- 2 days ago
Timeshift: Looking for Mr Bond explores the long, intertwined history between James Bond and the BBC, using rarely seen archival material to trace how Britain’s most famous secret agent became a cultural icon. The documentary delves into Ian Fleming’s creation of Bond, early reactions to the novels, and the BBC’s pivotal role in shaping public understanding of the character through interviews, features, and critical commentary spanning more than five decades.
The episode presents archival interviews with all six Bond actors, offering insights into how each performer reinterpreted the role for his era—from Sean Connery’s rugged debut to Daniel Craig’s modern, emotionally complex Bond. It examines how the BBC covered the release of each new film, how Bond’s image was debated in the media, and how changing social attitudes influenced both the character and his reception.
Beyond the films, the programme looks at Bond as a broader cultural phenomenon: merchandising booms, spy-genre imitators, parodies, and academic studies that turned 007 into a subject of serious analysis. By revisiting forgotten broadcasts, behind-the-scenes footage, and contemporary critiques, the episode shows how the BBC both documented and shaped the public’s evolving relationship with James Bond.
In the end, Looking for Mr Bond paints a portrait of a fictional hero who has continually reinvented himself—and of a broadcaster that has chronicled his journey from Cold War relic to 21st-century icon.
The episode presents archival interviews with all six Bond actors, offering insights into how each performer reinterpreted the role for his era—from Sean Connery’s rugged debut to Daniel Craig’s modern, emotionally complex Bond. It examines how the BBC covered the release of each new film, how Bond’s image was debated in the media, and how changing social attitudes influenced both the character and his reception.
Beyond the films, the programme looks at Bond as a broader cultural phenomenon: merchandising booms, spy-genre imitators, parodies, and academic studies that turned 007 into a subject of serious analysis. By revisiting forgotten broadcasts, behind-the-scenes footage, and contemporary critiques, the episode shows how the BBC both documented and shaped the public’s evolving relationship with James Bond.
In the end, Looking for Mr Bond paints a portrait of a fictional hero who has continually reinvented himself—and of a broadcaster that has chronicled his journey from Cold War relic to 21st-century icon.
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TVTranscript
00:00Ever since a British secret agent named Bond,
00:28James Bond, embarked on his first mission,
00:32a large global corporation has been keeping tabs on his every move.
00:39There's such a lot of Bond to see, isn't there? Is there no end?
00:43Now, after more than 60 years of tracking 007 in print and on screen,
00:51we open up the BBC vaults to reveal the forgotten files
00:55on the world's most celebrated secret agent.
00:58The world's most famous hero assumes a natural position.
01:02He's tall and he's dark.
01:05Through candid interrogations...
01:07How much of that action do you enjoy?
01:10I enjoy all of it, particularly the love scenes.
01:13Mr. Kiss, kiss, bang, bang.
01:17Technical briefings...
01:20This lies a way to let the missile come out of the volcano.
01:26...and foreign assignments.
01:28We assess Bond's ability to survive in a changing world.
01:32The Bond movies generally are simply a licence to print money.
01:35His transgressions, his victories and his innermost secrets explored.
01:41This is the sort of question that you should not be asking.
01:45This is a licence to view James Bond.
01:49Unguarded, unrestricted and unseen.
01:52In 1964, the BBC filed a report from the United States gold bullion depository at Fort Knox.
02:10And their man on the ground bore more than a passing resemblance to the spy himself.
02:19Incidentally, that's not Fort Knox.
02:21It's a film set here, Goldfinger in Buckinghamshire, Pinewood.
02:26And I'm not James Bond. He's a fictitious character.
02:29Sean Connery had taken a break from filming Goldfinger to reveal for the BBC, for the very first time, the true identity of Bond's armourer, Q.
02:41My name's Boothroyd, Geoffrey Boothroyd.
02:45Certain inaccuracies in the book made me write to Fleming and say that I didn't think Bond was going to last very long if he used a .25 Beretta pistol, which is a ladies gun and not a very nice lady at that.
02:58Now, this is the gun Boothroyd objected to, Bond's favourite Beretta.
03:04Bond was using the shoulder holster at the time.
03:10But his favourite holster was chamois leather, because, you see, it didn't spoil the line of the jacket.
03:15I take you over now to a film clip you see here where Major Boothroyd is convincing O7, in the company of M, of Fleming's mistake.
03:26From now on you carry a different gun. Show him armourer.
03:30Valter PPK. 7.65 mil with a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window.
03:36Takes a Broush silencer with very little reduction in muzzle velocity. The American CIA swear by them.
03:42Thank you, Major Boothroyd.
03:45Having exposed Q's real identity, the BBC sought to uncover the model for Bond himself, but his creator proved evasive.
03:57People do connect me with James Bond simply because I happen to like some of the things that James Bond does.
04:02But he's a sort of mixture of commandos and secret service agents that I met during the war, but of course entirely fictionalised.
04:10I certainly haven't got his guts nor his very lively appetite.
04:16However, his close friend and neighbour in Jamaica was far less guarded.
04:21I think that James Bond was Ian's dream fantasy of what he would like to be, you know, ruthless and dashing and...
04:32It's got, as Ian had, a schoolboy quality.
04:35And further revelations came from a certain flirtatious secretary.
04:44The first meeting with Ian was at a reception after we'd finished from Russia with Love.
04:50And suddenly he said, Moneypenny, I want to thank you because when I first wrote about Miss Moneypenny, I described her as a tall, elegant woman with the most kissable lips in the world.
05:05And he said, you are so perfect. And he was coming closer and closer to me, much to my delight.
05:12And when he was about this far away, I said, what do you want me to say, prunes or cheese?
05:19And he said, prunes. And just as he was about to kiss me, his wife said, oh, Ian, Bedford wants to speak to you.
05:28Moneypenny may have been smitten, but there were those who did not warm to Fleming at all.
05:36As BBC viewers found out when Malcolm Muggeridge quizzed a former MI6 agent turned spy novelist.
05:43I'm not sure that Bond is a spy. Seems to me that he's more some kind of international gangster with, as he said, a licence to kill.
05:53He's a man with unlimited movement, but he's a man entirely out of the political context.
05:59It's of no interest to Bond who, for instance, is president of the United States.
06:06But these highfalutin intellectuals had failed to notice that it was actually the president himself who had brought Bond to the world's attention.
06:14In an article for Life magazine in March 1961, John F. Kennedy had included From Russia With Love in a list of his ten favourite books.
06:24And this was just the break that two movie moguls needed.
06:28American Cubby Broccoli and Canadian Harry Saltzman had already bought the options on Fleming's novels.
06:35And with paperback sales rocketing after Kennedy's endorsement, they flew to New York to secure the deal with United Artists that would put James Bond on screen.
06:45Normally, the question from the distributor is, who is going to play in it, Cary Grant or James Mason or someone?
06:52And when you surprise him by telling him you don't want a known name in there, you want an unknown, he's further confused and it's a little more difficult to get the financing.
