is James Bond making the leap into zombie territory?

Not exactly. The franchise’s 24th movie Spectre (in theaters this November) is taking full advantage of the ghoulishly beautiful annual fantasia known as Mexico City’s Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead. In the newest video blog from the Official James Bond 007 Website, second-time director Sam Mendes—who helmed 2012’s record-breaking blockbuster Skyfall and won an Oscar 16 years ago for American Beauty—talks from location in Mexico about the challenges and rewards of recreating the festival for Spectre‘s opening sequence.

“Everywhere you look there’s color and detail and life,” he explains. “We’ve built floats and maquettes, the costumes are extraordinary and the craftsmanship is amazing.”

The two-minute video also features interviews with the film’s costume designer and hair and makeup supervisors. Each extra in the crowd had to look unique, so the technical team couldn’t rely on the benifits of CGI, which would normally allow them to duplicated faces and costumes for the thousands of festivalgoers. Here we’re offered a peek inside the arena-sized dressing room where 1,500 people were completly costumed and made up in less time than it takes to shop for Halloween candy.