Tak til 'Rhino' for nedenstående:
1.Ian Flemming - The Spymaster
2.Interview with Connery
3.Thou Shalt Revere Connery
4.Vic Armstrongs famous bits
5.John Glen Interview
6.Guy Hamilton Interview
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1.Ian Flemming - The Spymaster
In 1952,43 year-old ex-Etonian Ian Fleming was living beyond his
means. In the '30s, he had visited Moscow as a foreign correspondent,
covering the espionage trial of six British engineers. During the War,
he was in naval intelligence, running an operation in Spain code-named
Goldeneye. With the Iron Curtain replacing the swastika as chief enemy
of the British way of life, Fleming returned to journalism. But, newly
married, he felt a desire to settle down to a life of monied luxury.
Inconveniently, he wasn't the beneficiary of enormous inherited wealth
and thus couldn't really afford his Bond-like enthusiasms: fast cars,
high-stakes gambling, exclusive golf clubs, expensive wines, a
Jamaican estate. Setting out to become a bestselling writer, he
knocked out Casino Royale (1953) in four weeks. The novel introduced
Agent 007 of the British Secret Service, whom Fleming named after the
author of a book about Caribbean birds, James Bond.
Royale is still a rattling read, combining the Edwardian clubland
adventuring of John Buchan's Richard Hannay or E.W Hornung's Raffles
with the contemporary sexed-up, thick-ear paperback gunplay of Mickey
Spillane's Mike Hammer. Bond drives a vintage Bentley down to the
South of France to take on Le Chiffre, a communist mastermind with a
bad gambling habit. The novel really sparks when giving the inside
dope on games of chance and skill: for British readers in those days
of rationing and austerity, the thrill was Bond's access to classic
cars, crooked cards, sparkling Champagne and dangerous women. Oddly,
that's all in the first half of the book. At mid-way point, Le Chiffre
is killed by a colourless bureaucrat who proceeds to ridicule Bond,
suggesting he is hopelessly adrift in the new, complicated world of
Cold War geopolitics
The only physical description of the hero, aside from the black hair,
which might be of use to future casting directors is a smitten woman's
remark that Bond looks like Hoagy Carmichael. Unsurprisingly, the
American singer-songwriter was never considered for the role;
intriguingly, the real-life person, usually photographed in shadows
with a cigarette, who shares Bond's resemblance to Carmichael, was Ian
Fleming! Many of Bond's trademarks were also his creator's -
sea-island cotton shirts, 70 hand-rolled fags a day (!), vodka
martinis.
Fleming wrote 11 further Bond novels and two collections of short
stories. Bond takes on a selection of bad-mannered, foreign master
villains, in the employ of the Russian SMERSH (Smiert Spionom, or
'Death To Spies') or the Fu Manchu-like SPECTRE (Special Executive For
Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion) in Live And Let Die (1954), Moonraker
(1955), Diamonds Are Forever (1956), From Russia With Love (1957), Dr.
No (1958), Goldfinger (1959) and Thunderball (1961). In increasingly
grumpy mood, Fleming retreated to Jamaica to grind out an annual
adventure. After ridiculing 007 in Casino Royale and actually killing
him with a poisoned shoe-tip at the end of From Russia With Love,
Fleming gave Bond an ever harder time: the hero is a virtual walk-on
in The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), married and widowed in On Her
Majesty's Secret Service (1963), killed in You Only Live Twice (1964)
and revived as a zombified hit man in The Man With The Golden Gun
(1965).
There is no better indication of what happens in real life to a man
with James Bond's habits than to note that after decades of hand-made
cigarettes, fine martinis and glamourously unsuitable women - Ian
Fleming suffered a massive heart attack and died at 54.
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2.Interview with Connery
How did you win the role?
I'm naturally cool, I suppose, which is a help when playing Bond. I
suppose that I used as much of myself as possible to play the role and
hoped to improve on that as a starting point. Also at my audition, I
used strong and commanding movements. Not with weight, but to show how
Bond is always in control in a scene.
What were your initial thoughts on approaching the character?