07:01But under pressure to cast a leading man, the producers stood their ground for a little known Scottish actor called Sean Connery, who they believed best displayed the degree of masculine virility that Bond demanded.
07:16Colby and I went through, I would say, 200 actors. I like the way he moved. And the fact that he had a lot of acting experience. But he moves extremely well. There's only one other actor who moves as well as he is, Albert Finnery. He moves like cats. Very light. He's a big man to be light on his feet. It's most unusual.
07:38However, Fleming remained equivocal, thinking Connery to be an overdeveloped stuntman without the social graces to play his hero. But his opinion was swayed when female friends of his pronounced Connery as most definitely having it.
07:56I met Fleming two or three times and we got on very, very well. I liked him enormously. He had such curiosity and his knowledge was so wide. Terrible snob, but terrific companion. But I think in the main, he wanted somebody unknown. So that they would not overshadow the character of James Bond.
08:27To the British public, James Bond perfectly caught the mood of the times and brought a sense of reassurance to a country in the grip of Cold War spy mania.
08:38If there was a third man, were you in fact the third man?
08:41No, I was not.
08:43Well, he's a free agent, as I said, at the present time to go as he pleases.
08:47Dr. No, released on the same day as the Beatles' first single, introduced a new emblem for a modern Briton.
08:59And when Bond's silhouette, or rather that of stuntman Bob Simmons,
09:03came sauntering across cinema screens, audiences broke into spontaneous applause.
09:10It was with Goldfinger, the third film in the series, that the producers served up their winning cocktail. And the pre-title sequence is a stimulating aperitif of its own with all the Bond ingredients.
09:27Beginning with a typically witty gadget, the sequence combined sleek interior sets, stylish posturing,
09:40flagrant seduction of a dispensable femme fatale and graphic violence, all culminating in a perfectly delivered throwaway line
09:57and a door slam to cue a knockout song.
10:02As both an establishment figure and icon of pop culture, James Bond was an easy target during what was the
10:32satire boom of the early 1960s.
10:43Surely Bessie doesn't think much of you, for a start. I mean, she says, you've got a cold finger, Goldfinger.
10:51How she ever found that out, I don't know, but that's her.
10:55Casino Royale, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia With Sex.
11:00Fish finger, he's the mouth of a man with a fishy air, a fishy stir.
11:11For your thighs only, doctor in the know, carry-on spy, moon finger and mutt breaker.
11:19Oh well, there goes Cuba.
11:25There's such a lot of Bond to see, isn't there? Is there no end?
11:28We're proud to present tonight Bye Bye Bondi, the latest, indeed one might almost say the last episode, in 007.
11:37It was a black-letter day for Bond. He received the summon and lost no time and gave him the office of M, his chief.
11:42When Bond entered, M was inscrutable, as always.
11:47David Frost's co-host, Double M, Millicent Martin, would spoof Bond on her own show, and her choice of guest star would prove prophetic.
11:58Perhaps, monsieur, would like to take drinks on Sir Matthew?
12:02Yes.
12:02That's quite a nice little casino you've got now.
12:06It was almost as if he was auditioning for the part, a decade early.
12:11A nice secluded corner.
12:13Over there, Mr Bond?
12:16Yes, well, I am on holiday. Thank you.
12:19Yes, Mr Smith.
12:28Oh, oh.
12:29Yes, and I'm 007, as if you didn't know.
12:31James Bond, what are you doing at my hotel?
12:34And what may I ask, is Sonia Slakova, Russia's master spy, doing staying at my hotel?
12:48By 1965, nothing, it seemed, could match Bond.
12:52Not even the Beatles.
12:55The soundtrack to Goldfinger outsold the mop tops.
12:58And during the filming of Thunderball in the Bahamas, Bond mania reached new heights, or rather, further depths.
13:08A press release given to the BBC on location described the hysteria around Connery when a group of American students swam out to his filming boat.
13:22Speak to us, one of them called to him.
13:25You are our leader, and we are your people.
13:34The globe-trotting spy was now a trend-setting brand, whose personality and paraphernalia saturated public life.
13:42The Bond films set a complete style and had a tremendous influence on design and throughout the whole range of the visual arts.
13:54Did it come as a surprise to you that, in fact, the population took up many of the sort of Bond images and carried them into life?
14:01We never expected that tremendous success, but after the first, we saw there was a market, the second we very carefully accentuated the successful parts.
14:15Bond's iconic car from Goldfinger, the Aston Martin DB5, proved a gift for merchandisers.
14:22And Corgi's miniature version would go on to sell in its millions.
14:27Whoops, hello there.
14:29Now, this is the star of the show, I think, because this is the model of the car that was made for James Bond in Goldfinger.
14:35You press that knob there, out come the two overriders and the machine guns.
14:41Now, you've got somebody sitting next to you in the car and you don't like him, just watch the roof.
14:46Whee, out he comes, there goes Oddjob.
14:47Now, every child could have their very own Bond gadget.
14:52Or, if you had the clout, you could just pop along to the factory and pick up a scale model for your son.
15:02But some BBC pundits were worried that Bond, as a commodity, was just a smokescreen for a character with very little depth.
15:10There's no mystery about James Bond.
15:13It's too easy, you see, with all this imitation equipment.
15:18The man himself is nothing, with due respect, Mr. Conrad.
15:22Personally, I have never been able to collapse into the arms of Mr. Bond.
15:27I see a sort of new hero emerging now.
15:31And the new one on the way is the transvestite.
15:34As production began on the next Bond Bonanza, and amidst rumours that Connery was getting itchy feet in the role,
15:53the BBC undertook a more probing investigation into the current state of 007.
15:58And for such a special assignment, they sent in their top man.
16:05Japan Pinewood style, and the first day shooting on the fifth film in the cinema's most spectacular saga,
16:12they are spending £3 million on You Only Live Twice, but it'll probably earn ten times that around the world.
16:19To write the script, which involved an entirely different plot to the book,
16:24the producers had drafted in an old charm of Ian Fleming's.
16:28But for the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, writing a Bond film would be a very different confection.
16:35Did you have a certain number of things that you had to do?
16:38For example, Bond normally goes through women in a film, doesn't he?
16:42What do you mean by going through them?
16:43Well, he disposes of them. They get killed, they sacrifice themselves.
16:46Yes. Are you up to a restaurant?
16:49There's no question that you must stick to that sort of formula, I think,
16:55because I asked that when I went in first.
17:00They said, oh, yes.
17:02I said, he wants a woman, doesn't he, to chase around and fall in love with him?
17:07And they said, well, three would be better.
17:12Wicker was on hand to watch the pre-title sequence being shot.
17:16Better, huh?
17:18No, just different.
17:20Like, the King Duck is different from Kappa.
17:23A clever tease in which Dahl flipped Bond's weakness for women into his undoing.
17:29Darling, I give you very best, Duck.
17:31Well, that'd be lovely.
17:33We've had some interesting times together, Ling.
17:36I'd be sorry to go.
17:37So James Bond's been shot where it hurts most, in bed.
17:54As Wicker slipped deeper under the covers...
