Mexico officials are offering Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. up to $20 million to portray a positive image of the country in the upcoming 'James Bond' film, 'Spectre.' Among many private documents leaked by hackers in the recent Sony hack were emails between Sony and MGM officials regarding the upcoming 'James Bond' film, looking for ways to save money, according to Tax Analysts. As part of, what the e-mails referred to as, the 'Mexican Deal,' producers are making several changes to the film to secure up to $20 million from Mexican officials including script rewrites and casting changes.  

In one email, Jonathan Glickman, president of MGM's motion picture group, wrote that producers are facing a budget for 'Spectre' far beyond what was expected. Now more than $300 million, Glickman said producers are under 'immense' pressure to reduce the film's budget to $250 million. 'This is not about 'nickel and diming' the production,' Glickman wrote. 'As of now, our shooting period is $50M higher than 'Skyfall' and the current gross budget sits in the mid $300Ms, making this one of the most expensive films ever made.' Desperate to save money, producers have reportedly given up a measure of creative control. They are so desperate in fact, that the studio allowed Mexican officials to dictate characters' ethnicities, make casting decisions, and change the occupation of an unnamed character that never appears on screen, the Independent reports.   

Among the changes, Mexico officials requested that the villain in the film be an international ambassador rather than a Mexico City mayor, that Mexican police be depicted as a 'special force,' and that a Mexican actress be cast as a Bond Girl. As was recently announced, Mexican actress Stephanie Sigman has joined the cast of 'Spectre' as Estrella. 

The film received $14 million for roughly four minutes of footage in the film's opening, Business Insider reports.  Mexico officials would reportedly give another $6 million to the film if producers highlighted the skyline and 'modern' features of Mexico City -- the film's first shooting location. Amy Pascal, then chair of Sony's motion picture group, encouraged Glickman to move forward with the changes to increase the project's eligibility for Mexico's film production incentive programs. 'We should insist they add whatever travelogue footage we need in Mexico to get the extra money,' Pascal reportedly said in an e-mail. 

However, the producer of 'Spectre' has denied claims that the script was changed to get incentives in Mexico. Producer Michael G. Wilson said that there is nothing in the script that they hadn't had before, like the villain was always an Italian and they already shot that in Rome. Officials in Mexico City have declined to comment on possible incentives offered on the movie.