Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Trivia / James Bond

Go To

    open/close all folders 

    Literature Trivia 
  • Approval of God: The James Bond character was named after the ornithologist of Birds of the West Indies fame, who was perfectly fine with the appropriation of his name.
  • Author Phobia: Fleming had a lifelong fascination with trains, but following a near-fatal crash in 1927, he associated them with death. Live and Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, From Russia with Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and The Man with the Golden Gun all have scenes featuring trains.
  • Creator Breakdown: Fleming was notable for being a very heavy smoker and drinker, both which killed him at the age of 56. Interestingly, he seems to have noted the toll his addiction was taking on him throughout the Blofeld Trilogy. Thunderball opens with Bond failing a medical (a thinly veiled copy of Fleming's own) and being sent to a health farm (something that Fleming himself was ordered by his doctor to do). He later tells Moneypenny "I would rather die of drink than of thirst" which was reputedly a favourite line of Fleming's to anyone who told him to stop drinking. By On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond admits that he needs three drinks for every one that Tracy drinks, and confesses to having tried and failed multiple times to quit the mountainous amount of cigarettes that he gets through (according to friends, this was a fair piece of self-reflection by Fleming). And You Only Live Twice shows Bond as a depressed, drunken shadow of a man due to Tracy's death.
  • Follow the Leader: The extraordinary success of Fleming's novels prompted a humongous trend of spy novel books that glutted the market for years to come, essentially replacing the detective genre.
  • Outlived Its Creator: Even after Ian Fleming died, many more Bond novels were written, far surpassing the number that Fleming himself wrote. Not to mention films with original stories.
  • Science Imitates Art: 9007 James Bond is an asteroid named after the iconic spy himself.
  • Throw It In!:
    • Bond originally drove a Bentley, which was destroyed in Moonraker. As Ian Fleming was working on Goldfinger, he received a letter saying "I hope you have the decency to fix Bond up with a decent bit of machinery - I would suggest an Aston Martin". The Aston went on to become the iconic Bond car thanks to the film adaptation of Goldfinger, despite only appearing in one novel.
    • He switched Bond's weapon from a somewhat underpowered .25 ACP Beretta to the iconic Walther PPK in similar circumstances, even partially basing the initial characterisation of Q on the author of the letter.
    • Fleming was also impressed enough by Sean Connery's performance in the movies that he made Bond canonically have Scottish ancestry.
  • What Could Have Been: While some books and movies were adapted into comic books, DC Comics could have made a Bond ongoing title in the 1960s if only they remembered they had the rights, and when a publisher noticed they were about to expire in 1972, the idea of making a Bond comic was brought up and then shot down by the higher-ups who thought the series was on its way out. It's been alleged this decission was what caused DC Comic's then publisher, Sol Harrison, to be "promoted" to president and replaced with Jenette Kahn as publisher, four years later. Sol resented Kahn until his retirement in 1981.
  • Write What You Know: Since Fleming had a beach home in Jamaica and wrote all Bond novels there, he had Bond go to the island on three occasions. Fleming also based many aspects of Bond, other characters, and his travels and experiences on his own life and the people he knew, to the point where dozens of real people appear in the books, are namedropped, or served as inspiration for fictional characters.
  • Write Who You Know: Fleming largely based M on Rear Admiral John Godfrey, his superior officer at the Naval Intelligence Division. After Fleming's death, Godfrey complained "He turned me into that unsavoury character, M."