17:56Test three, take one.
17:58You are a slippery customer, aren't you?
18:00He turned his beady eye onto a bevy of girls, submitting themselves to the casting session.
18:07Bond's birds seldom last more than ten minutes before something frightful happens to them.
18:12But during their brief, passionate posturing, they brave piranhas and death rays
18:16for the pleasure of sharing his bedroom and his vodka martinis.
18:20What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
18:25You're a handsome-looking brute.
18:30Eager to surrender their cinematic all, they're screen-tested.
18:35They're still not exposed to the real James Bond.
18:38They have to make love to his substitute.
18:39And to better understand the Bond girl vetting process,
18:46Wicker sounded out the film's director, Lewis Gilbert.
18:50Well, you know, there's a sort of classic tradition of Bond girls.
18:53Yeah.
18:53But this one is a German or Swedish girl.
18:56Yeah.
18:57But obviously she must be pretty glamorous.
18:59But we are trying to do something different with a Bond girl.
19:02This time we'd like to try and find somebody who can act.
19:04So what's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?
19:09Is it a bit too disfiguring when she goes very hard in?
19:16Yeah.
19:17Yeah.
19:17After the kiss, let him have his main speech.
19:19Mm-hmm.
19:22But as Wicker found out when he followed the production to Japan,
19:26wherever in the world Bond went,
19:28there was an expectation to conform to his values.
19:33The armour pearl-diving girls went on strike,
19:36frightened of overexposure.
19:38They're actually starlets and models.
19:40There's even a Lyft girl from the Tokyo Hilton.
19:43But east is east,
19:44and none of these big city pearl divers
19:46wanted to be photographed in a bikini.
19:48They resisted the American public relations man
19:51who was after some Japanese cheesecake.
19:53Mike, let me explain what I'm in front of you.
19:55I understand what you want.
19:56You don't understand what...
19:57I want to get all of them lined up...
19:59Right.
20:00...in modern bathing costumes.
20:01Right.
20:01And they don't want to take off their...
20:02Yes.
20:03No.
20:04They don't want to.
20:05I don't care what they want.
20:07What's the trouble, Gabby?
20:09What is in front of you?
20:09Oh, it's not really serious.
20:12We have eight armour girls,
20:16or girls who are supposed to be armour girls.
20:18They're Japanese types.
20:20And the production department is having a difficult time
20:24getting them to remove their...
20:27Not their braziers or anything,
20:28just their outer garment.
20:31They feel that they're...
20:32You know, they're not accustomed to walking around in bikinis.
20:37Not until broccoli got there they weren't.
20:39But there was further trouble in paradise,
20:47and Wicker's cameras were there to capture the bond wagon
20:50slowly coming off the rails.
20:52Now, he's an actor.
20:53He's here to do a job.
20:54He's not just a publicity idol for them.
20:59Now, he's here,
21:00and he has not been given the privilege and respect of Japan
21:04for a certain amount of privacy.
21:05Connery felt he was no longer a human being,
21:09but a public institution,
21:11and not so much an actor as a commodity.
21:15With fears of becoming typecast,
21:17of being overshadowed by gadgets
21:18and a gargantuan man-made volcano,
21:21Connery thought it was time to hang up his holster.
21:24I'm very tired,
21:25because I've been...
21:27I'd say it's a long uphill grind.
21:31I've had a long sort of innings, as it were,
21:34and very intense innings,
21:36and I want to change direction now,
21:39take another breath and do something else.
21:42So this is your last Bond film?
21:44Yes.
21:47With Sean Connery's departure,
21:49the Bond franchise faced its first crisis.
21:53Connery had owned the part completely,
21:55and a replacement seemed unthinkable,
21:57although Cubby Broccoli remained optimistic.
22:02This won't stop us from making another Bond,
22:04because an audience out there want to see it.
22:06We present what we have for their approval.
22:08You'd have a headache breaking in a new Bond, actually,
22:10wouldn't you, after five?
22:12Everything is a headache.
22:13In early 1968,
22:18the hunt was on for an actor to fill Connery's shoes,
22:22when a 29-year-old Australian model
22:24and used car salesman called George Lazenby
22:28suddenly swaggered into Broccoli and Saltzman's office.
22:32I was standing there in a Connery suit,
22:35a Connery haircut, Rolex watch,
22:37crossed arms, saying,
22:38I heard you're looking for James Bond.
22:41Broccoli had deep reservations about hiring a clothes peg,
22:45as he referred to Lazenby.
22:46So, over four months,
22:48they tested him against the rest of the cast,
22:51until finally Harry Saltzman said
22:52he wanted to see Lazenby in a fight scene.
22:56They got this big Russian guy.
22:58Well, I knocked him on his butt,
22:59because I didn't know how to miss.
23:01And I thought, oh, my God,
23:02when this guy gets up, he's going to kill me.
23:03He's a real Russian wrestler, you know.
23:05But he was OK.
23:06And Harry stepped over him and says,
23:08we're gone with you.
23:16Aside from the small matter of finding a new Bond,
23:20On Her Majesty's Secret Service would see him get hitched.
23:23And in choosing an actress of Diana Rigg's calibre,
23:26the producers hoped to increase the power
23:28of the film's romantic scenes.
23:30The BBC caught up with Rigg on location in Portugal
23:33to ask her what she felt the issues were
23:36for women in Bond's world.
23:38From the woman's point of view,
23:39mainly the fact that the women are victims.
23:43And in our society, at the moment,
23:45women are being very busy
23:46trying to prove that they aren't victims.
23:48But Ian Fleming definitely, definitely
23:50puts them in sort of subsidiary position.
23:53And Bond uses them.
23:54They are vessels,
23:55either for his lust
23:57or to get to the big bad boss or something.
24:02You know, they are ciphers.
24:04They're not real people.
24:07Alongside Rigg,
24:08these ciphers come in the form of a deadly harem
24:11under the control of the arch-villain, Blofeld.
24:14But in this story,
24:15Fleming at last allows Bond to fall in love.
24:20In a sense, it's a game,
24:21but also it's quite a clever trick
24:23because the man who heretofore
24:26has been absolutely unobtainable
24:28suddenly decides, through love or whatever,
24:33to marry this girl.
24:35And he subscribes.
24:38But Ian Fleming only allows him
24:41to subscribe for an hour
24:42after his wedding.
24:44And then I get a bullet through one ear
24:46and out the other.
24:54It's Blofeld.
24:57It's Blofeld.
25:03You know, it's quite a good trick
25:06because it means that
25:06he has all the right motives
25:10deep down underneath.
25:12In other words,
25:13he is prepared to get married
25:14if he loves the girl.
25:16But then, by some terrible trick of fate,
25:19she's taken away from him.
25:21And he's suddenly available
25:22for all those females again.
25:24Slightly embittered, you know.
25:26But becoming Bond
25:27was to leave Lazenby embittered too.
25:30Reports had circulated
25:31that he was awkward and arrogant on set,
25:34overwhelmed by the responsibility
25:36of the role.