The only real difficulty I had playing Bond was that I had to start
from scratch. Not even Fleming knew that much about Bond. He didn't
come from anywhere when he became 007. He was born 33 years old. Bond
is very much for breaking the rules. He enjoys a kind of freedom that
a normal person doesn't get. He likes to eat, likes to drink. Likes
his girls. He is rather cruel, sadistic. He takes in a big percentage
of the fantasies of a lot of people.
How did the character develop?
In Dr. No, the character was established. By the end of the second
film, the audience had thoroughly got a hold of him. After that the
interesting thing was to surprise people who thought they knew how he
was going to react in a situation. You'd have the reality, play the
drama, have a bit of a playful repartee with the audience and do
something unexpected. For instance, play up the ageing, the fact that
the fights are getting exhausting.
So why did you call it a day after Diamonds Are Forever?
It was a case of phasing out and getting on to other things. Also they
started getting into all this space stuff. They kept upping the
physical hardware. I mean, the car going through the alley on its side
in Diamonds Are Forever - it just got to be too much.
What do you think of the other Bonds?
Roger and I saw Bond in different ways. He added a touch of the
ridiculous to Bond, playing up the comic element. With Bond, I started
with the serious and injected humour. Timothy Dalton has Shakespearean
training but he underestimated the role. The character has to be
graceful, move well and have a measure of charm as well as be
dangerous. Pierce Brosnan's a good actor and he's added new elements.
How do you look back on the Bond films with hindsight?
They have withstood the test of time. There's an entire new audience
every generation, every decade, a whole bunch of children who have
never been to the cinema in their.life and are avid fans of the
movies. But Terence Young, who was a considerable influence, perhaps
the greatest influence in the initial films Dr. No and From Russia
With Love, never got anywhere near the accolades he deserved for what
he did.
What's your favourite Bond film?
I guess I'd have to say From Russia With Love - heavy on intrigue and
light on technology.
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3.Thou Shalt Revere Connery
It must be the 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt revere Sean Connery above
all other Bonds."
Inevitably, there are purists and show-offs who'll take an opposing
stance, but it is a fact universally acknowledged that the Scottish
actor has set the standard by which all others must be judged. No
other actor-character union has had quite the same effect, on cinema,
and on culture itself 'What is so clear from the six movies Connery
officially headlined is that this is not about pandering to traditions
of rainy bank holidays and 'what your dad reckons': these are timeless
notches in the creative bedpost.
United Artists were none too impressed when the maddening search for
an actor to lead Dr. No arrived at a former milkman from Edinburgh.
"NEW YORK DO NOT CARE FOR CONNERY STOP. FEELS WE CAN DO BETTER. STOP"
ran Cubby Broccoli's anxious telex to partner Harry Saltzman. That
they stuck firm is testament to two men who could see the icon to be
moulded from the "rough and ready" one-time Mr. Universe.
Reams of paper and ink have been devoted to divining the Connery
alchemy. Commentators often claim it is down to originality, he was
simply the first, but that is too easy, too pat. Here is a sublime
marriage of the ruthlessness of Fleming's icy-calm spy with the warm
flourishes of movie-style wit: in From Russia With Love, Bond cooly
assists in the shooting of an enemy agent. As the baddie flees between
the lips of an Anita Ekberg hoarding, 007 offers, "You should have
kept your mouth shut" as he turns away. There is a sexiness that has
been called animal, but not a raging bear, a cat. "I loved the way he
moved," explained Harry Saltzman." Despite being 6' 2", Connery's
footfalls are like silk, the tuxedo a second skin.
He never lost it through six films and nine years, that sense of the
untouchable, the alpha male ideal; you could never doubt him, yet
there was something intrinsically human about him. Here was the Angry
Young Man of the ~6Os~ frequenting Monaco casinos and bedding European
lovelies through the irrefutable magnetism of his machismo. That is
why Bond has been best played by a Scot and an Irishman - they don't
feel the English need to puncture the vision with irony.
Connery had many advantages over the 007s who trod in his footsteps.
