Our story of the month: March 2005

With Goldfinger you installed the classic concept for the Bond series. What have you changed in comparison with the first 007 adventures, both directed by Terence Young?

I enjoyed watchind "Dr. No" and "Russia With Love" which for me is one of the very best Bond pictures. However I began to realise that James Bond was only as good as his villains. If Mr. Big was an idiot and his henchmen just blainless musclemen then all suspense and excitement went out of the window. Bond became Superman and that's another character altogether. Fortunately Ian Fleming had given us Goldfinger and Oddjob. It was up to me to develop their characters to the best of my ability, perhaps add a touch of humour so as not to take ourselves too seriously, let the audience smile at some of the outrageous goings on, not laugh at us.

The DVD bonus material shows a screen test of actor Theodor Bikel as Goldfinger. Why didn't he make it? Did you want to have a German speaking to play the villain?

Theo Bikel was among the many actors tested or talked about. The search went on. Gert Froebe's agent sent us a reel from one of his German films. He was playing a paedophile seated on a park bench enticing a small boy with a lollipop. His powerfull presence on the screen, his acting abaility and a wicked twinckle in the eye immediately wom me over. The search was over.

(...)

You had to find a new Bond actot for Live And Let Die. Did you have any influence on this decision or did only the producers and United Artists decide about it?

Roger had been signed up about the same time as I joined the production.

Bond movies used to have a touch of science fiction. For the first time in the series you're doing a step towards fantasy and mystery with Live And Let Die: was this new style discussed a lot before production?

I personally am not a fan of science fiction or even non fiction. Whilst working on the script of Diamonds I was bored to death with the TV hysteria announcing the astronauts trip to the moon, day after day, endless computerised models of the landing etc... so much so that I came into the office and told Tom that Bond was going to be on the moon first. Hence our moon buggy sequence.

In Live And Let Die our hero isn't presented in the pre-title sequence, altough there is a new guy starring as Bond. British actor Michael Sheard mentioned in his books that the originally was to play in a totally different pre-title sequence for this movie. It's about a penthouse garden on top of a skycraper and a data exchange with the help of contact lenses. Bond would have been part of that. what can you tell us about this?

Never heard of it.

Till today Live And Let Die holds the most action scenes in a Bond movie. Are you proud of that?

If you say so. I would rather be judged on the quality of an action sequence than the number.

There's no casino scene in Live And Let Die, Moore wears no tuxedo. Did you intend to draw a clear line between him and Sean Connery this way?

Yes. Let's give Roger a chance to establish his own Bond.

How about Roger Moore's part in the action sequences in your movies? Did he make a lot of his own stunts?

A lot of rubbish is talked about stars and their stunts. It makes them sound so macho. Less so today when specialised computerised effects allow the star to dive off the top of a 20 storey building and land in a wet sponge or jump in perfect safety from one blazing truck onto the roof of a police can going in the other direction, in perfect safety. In the pre-computerised days stunts were real and dangerous. Only a very stupid director will let his star take a risk even though the actor is anxious and capable of doing it. But supposing it doesn't come off?

He falls awarkelly. Sprains his ankle. Can't walk properly for ten days let alone run. You can only film him seated in a chair. Can't even do that. He's got a bad scratch across his forhead. Nothing else to shoot so the production closes down. I am always nervous when my star runs down a wet street at night. New shoes, they forgot to give him the rubber soled ones etc...

And that's not a stunt - just normal filmmaking.

Roger can't run for toffee but is an exceptionally strong swimmer, so I was always happy to let him loose with boats.

(...)

Was the fact that Chistopher Lee is a cousin of Ian Fleming of any importance when he was cast as Scaramanga?

Of no importance whatsoever. I just thought he'd make a splendid Scaramanga.

Another villain in The Man With The Golden Gun is Hai Fat. We've heard that there was also his evil brother Lo Fat in the first script. For which reason was this funny idea dropped?

Tom and I were forever taking pictures in Hong Kong of shops whose logo could be vulgarly interpreted. High Fat and Low Fat became family jokes which I'm glad to say died the death they deserved.

The Man With The Golden Gun is perhaps the most exotic Bond movie ever. Scaramanga's Island was a tough location. Today it's known as the "James Bond Island" and is visited by thousands of tourists from all over the world. What do you think about that? Have you ever been there again since 1974?

In the 50' I had been location hunting for my boss, Carol Reed, in Indochina, later to become Vietnam and was fascinated by the rock formations sprouting out of the sea in the Baie d'Alons, off of the coast of Hanoi.

(...)

Is it true that you were involved in the pre-production of The Spy Who Loved Me?

Yes.

Read our previous stories of the month

August - September - October - November - December 2003

January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December 2004

January - February 2005