25:37The critics, rather brutally,
25:39founded him with such comments as,
25:41his lines carry about as much conviction
25:43as an insecticide salesman
25:45at a fleece circus.
25:46But in spite of the critics,
25:47Mr Lazenby appears to know his own mind
25:50and has maintained a stubborn sense
25:51of individuality.
25:53He grew a beard, for instance,
25:54and refused to shave it off
25:55for the film premiere.
25:58And I said,
25:58well, anyone,
25:59anyone can understand
26:00that James Bond
26:01isn't a real person.
26:02And they're not going to mind
26:03the fact that I haven't had a shave
26:05for a month.
26:06Everyone knows that James Bond
26:08must have a beard,
26:09even though you never see it
26:10in the film.
26:10Well, what about the reports
26:12that you were deliberately awkward
26:13and hostile?
26:14Well, they were true in a way
26:16because I was very uptight
26:18lots of the times
26:20because I didn't understand
26:21exactly what was going on.
26:23And the only person you could ask,
26:26the only person who knew
26:27what was going on
26:27was the director.
26:28And he didn't really feel
26:30that an actor
26:32was important in the role.
26:34He felt that you could get any guy,
26:36I'd put him in that part
26:37and make him James Bond,
26:38providing he looked similar
26:40to what the public feel
26:42James Bond looks like.
26:44And this came,
26:45that vibration came off the director
26:46onto me all the time.
26:52Lazenby had begun to feel
26:53that Bond wasn't quite as far out
26:55as he could be in 1969.
26:57This was now the era of peace,
26:59not war, he thought.
27:03Well, how about the director?
27:04Did he agree with your idea of Bond?
27:06Well, no, they had a set formula,
27:08which was a winner,
27:10previous,
27:11and you can't blame them
27:12for not agreeing with me
27:13because I, as a learner,
27:15I felt quite confident
27:16that if they did change it,
27:17you know, like putting pop music
27:19behind it
27:19rather than
27:21the sort of light music they have,
27:25and things like that,
27:27it would have lifted
27:28the whole thing up again
27:30into another decade,
27:341970.
27:38Lazenby, feeling that Bond
27:39had no place
27:40in the emerging counterculture,
27:42kept the beard
27:43and hit the road.
27:52With Lazenby gone,
27:54a plan was hatched
27:55to lure back Sean Connery,
27:57who was only too aware
27:58of the strong bargaining position
28:00he now found himself in
28:01as he candidly let slip
28:03to the BBC.
28:05Having been away for four years,
28:07I think one had made the point,
28:08too, with the lack of success
28:10of the one previous,
28:11the one that I wasn't in anyway.
28:14And coming back in
28:16to do this one,
28:17the wicket was better
28:19for me
28:20to make the conditions
28:22of not being
28:24so much a pawn
28:25in the circumstances.
28:28Also,
28:29I didn't think
28:29I got a fair piece
28:30of the cake.
28:32You mean financially?
28:33Yes.
28:35Connery had been tempted back
28:37not only with the promise
28:38of a tremendous fee,
28:40but also by the quality
28:41of the script,
28:42drafted by a young
28:43American screenwriter
28:44called Tom Mankiewicz.
28:46I hope that Guy Hamilton,
28:48the director,
28:49and myself,
28:50and with the assistance
28:51of Tom Mankiewicz,
28:52who's written the screenplay,
28:54which, incidentally,
28:55I think is probably
28:55the best one they've had,
28:57certainly construction-wise
28:59for a beginning,
29:00a middle,
29:00and an end of a story.
29:01It's very good.
29:02It's a very good script.
29:03I hope it's got enough.
29:09I think that there's
29:10humour in it.
29:12And for this moment
29:13in a Las Vegas casino,
29:14Connery and Mankiewicz
29:15shared the writing honours.
29:17Hi, I'm Plenty.
29:19But of course you are.
29:21Plenty O'Toole.
29:23Named after your father, perhaps?
29:25Would you like some help?
29:27On the craps, I mean.
29:29That's very kind of you.
29:30The camp and breezy tone
29:32of Diamonds Are Forever
29:33with its liberal use
29:34of smutty humour
29:35was a new throw of the dice
29:37for the Bond franchise.
29:39Nice, you weren't nice.
29:45To see if this gamble
29:46was paying off,
29:47the BBC dispatched
29:48one of its top entertainers
29:50to Sin City.
29:53Derek Nimmo arrived
29:54just as Connery
29:55was shooting his first scenes.
29:57A frenetic car chase
30:03on the downtown strip
30:05involving real pedestrians.
30:09And you couldn't get
30:10much closer to the action
30:11than Nimmo did
30:12as he almost found out
30:15to his peril.
30:16What the hell are you doing?
30:23Sure.
30:25What are you doing here?
30:26Derek Nimmo.
30:27I'm terribly sorry.
30:28Yes, what are you doing?
30:29Why are you driving
30:29on the pavement?
30:30Well, I'm making diamonds
30:32are forever.
30:34It's a film.
30:35Well, Phil...
30:36Oh, I see.
30:37You're not in trouble then.
30:39As a matter of fact,
30:39I rather am in trouble.
30:41You see, I was here
30:42for the gambling
30:42and I've won quite a lot, really,
30:44but I'm down now
30:46to about $1,700.
30:47I didn't quite know
30:48what to do, really.
30:49Well, if I were you,
30:50I'd get the hell out of it.
30:51Connery's swift exit
30:54after Diamonds Are Forever
30:56would cause the producers
30:57to begin their hunt
30:58for what would be
30:58the third different bond
31:00in less than four years.
31:02But many, including Connery,
31:04were feeling the series
31:05may have run its course.
31:07I came back for the one.
31:09That was the understanding.
31:10And I do the one
31:11and I've got other things
31:14I want to do.
31:15I mean, it's perfectly possible
31:17that the cycle has ended.
31:19But far from ending
31:21the cycle,
31:22it was Mankiewicz's
31:23sparkling one-liners
31:24and Connery's
31:25tongue-in-cheek approach
31:26that would set the tone
31:27for the coming films.
31:31Sean Connery
31:32was the first screen Bond,
31:33but now that he no longer
31:34plays the role,
31:35United Artists
31:35have laid him to rest.
31:37Sean who, they say?
31:38No, no, there's only one
31:39James Bond,
31:40and that's Roger Moore,
31:41who, of course,
31:41just happens to be the latest.
31:44Lowering his gun
31:45and raising his eyebrow,
31:47Roger Moore seemed to continue
31:48from where he'd left off
31:50on the Millicent Martin show
31:51back in 1964.
31:52Black Queen
31:53on the Red King,
31:55Miss...
31:56Solitaire.
31:58My name's Bond.
32:01James Bond.
32:03I know who you are,
32:05what you are,
32:06and why you have come.
32:08You have made a mistake.
32:10You will not succeed.
32:12Did Solitaire know something
32:14we didn't.
32:19Moore determined
32:20to play the role
32:21for Loves.
32:25But there were concerns
32:26as to whether he could
32:28really cut it
32:29as James Bond.