He met and talked with Fleming, who liked him. All of his quota were
based on the novels themselves and grounded in the Cold War era. He
hogged all the best stories and the best villains as the directors
shaped the formula which would remain untouchable for 20 films. He
defined it, the others filled it.
Goldfinger is cited as the axiom of the series, where all the
ingredients coalesced into a remarkable cocktail of action and
plotting, but it is You Only Live Twice where the majesty of the
Connery era was truly exalted. While its plot bordered on Moore-esque
pottiness (a volcano Ober-base?), it was grounded by Connery's
gravitas. The movie was huge, but the star was intimate. He bowed out
afterwards, worn dowh by a fandom to match The Beatles', only to be
lured back for Diamonds Are Forever. When he did call it quits, it
still took 20 years and an Oscar for The Untouchables to shed the
persona.
And still, when the world is shaken by the threats of war and
terrorism, it is to 007 we fancifully call. In the image of Connery's
face, etched into cultural history like Mount Rushmore, we feel
secure: "Bond, James Bond." As Dr. No director Terence Young said, "It
was one hell of a good introduction."
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4.Vic Armstrongs famous bits
Vic Armstrong (007 stunt co-ordinator and action director) picks his
favourite set pieces from the series
TOMORROW NEVER DIES
I think the motorcycle chase is still the best bang for your bucks
sequence of all the Bonds. I tried to make every shot a moving shot,
and to have something happen in every frame. The success of the
sequence also relied so much on the skill of the motorcyclist. For
this I used Jean-Pierre Goy, who is the most incredible stunt rider I
haye ever seen - plus he was incredibly safe, which was important
because my wife was the double for Michelle Yeoh, sitting on the
motorcycle throughout the chase. In keeping with the Bond tradition we
also tried to do everything 'in camera' - that is to say, for real.
The jump at the end of the chase over the helicopter was done in situ
for real. We rehearsed for two weeks to try and iron out every
possible wrinkle, and it all paid off with a spectacular climax to a
chase that many people who write to my web site call "the best Bond
ever"
DR. NO
We must remember that this movie was made in the '60s, and at the time
cost around $1 million, which even in those days was not a lot of
money for an exotic location picture. We had not seen any of the car
chases that are now standanrd fare. I always think of this chase when
I start to design one and try and create the same impact (for its
time), but with all the history of car chases since and what they have
added.
YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE
This was my first Bond and I will never forget walking into the set
and seeing the vastness of it all. I came home so elated when they
gave me a job as a ninja. I started training the next week with them
and 100 other stunt guys, [learning] to slide down ropes from 125 feet
firing a sub'-machine-gun. I was subsequently the first ninja down
when we shot the sequence.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE
The fight in the train carriage between Connery and Robert Shaw is
such a great example of brilliant stunt co-ordination and photography.
The fight in that carriage had so much impact and threatening danger.
I always think of this fight when I start to create a fight sequence.
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
The raid by helicopters and the ski chase again set new standards in
action, with the vastness of the location and the extravagant use of
equipment. The ski chase was shot in such an innovative way, with
Johnny Jordan hanging in a parachute harness under John Crewdson's
helicopter and hand-holding the camera while racing parallel with the
skiers about a foot off the ground - sometimes bumping the ground.
Johnny had lost his leg on the same rig on You Only Live Twice. But
he'd still laugh and joke as he unscrewed his leg and took off.
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5.John Glen Interview
Directing the action unit, you shot The Spy Who Loved Me's iconic
Union Jack parachute jump...
We had one chance and we took it. When (stuntman) Rick Sylvester skied
down that slope the last rays of the sun were spotlighting. And then
his parachute was hit by one of the skis which had caught up with him.
The sequence is very important for the James Bond series. It sums up
what Bond stands for: panache. It's a daring statement.
After Moonraker, was For Your Eyes Only a conscious attempt to get
back to basics?