    Individual Films Trivia Pages 

    Overall Film Series Trivia 
  • Actor-Inspired Element: Before Roger Moore, Bond never smoked cigars, neither in the novels nor onscreen. That changed when he demanded an unlimited supply of fine cigars in his movie contracts and that Bond smoke them onscreen.
  • Actor-Shared Background: Of the six actors who've played James Bond, Sean Connery was the only one who served in the Royal Navy like Bond did. There was also Lazenby, who had a background in martial arts.
  • Approval of God:
    You know, Miss Maxwell, when I visualized Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond stories, I saw her as a tall, distinguished-looking woman with the most kissable lips in the world. You, my dear, are exactly the woman I visualized.
    • After famously disparaging Sean Connery as "an overgrown stuntman," Fleming was so impressed with his performance in Dr. No that he canonically made Bond half-Scottish in the novels.
  • Awesome, Dear Boy: Often the reason why actors and musicians accept to take part in a Bond film.
  • Beam Me Up, Scotty!:
    • The infamous "Oh, James!" line that numerous people have used to imitate the equally numerous Bond Girls has actually been used very infrequently, probably about in only 1/3 of the films.
    • While Q says some variation of "Pay attention" in most of the films, he only says the famous "Now, pay attention, 007!" a handful of times.
  • California Doubling: So, so, common. For instance, basically every underwater scene will be shot at the Bahamas (where the original in Thunderball were done) even if the depicted sea is not the Caribbean.
  • Cash-Cow Franchise: The fourth-highest grossing film franchise in history (behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars and Harry Potter), thanks to also being among the longest-running ones.
  • Cast the Runner-Up:
    • Julian Glover and Sean Bean were candidates to play James Bond at some stages. They wound up playing villains in For Your Eyes Only and Goldeneye.
    • According to some sources, Ralph Fiennes was considered to play 007 in Goldeneye. He would later take over as M opposite Daniel Craig.
    • Michael Billington was screen-tested for the role more than any other actor and was said to have been Albert R. Broccoli's first choice had Roger Moore not been available. He met director Peter Hunt and did a photo shoot for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. He was also screen-tested for Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Octopussy. He ultimately appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me AS Sergei Barsov, Agent XXX's ill-fated lover, at the start of the film.
    • George Baker was said to be Ian Fleming's ideal candidate, but he was unavilable. He would appear as Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Captain Benson in The Spy Who Loved Me.
    • Lois Maxwell was offered either Miss Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench in Dr. No. Since she was uncomfortable wearing such revealing clothes, Maxwell chose Moneypenny.
    • Martine Beswick tried out for Honey Ryder in Dr. No, but was deemed too young and inexperienced. She would later play one of the fighting girls in From Russia with Love and Paula Caplan in Thunderball.
    • Christopher Lee claimed that he almost got the role of Dr. No. He would eventually play a Bond villain in The Man with the Golden Gun.
    • Earl Cameron was considered for Quarrel in Dr. No. He would later play Ponder on Thunderball.
    • Tania Mallet auditioned for Tatiana Romanava in From Russia with Love. She was cast as Tilly Masterson in Goldfinger.
    • Joe Robinson was a contender for Donald "Red" Grant in From Russia with Love. He would later play Peter Franks in Diamonds are Forever.
    • Cec Linder was originally cast in Goldfinger as Mr. Simmons (Goldfinger's opponent at the card game), while Austin Wills was cast as Felix Leiter. They would end up swapping roles.
    • Luciana Paluzzi auditioned for Domino in Thunderball, but decided it would be more fun to play a bad girl.
    • Mie Hama was originally intended for the larger role of Aki in You Only Live Twice, while Akiko Wakabayashi was originally cast as Kissy Suzuki, but doubts over Hama's mastering of English meant that the filmmakers ultimately considered her ineligible for the part. Hama's reported depression over losing the role, and the disgrace it would bring to her family (she threatened to throw herself off the Imperial Hotel), plus Wakabayashi agreeing to swap roles with her, was instrumental in Hama taking the equally important, though less vocal part of Kissy.
    • Cassandra Harris auditioned for Tracy in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Mary Goodnight in The Man with the Golden Gun before being cast as Countess Lisl in For Your Eyes Only. She was the former wife of Pierce Brosnan.
    • Jill St. John was originally considered for Plenty O'Toole in Diamonds Are Forever before being cast as Tiffany Case.
    • Broccoli wanted Lois Chiles to star as Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me, but she was taking a break from acting at the time. She would star as Holly Goodhead in Moonraker.
    • Louis Jourdan was considered for Hugo Drax in Moonraker. He would later play a Bond villain in Octopussy.
    • Carole Bouquet was slated to play Holly Goodhead before she had to turn it down, only to play Melina Havelock in For Your Eyes Only.
    • Grace Jones was considered for the title role in Octopussy. She would later play May Day in A View to a Kill.
    • Maryam d'Abo screen-tested for the role of Pola Ivanova in A View to a Kill, but was rejected for being too young for the part. She would be the main Bond girl two years later as Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights.
    • Monica Bellucci was nearly cast as Paris Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies, but according to Pierce Brosnan, "the fools said no". She was also considered for Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough before being cast as Lucia in Spectre.
    • Maria Grazia Cucinotta was considered for the role of Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough, but this was nixed when it was discovered her English wasn't up to par. This did however, parlay into her brief but memorable role as the Cigar Girl Assassin.