32:31When you took over
32:32from Sean Connery,
32:33because it was new
32:35and because it was different,
32:36people all said,
32:37oh, well, Roger Moore
32:38is not my idea
32:39of 007.
32:44And he's not like
32:45Sean Connery
32:46and it's all a great failure.
32:47I mean,
32:47do you mind
32:48that kind of hammering?
32:52No, not really,
32:52because I say it
32:53before they do.
32:55I think the first time
32:56they went to see
32:57Live and Let Die
32:59was just to see
33:00if I was going to be
33:01as bad
33:02as they thought
33:02I would be.
33:03With the uncertainty
33:09of a new Bond,
33:10the producers
33:11had felt panicked
33:12into chasing
33:12current cinema trends.
33:15But James Bond
33:15sat uncomfortably
33:17in both a blaxploitation milieu
33:19and a kung fu craze.
33:21Stand back, girls.
33:26In 1975,
33:28Harry Saltzman,
33:29beset by financial difficulties,
33:31was forced to sell his share
33:32in the Bond franchise
33:34to United Artists.
33:36The breakup
33:36of his winning partnership
33:37with Cubby Broccoli,
33:39together with the lukewarm reception
33:41for The Man with the Golden Gun,
33:42couldn't have come
33:43at a worse time.
33:45By the mid-1970s,
33:47film production in Britain
33:48was in harsh decline.
33:50But undeterred,
33:51Broccoli resolved
33:52to go for broke
33:53with his next venture,
33:54The Spy Who Loved Me,
33:55determined that Bond
33:57would keep
33:57the British end up.
33:58Obviously, we do make
34:02the picture
34:03for a worldwide market,
34:04and I think that's the hope
34:05of the British industry.
34:06We feel we have to
34:07do something more outrageous,
34:09more bizarre,
34:10and more unique.
34:13For Broccoli,
34:14and the Bond franchise,
34:16this would be
34:17a very symbolic
34:18leap of faith.
34:19The film's audacious
34:26opening stunt
34:26was filmed
34:27from multiple angles,
34:29but they went
34:29with a single shot,
34:31and the whole world
34:32held its breath.
34:42Such was the confidence
34:43in The Spy Who Loved Me,
34:45and the feeling
34:45that it might just prove
34:47the saviour
34:47of the British film industry.
34:49that the BBC,
34:50in collaboration
34:51with The Open University,
34:53secured unique access
34:54to the film's production,
34:56as the basis
34:57for a course
34:58unpromisingly entitled
34:59Mass Communications
35:01and Society.
35:10My name is Bond.
35:13James Bond.
35:14The resulting
35:15eight-part series
35:16examined all aspects
35:18of Bondiana,
35:19from giving Bond
35:20a new soundtrack
35:21for the 1970s...
35:23I was very anxious
35:24to write a song
35:25that I thought
35:26was completely different
35:27than any of the songs
35:28I'd ever written
35:29for the Bond films.
35:30And I also didn't want
35:31them to quite be
35:32about the villain.
35:34I wanted a song
35:34written about Bond.
35:36I thought it was time
35:36that he'd be
35:37pretentious enough
35:38and vain enough,
35:39in fact,
35:40to have a song
35:40written about him.
35:41to the usual pressures
35:44of being a Bond girl.
35:46The one thing
35:47that sometimes
35:48I don't particularly like
35:49is the...
35:52let's say the...
35:54the sex symbol part of it,
35:56as most of the Bond girls
35:58have been,
35:59because that is not
36:00at all my scene.
36:02And cameras eavesdropped
36:04as set designer
36:04Ken Adam
36:05explained his concept
36:07for the film's centerpiece
36:08to director
36:09Lewis Gilbert.
36:10My feeling is
36:11as the submarine goes in...
36:13Into darkness.
36:13Into darkness.
36:15You know,
36:15with a high fin
36:16and a honing power,
36:17I think that'll give you
36:18a very good...
36:19Because I discussed
36:20with Claude yesterday,
36:21actually,
36:21that I thought
36:22the best way
36:22of showing the set
36:23was to suddenly
36:25switch on all the lights.
36:26Yeah.
36:33A 380-foot-long set
36:35is a life-size mock-up
36:37of the interior
36:37of a 600,000-ton supertanker,
36:40containing three submarines
36:42floating in 1.2 million gallons of water.
36:46As if that wasn't enough
36:47to keep the 400 guests wondering,
36:49girls from the cast
36:50stripped off their minks
36:52in sub-zero temperatures,
36:54all in the name of publicity.
36:56The film is costing
36:57over 6 million pounds,
36:59and this set alone,
37:001 million.
37:02Appropriately,
37:03007 himself
37:04arrived in futuristic style.
37:07And then,
37:08with his adversary,
37:09a female Russian super-spy,
37:11accompanied the ex-prime minister
37:13around the world's
37:14largest film stage.
37:18Believing they had
37:19a hit on their hands,
37:20United Artists
37:21spent a record
37:224.4 million dollars
37:23on worldwide publicity.
37:25And who better to front it
37:27than the man himself?
37:29My name's Bond,
37:34James Bond,
37:34and I'm licensed to kill.
37:36There's a royal premiere tonight.
37:38It's the latest Bond,
37:39The Spy Who Loved Me.
37:40It has women,
37:41action,
37:42and me.
37:43So have you tonight
37:44on Nationwide at 6.20.
37:46I'm Roger Moore,
37:47so watch The Spy Who Loved Me,
37:49and you'll love James Bond.
37:50It still works
37:53on the third take.
37:57Roger,
37:57you do spoof
37:58the part of it,
37:59don't you?
37:59You think it's funny in a way.
38:01Well, of course.
38:02The whole thing is
38:05that you must not
38:05laugh at it.
38:07You must let the audience
38:09know that they're invited
38:10to laugh with you.
38:12And so it's all a spoof.
38:13It's fun.
38:14The film's most topical gag
38:17came in the form
38:18of its larger-than-life
38:19villain,
38:20Jaws,
38:21Bond's most formidable foe
38:24since Oddjob.
38:26This marvellous man
38:28who plays Jaws,
38:29he's seven foot two.
38:31When he was grappling
38:32with you in the railway carriage,
38:34what was it like?
38:35Was he built like a...
38:36It was hell.
38:36He is a very gentle man
38:38and very nice,
38:39but he's very heavy.
38:41When he had me
38:41squashed up against that wall,
38:43there were like 20 stone
38:45pushing this bone here
38:47right through to the back.
38:48Yeah.
38:52Bond's highly choreographed
38:54confrontations with Jaws
38:55were a large part
38:56of the film's
38:57phenomenal success.
39:13And so popular
39:17was this mighty-mouthed adversary
39:19that when the production
39:20jetted off to Rio de Janeiro
39:22for the next movie,
39:24they did the unthinkable.
39:30We've done something
39:31in this film
39:31that's never been done
39:32in any Bond film.
39:33We've had to bring him back.
39:36And really,
39:36that's partly
39:37because there's so many people
39:39around the world
39:39wrote in saying,
39:40is he going to come back?
