Ultimate James Bond Trivia

Posted by Mark on Jun 12, 2007 | 2 Comments

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Film: Dr No (1962).
Trivia:

• Sean Connery heard the song Under The Mango Tree so many times during filming that he developed a phobia for the fruit.
• The name of the island Crab Key was chosen because it is an anagram of Car Key B, writer Ian Fleming’s favourite key for opening his car.
• Although Jack Lord ended up playing Felix Leiter in the movie he originally auditioned for the role of Conch Shell #2 in the beach scene with Ursula Andress.

Film: From Russia With Love (1963).
Trivia:

• It was impossible to get the rats to run correctly in the catacombs so cats in rat costumes and camera trickery were used instead.
• Sean Connery refused to buy any lucky heather while filming at the gypsy camp and was subsequently cursed with an inability to render any foreign accents convincingly.

Film: Goldfinger (1964).
Trivia:

• Ian Fleming became incandescent with rage after the censors insisted that Honor Blackman’s character be named ‘Pussy Galore’ rather than ‘Cuntflaps O’Houlihan’.
• Harold Sakata – who played Oddjob – became so attached to his bowler hat that he became a stockbroker on the London exchange. He lost everything in the global jambalaya downturn of 1979.

Film: Thunderball (1965).
Trivia:

• The apparatus that allows Bond to breathe underwater was made from two tampons but Sean still doesn’t know and you mustn’t tell him.
• The jetpack Bond uses in the escape from the chateau was real. However, the helmet was a hollowed-out watermelon.
• The frogmen fighting sequence is generally regarded as one of the longest and most tedious moments in cinematographic history.

Film: You Only Live Twice (1967).
Trivia:

• Literal translations for this movie’s title in other countries include: "Mr Bond In Outer Space" (Canada), "Ninjas, Ninjas, Ninjas" (Ethiopia), and "Worst. Japanese. Impression. Ever." (Japan)
• Connery’s obsession with tentacle rape anime started during production of this film.
• The cat stroked by Blofeld in earlier Bond movies could not reappear due to other commitments and a replacement was used.

Film: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).
Trivia:

• In the film Draco’s favourite drink is Corsican Brandy. However, in real life actor Gabriele Ferzetti claims he likes nothing better than bleach.
• George Lazenby and Diana Rigg’s rocky relationship on set is legendary but very few people realise this stems from them being born conjoined twins separated by a paper guillotine at age 7.

Film: Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
Trivia:

• Despite the looks, Mr Kidd was actually the "man" in his and Mr Wint’s relationship.

Film: Live And Let Die (1973).
Trivia:

• Jane Seymour became so proficient with the tarot cards during filming that she accurately foresaw her future role as Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman.
• The scene where two panthers mate viciously and then one is sliced open to reveal a small baby with Roger Moore’s face was cut from the final release of the movie.

Film: The Man With The Golden Gun (1974).
Trivia:

• The superfluous nipple gimmick was added at the last moment as Christopher Lee found the superfluous buttock too uncomfortable to wear in seated scenes.
• The bullet in the belly dancer’s belly button was swallowed five times accidentally by Moore and twice on purpose after he acquired the taste.

Film: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
Trivia:

• Stromberg clearly has webbed hands in several scenes in the movie. Less obvious is his dorsal fin.

Film: Moonraker (1979).
Trivia:

• A spin-off movie entitled The Adventures Of Senor Jaws was written but never produced. The script was later adapted as Mr Bean instead.
• NASA’s original space shuttles more closely resembled peanuts with legs but they were so impressed with the Bond film they changed their design accordingly.

Film: For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Trivia:

• The legs on prominent display in the movie’s poster are those of Roger Moore.
• Literal translations for this movie’s title in other countries include: "Not For Your Nose" (Belgium) and "Topol Is In A Bond Film" (Israel).
• Roger Moore’s underwater scenes were performed by a stunt double as the actor was – and still is – rabid.

Film: Octopussy (1983).
Trivia:

• British censors wanted the name of the film changed to something less provocative – they suggested "Cephalopod Lady Spy Movie" – but producer Albert Broccoli threatened to destroy London with an atomic bomb and eventually got his own way.
• The character of Vijay was originally offered to legendary tennis player William Renshaw but he was unable to appear as he had died in 1904.

Film: A View To A Kill (1985).
Trivia:

• The medal awarded to Bond by the Russians – the Order of Lenin – is real and entitles the owner to two hours free parking in Red Square on weekends.
• Other actors considered for the role of Zorin included: Matthew Broderick, Kenny Baker, and Fred Savage.
• Grace Jones was reportedly quite a handful to work with on the set of the film and was frequently distracted by rodeo clowns to protect Christopher Walken from her rage.
• Simon Le Bon wanted to appear in the movie but the producers sat him down and pointed out he couldn’t act to save his life.

Film: The Living Daylights (1987).
Trivia:

• The exterior of the hotel in Morocco where Kara drugs Bond is the Hotel Arabian Sands. I know this because I stayed there. The interior is not the Hotel Arabian Sands. I know this because I didn’t stay anywhere that looked like that.
• The exploding milk bottles used full-fat milk for a creamier effect.
• Filming was delayed for four days when Timothy Dalton wolf-whistled inappropriately at Maryam d’Abo and lost a testicle following the detonation of the key ring in his pocket.

Film: Licence To Kill (1987).
Trivia:

• Anthony Zerbe based his character Krest on the kidnapper he played in 1977 series "The Red Hand Gang".
• The reason Felix chose Bond to be best man at his wedding was because nobody else in the CIA liked him.
• The idea of sharks attacking Felix was originally considered too gruesome for a Bond film but Timothy Dalton successfully argued that the alternative – suffocation by tribbles – might be ridiculed by zoologists.

Film: Goldeneye (1995).
Trivia:

• Alan Rickman turned down the role of Alec Trevelyan as he and Pierce Brosnan have a blood feud going back to the 1970s.

Film: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
Trivia:

• The character of Elliot Carver and plot of the film closely satirises the life of Rupert Murdoch who used stealth sheep in 1982 to start the Falklands War.
• The stealth ship was genuinely developed by Lockheed in the 1980s but it broke its mooring during a storm and nobody has been able to find it since.

Film: The World Is Not Enough (1999).
Trivia:

• Renard’s inability to feel was the second choice of affliction for the character. Early drafts indicated Robert Carlyle’s character suffered from giggling fits instead.
• The chair used to torture Bond is from Pierce Brosnan’s personal sadomasochism collection.

Film: Die Another Day (2002).
Trivia:

• During the sequences filmed in Iceland the crew were subjected to repeated attacks by Bjork who lived in a cave nearby and was overprotective of her newborn young.
• Literal translations for this movie’s title in other countries include: "Oh God It’s Halle Berry!" (Mauritius), "Oh God It’s Madonna!" (Greenland), and "Bond Versus The Space ‘Laser’" (Bermuda).

Film: Casino Royale (2006).
Trivia:

• The opening sequence was not supposed to be in black and white but director Michael Campbell bought some dodgy film from Camden Market.
• Owing to an insistence on realism wherever possible, Daniel Craig’s testicles are still the size of oranges and knotted ropes scare the bejesus out of him.