Absolutely; we decided to go back to the Fleming roots. Make him a
more self-reliant agent and give him a harder edge. My first brief was
to find a new James Bond; Roger was getting on a bit. We tested Sam
Neill, but no-one was 100 per cent sure at the end of the day so we
stayed with Roger. From my point of view it was great because I didn't
have to blood the new Bond.
Had Moore lost interest by Octipussy and A View To A Kill?
Roger is always a professional. He never fluffed a line, he was game
to do any action we asked of him. I think possibly, by A View To A
Kill, he knew his days were numbered.
A View To A Kill also featured Christopher Walken as the villain. How
was he?
Walken was an incredible character, a bit odd. He used to play these
little games on set. He would disappear when we needed him so I
assigned an assistant director to keep watch. Anyway, Christopher knew
this and as soon as the poor boy turned away, Chris was gone.
What did you want to do differently with Timothy Dalton?
I think he is the only one who took it seriously. He delved down into
the character and tried to bring something different to the role. A
steely quality. The shame was he did only two movies.
Was the vibe on set completely different from Moore to Dalton?
Roger's full of stories. He never repeats himself. Everyone loves him.
The difference was that Tim was more of a serious actor and probably
less cavalier than Roger. We still had our laughs, but it wasn't quite
like Roger.
Why do you think Bond has endured for so long?
I wish I knew. Cubby and I would often discuss this and say, 'Well,
we're doing it, it's working, let's keep on doing it." It's kind of a
formula film. What James Bond represents really is someone every one
of us would like to be. He's the expert on all things, really. He
knows the best wine, he knows the best food, he speaks every language.
He's a bit of a bighead, really.
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6.Guy Hamilton Interview
How did you approach the character of Bond on Goldfinger?
I'd enjoyed Dr. No and From Russia With Love, but I was sort of
sensing' that Bond was in danger of becoming Superman, very camp, and
he'd always get away with it. Bond is as good as his villain so the
aim was to create problems for Bond to make the audience worry about
how he was going to get out of this one, and it worked perfectly.
You cast Gert Frobe as the villain. Is it true he didn't speak any
English?
Yes. Gert turned up on the set and said, "How do you do, Mr. Hamilton?
It is a great pleasure to be in the picture." When I asked him where
he was staying, he said, "How do you do, Mr. Hamilton? It is a great
pleasure to be in the picture." We were always going to dub him, but
rather than say, "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," he would say,
"No... Mr....Bond... I... expect... you... to... die." If the mouth is
going at that speed, there's nothing you can do with the dubbing. So
we had to get Gert to double the speed to get the right tempo.
Did the studio raise any concerns about the name Pussy Galore?
No. If you were a ten year-old boy, you didn't know what the name
meant. If you were a ten year-old boy and you did know what the name
meant, you weren't a ten year-old boy, you were a dirty little fucker.
The American censor was concerned, but we got round that by inviting
him and his wife out to dinner and saying we were big supporters of
the Republican Party.
And any memories of shooting Pussy Galore's Flying Circus over Fort
Knox?
We were told we were not allowed to fly fewer than 3000 feet above the
depository, which was hopeless. We had these crop dusters playing
Pussy's pilots. They smoked cigars but wore blonde wigs that made them
feel poofy. Anyway, we flew at about 500 feet and the military went
absolutely ape.
And Diamonds Are Forever?
Sean had thought long and hard about whether he was going to do it. He
liked the script, Vegas was a fun place and we got the golf organised.
The Sean in Dr. No shows an actor finding his way. He's a little bit
nervous in front of the camera. Less so in From Russia With Love and
in Goldfinger - he's grown confident with the dialogue.
How do you feel about the two Roger Moore Bonds you did?
I regret doing them. Lazenby cocked his film up and behaved very
stupidly on the picture. He upset Cubby so Lazenby was out and they
asked me to do the new Bond. I was in America and I found the perfect
Bond - Burt Reynolds. He had a good wit; he was a little short but he
moved really well. But the studio said, "Forget it, he's just a
stuntman." So after Sean came back for Diamonds, they made me an offer
I couldn't refuse for Live And Let Die.
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The End of 'Empire'. James Bond will return in 'Live another minute'
Zeki
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