39:42You know,
39:42and that's...
39:42So we had to bow
39:43to that kind of thing.
39:47You should stop
39:48altogether at one point
39:50and be suspended
39:51and be looking ahead
39:53at where you're,
39:54you know,
39:54at the other cable car.
39:55Right over there.
39:56So much.
39:57So...
39:58From high jinx
39:59over Rio
40:00to laser battles
40:01in outer space,
40:03Moonraker was quite simply
40:04out of this world.
40:06But James Bond
40:07would come hurtling
40:08back to Earth
40:09for an unusually
40:10close encounter.
40:12It is being said
40:13at the moment
40:14that another rival
40:15James Bond film
40:16is going to be set up
40:16with your own original
40:17James Bond,
40:18Sean Connery,
40:19playing the part.
40:20Does that worry you at all?
40:22Well, that's a legal thing.
40:25I'm not going to get
40:26into any legal
40:27discussions about it.
40:30But would it worry you
40:31if such a film
40:32weren't being made?
40:33Nothing worries me
40:33if I'm making a good film.
40:35Broccoli may have
40:36brushed off the question,
40:38but Barry Norman
40:39was on to something.
40:40And by the summer
40:41of 1983,
40:43look who was back.
40:4438.
40:45Ready, guys.
40:46Connery was in production
40:47on the aptly titled
40:49Never Say Never Again,
40:51a remake of Thunderball,
40:53the film rights of which
40:53resided with an
40:54independent producer.
40:56It seemed quite a good idea
40:58after all these years.
40:59And the moment I said,
41:00yeah, okay, I'll do it,
41:02there was a terrific for all.
41:04With Roger Moore
41:05then in production
41:05on Octopussy,
41:07the press looked
41:08to stoke up
41:08a bitter rivalry,
41:10but the 00s
41:11were having none of it.
41:13I made it
41:14quite clear
41:16at the outset
41:16that I was not
41:17in any way
41:18going to get involved
41:18in any silly race
41:20in terms of rivalry
41:21or whatever.
41:22As you well know,
41:23I've known Roger
41:2320 years or so.
41:24And I did say to him,
41:25you know,
41:26they're going to try
41:26and play a sort of
41:27hype business,
41:29but you shouldn't
41:30really pay any attention
41:31to it.
41:32And we didn't.
41:34However,
41:35the BBC hardly
41:36remained impartial
41:37themselves.
41:39Good evening
41:39from the Warner Theatre
41:40in Leicester Square
41:41where the crowds
41:42are already beginning
41:42to gather
41:43because James Bond
41:44is back.
41:45The real James Bond.
41:47At least,
41:48the real one
41:48in many people's eyes.
41:50Not Roger Moore,
41:51the pretender
41:52who has usurped
41:52the role
41:53for the last 12 years,
41:54but the original
41:55Sean Connery.
41:56Welcome back,
41:57James,
41:57I must put it to you,
41:59this is rather unfair,
42:00but I was looking up
42:00the 00 rule book
42:03and it turns out
42:03that it's automatic
42:04retirement at 45.
42:06Did you know that?
42:07Yeah, well,
42:07I've got two years yet.
42:12By the mid-1980s,
42:14James Bond
42:14had become something
42:15of a middle-aged
42:16man's fantasy.
42:17Do you hear the mottering?
42:19Do you listen out
42:19for what people are saying
42:20about the movie
42:21or about you specifically?
42:23Oh, it's Ove Moore
42:24again, they say.
42:26Oh, Rog.
42:27Roger Moore
42:28seemed to be a long way
42:29from leaping over crocodiles.
42:32Approaching 60,
42:32he now jogged about
42:33in a suede blues-on.
42:35What was it
42:36you were just
42:36running away from then?
42:37A bad cigar.
42:3938.
42:40And in rather
42:40less exotic locations.
42:43We're in the
42:43Amberley Chalkhits Museum
42:45in Sussex.
42:46It's a gold mine,
42:48presumably in San Francisco
42:50or near San Francisco.
42:51and the mines
42:54are about to be blown up
42:55to flood Silicon Valley
42:57because Zarin,
42:59Christopher Walton,
43:00is going to take over
43:01the world's production
43:02of microchips.
43:04But when the action
43:05itself involves
43:06the chief villain,
43:07a peroxide walken,
43:09escaping at five miles per hour
43:11in a mine cart,
43:13a damsel in little distress,
43:15and a blow-up
43:18Grace Jones,
43:23the writing seemed
43:25to be on the wall.
43:27A View to a Kill
43:27was to be Roger Moore's
43:29farewell to the character
43:30he had inhabited
43:31since 1973.
43:33Having led the field,
43:35Bond was now in danger
43:36of being eclipsed
43:37by a new breed of imitator,
43:39the all-American action hero.
43:41But you can't keep
43:43a good man down.
43:44A new man
43:45is about to take on
43:46the villains
43:47who want to cause
43:47mischief around the world.
43:49We have a new James Bond.
43:51After Connery,
43:52Lazenby and more,
43:54now it's Dalton,
43:55Timothy Dalton,
43:56a Welsh actor
43:57who's more used
43:58to playing Shakespeare
43:59than secret agent.
44:05And it was to be
44:06a stagey entrance.
44:08In the pre-title
44:09for The Living Daylights,
44:10not one but three
44:1200 agents
44:13are presented to us
44:14in a training exercise
44:15on the Rock of Gibraltar.
44:20But it's only when
44:21one of them
44:21falls to his death
44:22that we first catch sight
44:24of a new,
44:25hard-edged James Bond,
44:27both brooding
44:28and Byronic.
44:31And inevitably,
44:33the comparison game began.
44:34Well, how will the new James Bond
44:37differ from his various predecessors?
44:39I don't make those comparisons.
44:42I have a script
44:44called The Living Daylights,
44:45a character called James Bond,
44:47and I did my best
44:50to make it as well as I can.
44:52I can't think of copying
44:56or being different to.
44:57I've tried to be original.
45:00I studied the books
45:01and tried to bring
45:02that bond
45:03into this film.
45:06I'll be a comment
45:06in the story of Julian.
45:13How much of the stunt work
45:14does Timothy Dalton
45:15do himself?
45:16This is the sort of question
45:18that you should not be asking.
45:21Cinema is magic.
45:23When people pay their money
45:25and go and sit inside a cinema,
45:26they must believe.
45:29And programmes like this,
45:30I mean,
45:32betray all our tricks.
45:34You wouldn't expect a conjurer
45:35or a magician
45:36to give his tricks away.
45:38Now, the truth of the matter
45:39is that I do as much action
45:41as I can.
45:42That is,
45:46until it came
45:46to the bedroom action,
45:48which would see Dalton's bond
45:49forego the usual casual liaisons
45:51for a Hitchcockian love story.
45:57Take me on the wheel.
45:59I think this film,
46:00it's not just an action-adventure film.
46:02It's the first time
46:03you've seen what could be called
46:04a romantic,
46:06mystery thriller.
46:08There's an honest
46:09and good relationship
46:10with the leading lady.
46:12However,
46:13the press were keen
46:13to make Bond's monogamy
46:15more topical
46:15than the producers
46:16had perhaps intended,
46:18with headlines
46:18that this was a safe sex bond
46:20for the AIDS era.
46:22But a more likely explanation
46:24is that it was all part
46:26of Dalton's aim
46:26to return to Ian Fleming's bond,
46:29who was far from being
46:30the kind of Casanova
46:31that everyone imagined.
46:33He has one girl
46:35per book,
46:36approximately,
46:37and that's one a year.
46:38I think that's,
46:39he's a bachelor,
46:40and he moves
46:41around the world
46:42pretty rapidly
46:43and I didn't see
46:45any great harm
46:45in that myself.
46:47Fleming's bond
46:48is a man who
46:51often was extremely vulnerable.
46:54You read passage
46:55after passage
46:55after passage
46:56throughout the books
46:57where his insides
46:59were taut
47:00and wrenching
47:01with nerves,
47:02where, you know,
47:03you'd have to have a drink
47:04or a pill
47:04just to stay calm
47:05in order to do
47:06the job he had to do.
47:10Coming hard on the heels
47:11of Roger Moore's
47:12long and light-hearted reign,
47:14the world was not quite ready
47:16for Dalton's taught
47:17and unsmiling secret agent.
47:19His second outing,
47:21Licence to Kill,
47:22still rated the most violent
47:24Bond film to date,
47:25would be his last.
47:27And by the early 1990s,
47:28the franchise
47:29was in jeopardy,
47:30plagued by a series
47:32of legal disputes
47:33over copyright.
47:35This was a time
47:35of dramatic political shifts
47:37in Europe
47:38and 007,
47:39the quintessential
47:40Cold War hero,
47:41suddenly seemed obsolete.
47:45It was to be
47:46the longest hiatus
47:47in Bond's film history,
47:50but in 1994,
47:52he was back.
47:54Pierce Brosnan,
47:55the new Bond,
47:56unveiled a few minutes ago,
47:57made his name
47:58as an action man
47:59in the U.S. TV series
48:00Remington Steel.
48:01Now he has to prove
48:02the Bond formula
48:03and the character
48:04can still work
48:05in the 90s.
48:07It was a shaky start,
48:09though,
48:09as shown when the BBC
48:10caught Brosnan off guard.
48:13Well, now I'm joined
48:13from central London
48:14by the new 007
48:16Pierce Brosnan.
48:17Pierce Brosnan,
48:17congratulations.
48:18Are you going to be
48:19bringing anything new
48:20to this role?
48:22Myself, I'm new.
48:24Yes, but what's
48:25going to be different?
48:26Well, I think we have
48:28a, with the story
48:30outline we've got now,
48:31we have...
48:32He hadn't a clue,
48:35but by the time
48:35cameras caught up
48:36with him on location,
48:37he was the model Bond.
48:40The main task at hand
48:41is really getting this film
48:43and telling the story,
48:44and we are doing that.
48:47We have a wonderful
48:47director, Martin Campbell,
48:49who's very hungry for this,
48:51and likewise myself
48:52and wanted to get it right.
48:54For a new Bond
48:55and a new director,
48:57it was a daunting task.
49:01What we're filming today
49:02is the streets
49:03of St Petersburg.
49:04We built the set
49:05here at Leighton,
49:06as you can see.
49:07We have an 18-week shoot.
49:08I've got four units
49:09at any one time.
49:10Right, you can hear them
49:11all yelling and screaming
49:12around the corner.
49:13Probably want me
49:13to get round there.
49:14On the day we turned up
49:15on set,
49:16Brosnan was concerned
49:17that we weren't seeing Bond
49:19in quite the right light.
49:21I'm going to be doing
49:21action tomorrow.
49:23I will be more Bond
49:25tomorrow,
49:25I promise you, Barry.
49:26I'm sorry it's a bit
49:27boring today,
49:28but this is all she wrote.
49:33Tomorrow I have the gun
49:34and I have the girl.
49:36And Brosnan was true
49:37to his word.
49:39And action!
49:41The next day,
49:42he swapped his Russian
49:43runaround for something
49:44a bit bigger.
49:45in a scene that took
49:46six weeks to film.
50:15As well as witty
50:19action scenes,
50:20director Martin Campbell,
50:21together with his
50:22screenwriters,
50:23set about bringing
50:24back the familiar,
50:25such as Bond's old
50:26Aston Martin DB5.
50:31But there was nothing
50:32predictable about
50:33their recasting of M
50:34and in handing her the line
50:37that had been coming to Bond
50:38for more than 30 years.
50:40I think you're a sexist,
50:42misogynist dinosaur,
50:44a relic of the Cold War,
50:45whose boyish charms,
50:47though wasted on me,
50:48obviously appeal to that
50:48young woman I sent out
50:49to evaluate you.
50:51Point taken.
50:53Stella Rimmington,
50:54the director general
50:55of MI5 at the time,
50:56was convinced that they
50:58had merged fact and fiction
50:59in casting Judy Dench.
51:01I can't imagine
51:03that had my appointment
51:04not been publicly announced,
51:06the producers of the
51:07James Bond film
51:08would ever have thought
51:08of making M a woman.
51:11I was quite taken aback,
51:12actually,
51:12because she did look
51:14quite like I looked
51:15in those days.
51:16I had a jacket
51:17without a collar
51:17and a sort of
51:18three-quarter length,
51:19which is exactly
51:20what she was wearing.
51:21But despite their similarities,
51:26the true inspiration
51:27for a female M
51:28was revealed on Pebble Mill
51:29by no less than
51:31the former Miss Moneypenny
51:32herself.
51:34Cubby Broccoli
51:35called me to say
51:36that they wouldn't
51:37be using me,
51:38and I said,
51:38well, that's all right,
51:39because I want to play M.
51:41So all those years ago,
51:43I had given them the idea
51:44that there would be
51:45a tremendous element
51:47of surprise
51:48if the new Bond
51:49walked into M's office.
51:52The chair swiveled around
51:54and there was Moneypenny,
51:56and she never called him
51:57James again
51:58because she was the boss.
52:00Did I see the other day
52:00that the Judi Dench
52:01has been cast in that part?
52:02Yes, and I feel
52:03rather betrayed,
52:04actually.
52:05I bet you do.
52:05Yes.
52:06Because it should have been me,
52:08and even if,
52:10I mean,
52:10she's a lovely actress,
52:11but it just should have been me.
52:15Across four films,
52:17P.S. Brosnan
52:17successfully reinvigorated
52:19the franchise
52:20and turned Bond
52:21once again
52:22into a major
52:23box office attraction.
52:30But with 2002's
52:32Die Another Day,
52:33they stretched believability
52:34beyond the limit.
52:37James Bond
52:37was now at the mercy
52:38of CGI,
52:40be it an invisible car
52:41or even
52:42kite surfing
52:43a tsunami.
52:44The last seven years
52:48have gone very quickly.
52:50You, you know,
52:51there's a certain,
52:51obviously, maturity,
52:53and just as you're
52:53getting the hang of it,
52:54they're talking about
52:54someone else coming along.
52:56Show business.
52:57It's always been like this.
52:58I remember when
52:58Connery stepped down,
53:00it was like,
53:00who's going to be
53:01the next guy?
53:02So it's the big circus,
53:03and the family,
53:04the Broccoli family,
53:04have always done it
53:05really well.
53:06Sure enough,
53:07two years later,
53:07with talk of his
53:08fifth Bond film,
53:09Brosnan learned
53:10that he would no longer
53:11be the main attraction.
53:13The circus was moving on,
53:15and its ringmasters
53:16were now scouting
53:16for a new
53:17and younger man
53:18to top the bill.
53:22We have decided
53:24after the last film
53:25to go back
53:26to a more realistic Bond,
53:28sort of go back
53:29to basics,
53:31go back to the classic Bond,
53:32and we hope that
53:34that's something
53:35the audience will appreciate.
53:37I think people are looking
53:38for something
53:38a little less frivolous today,
53:40the world's changed a lot,
53:42and Bond always
53:44changes with the world.
53:46But the world
53:47was in for a shock.
53:50Finally,
53:51the name's Craig,
53:52Daniel Craig.
53:53After months of speculation,
53:54the coveted job
53:55of being the next 007
53:56has been landed
53:57by the 37-year-old
53:58English actor.
53:59But after four decades
54:00of tall, dark,
54:02and handsome,
54:02are we ready
54:03for the first blonde Bond?
54:05I want to make
54:05the best film we can,
54:06the most entertaining film
54:07we can,
54:08and it's not a question
54:09of redefining,
54:11but it's a question
54:11of taking it somewhere,
54:13maybe where it's
54:13never gone before.
54:15Craig had noble intentions,
54:17but for the man
54:18with the golden hair,
54:20the backlash
54:20would be vindictive.
54:23Websites were set up
54:24saying he was too ugly,
54:26too scrawny,
54:27too blonde,
54:28but any doubts
54:29the world had
54:29disappeared within minutes
54:31of Casino Royale's
54:32first major action set piece.
54:34and Jonathan Ross
54:38was on hand
54:39to talk to the principal
54:39players on location
54:41in the Bahamas.
54:43How's it working out
54:44with the crazy French man?
54:45You've got this French man
54:45who jumps off buildings
54:46for fun, I believe.
54:47Yeah, he's got quite a big part
54:49at the beginning of the movie.
54:50He's, I think,
54:51the world's best free runner,
54:52so we're including him
54:53in the action sequence
54:54right at the beginning
54:55of the movie.
54:57And it's tough,
54:57it's a very tough sequence.
54:58I have to climb
55:01on the platform
55:02and after I climb
55:04on the girder
55:06on the top
55:07and on top
55:08I have to jump
55:09to the crane
55:10and to the crane
55:11I have a fight
55:12with Bond.
55:15You know,
55:16we're not relying
55:16on a lot of CGI
55:17for this.
55:18I will be doing stuff
55:19and some of it
55:20will be me
55:21and some of it
55:21won't be me
55:21for obvious reasons.
55:23Well, can I stop here,
55:23are you going to be doing
55:23the free running
55:24because I know
55:24there's that character
55:25earlier in the film?
55:25I've done some of it, yeah.
55:26How's that?
55:27Good.
55:28Terrifying?
55:28No, it's,
55:29you know what,
55:30I've had to sort of
55:31knuckle down
55:31and get over a few things.
55:32I'm kind of approaching
55:33every day as it comes really
55:34and I get on set
55:35and I'm suddenly
55:36200 feet up in the air
55:37and I go,
55:37okay, well,
55:38you signed up.
55:41As well as being truthful
55:42to the action scenes,
55:44Craig was keen
55:44to be faithful
55:45to the spirit of the book
55:46and to show
55:47the raw vulnerability
55:48of 007.
55:50He's not infallible.
55:51I just wanted to sort of
55:52see him make a few mistakes
55:53because then I think
55:55the drama of it
55:55is sort of better
55:56when he gets it right.
55:57I want to make the audience
55:58sort of go,
55:59oh my God,
55:59it's all going to go wrong.
56:01Believe that it's going to go wrong
56:02and then when it goes right
56:03it's much more exciting.
56:04And it's his tangled relationship
56:06with the enigmatic
56:07Vesper Lind
56:08that causes Bond
56:09to bear his soul.
56:11My character is not like
56:13a classic Bond girl.
56:14She's more like a character
56:15from the 40s movies,
56:17you know,
56:17quite dark,
56:18very complex,
56:19many layers.
56:21You know,
56:21she's a nickel match to Bond.
56:23She's, you know,
56:24very mysterious
56:24and the relationship
56:25that they have
56:26is very unusual.
56:28And it's a love story.
56:28It's like there's blood
56:31on my hands.
56:33It's not coming off.
56:36Yeah, I see.
56:37This was a romance
56:38not seen since the days
56:40of Dalton and Lazenby.
56:41But for all the new intensity
56:45in Craig's interpretation
56:46of the character,
56:47there was still one Bond convention
56:49that was inescapable.
56:51Have you said the line yet?
56:52I have, yeah.
56:53You have?
56:53Was it OK?
56:54I don't know.
56:55Yeah.
56:56How many takes?
56:57We did a few.
56:58We did a few
56:58and it wasn't much of that.
56:59We were outside.
57:00There was a lot of wind.
57:01That must have been quite nice
57:02in a way though.
57:03It was nice to get it
57:03out of the way.
57:04Yeah.
57:05I was,
57:05I didn't think about it.
57:06I didn't think about it
57:07until the moment
57:08and we did it.
57:09It's at a very key moment
57:10in the movie as well
57:11which is,
57:11so it's hopefully
57:12going to,
57:13you know,
57:13it's going to hit home.
57:14The name's Bond.
57:16James Bond.
57:20That's it.
57:21That's better.
57:21Come on.
57:22There you go.
57:23The resounding success
57:24of Daniel Craig's 007
57:26and of James Bond
57:27as a British cultural icon
57:29was celebrated in 2012
57:31as part of the London Olympics
57:33opening ceremony.
57:35But James,
57:36I need you.
57:37So does England.
57:39In a sequence filmed
57:41in secret
57:41the world's most famous spy
57:44having given 50 years
57:46of dedicated service
57:48to his country.
57:49You know the things
57:49I do for England.
57:51With his own brand
57:52of unbending patriotism.
57:54What do I do
57:55to blow up the room?
57:56Missile.
57:56God save the Queen.
57:59And loyalty
58:00to his monarch.
58:01I'm having it patched
58:04directly to Buckingham Palace.
58:06Well, I'm sure
58:07her majesty
58:07will be fascinated.
58:12James Bond
58:13was finally granted
58:15an audience
58:16with the Queen.
58:21Good evening, Sir Bond.
58:23I'm curious.
58:40You know the history
58:42of U.S.
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