    • Javier Bardem was considered for Renard in The World is Not Enough. He would play the villain Raoul Silva in Skyfall.
  • Channel Hop: The first 12 films were distributed by United Artists. After they merged with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, MGM/UA handled the franchise in the US, while United International Pictures (joint venture between Paramount and Universal Studios) released the films internationally through their deal with MGM, until the 20th film (Die Another Day), which 20th Century Fox handled internationally. Following Sony Pictures' brief purchase of MGM, they began to release the films through their Columbia Pictures banner, beginning with the 21st film (Casino Royale (2006)) with MGM still producing. Even after MGM's split from Sony, Columbia continued distributing the Bond films until their rights expired with the 24th (Spectre). The 25th film (No Time to Die) was distributed in the US by the newly revived United Artists (a joint venture between MGM and Annapurna Pictures) and internationally by Universal.
  • Creator Backlash:
    • Although playing Bond made him a star, Sean Connery grew to dislike the role after Goldfinger. He hated the loss of privacy that came from becoming a celebrity, resented that people only identified him as Bond rather than as a talented actor in his own right, felt that he was being underpaid given the degree to which he was responsible for helping to make the series a pop culture phenomenon, and started experiencing major burnout after the stress and exhaustion of appearing in one Bond film a year for the better part of a decade. Distancing himself from 007 is one of the main reasons he took the role of Zed in Zardoz. Needless to say, that worked beyond his wildest dreams.
    • Screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who wrote thirteen of the first sixteen films in the franchise, never made a point of hiding his criticism of several of the films and actors. Among his main criticisms are: the casting of Adolfo Celi as the villain of Thunderball; the casting of George Lazenby as James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; the changes made by other writers to the scripts he wrote for Diamonds Are Forever and The Spy Who Loved Me; criticizing the plots of films that he didn't even write (Live and Let Die and Moonraker); the lack of chemistry between the main couple in For Your Eyes Only; and finally the casting of Roger Moore as James Bond (Maibaum wrote five of the seven films starring Moore). Maibaum said he preferred Connery to Moore, and that although Moore had his attributes, he believed that the actor's most comical approach was extremely damaging, as it prevented the viewers from believing in the character's actions.
    • While Roger Moore enjoyed playing Bond, his absolute least favourite film from his tenure was A View to a Kill due to the tensions he had with costars Tanya Roberts and Grace Jones, and the gratuitous violence within the movie (namely, main villain Max Zorin gunning down his own miners). Not helping matters was his discovery that he was almost as old as Tanya Roberts' mother (though, to be fair, said mother had her out of teen pregnancy). For that reason in particular, he bowed out of the role after this film.
    • Pierce Brosnan admits that he only likes GoldenEye and that he does not hold the next three films in high esteem. In fact, Brosnan even jokes that he can't remember the correct order of the following films, as the three look the same in his memories. It certainly didn't help that he was canned before the praised Casino Royale (2006).
    • While Albert R. Broccoli didn't hate any of the films, he admitted that there were parts of The Man with the Golden Gun that he would like to redo.
    • John Barry named The Man with the Golden Gun as his least favourite Bond score, having only three weeks to do it. "It's the one I hate most ... it just never happened for me." He also regretted adding a whistle to the Do a Barrel Roll stunt.
    • Guy Hamilton named The Man with the Golden Gun as the only Bond film he regretted making, as he felt Moore's portrayal of Bond was made to be too much like Connery. He also said he was burnt out having done three Bond films in a row.
  • Creator's Favorite Episode:
  • DVD Commentary:
    • The Criterion laserdisc editions of the first three movies reportedly feature commentary so controversial they have since been banned from ever getting the rights to release any Bond movie ever released. Forever.
    • Most of the commentaries that do appear, especially the older Bond movies, are audio clips from past interviews introduced by someone from the Ian Fleming Foundation. The "Ultimate Edition" release in 2006 allowed Roger Moore to do a solo track in all his movies - and while he at times digresses to talk about The Saint or his UNICEF work, it's somehow fairly detailed for a man reaching his eighties!
    • GoldenEye featured not only a commentary with director Martin Campbell and producer Michael G. Wilson, but in the extras disk, Campbell offers comments in parts of a documentary - namely, the director of photography questioning why the producers hired a New Zealander "given how all they know is sheep! Baaaaaction! (saying the DP's a long time collaborator of his) and scenes from a Monaco shoot where Campbell drops a Cluster F-Bomb (the day had been so busy he couldn't help it).
  • Fake Nationality: All over the freaking franchise!
  • Fandom Nod: No Time To Die introduced a new 007—a black woman. This is likely acknowledging the fans who have clamored for a black or female actor to take on the role.
  • Follow the Leader:
  • Franchise Zombie: Roger Moore's contract was for five movies. Eventually he was convinced to do two more, even as Moore felt he was getting too old for the role.
  • Fountain of Expies:
    • Both Bond and Blofeld have often been used as templates for homages and parodies of secret agents and supervillains respectively by every form of media going, in particular Connery's incarnation of the former (though Moore's incarnation is not unheard from) and Donald Pleasence's incarnation of the latter.
    • Nearly every major henchman in a Bond film, or movies influenced by Bond films, comes back to the same two models - the Aryan Henchman, usually cold and sadistic and typified by Robert Shaw in From Russia with Love (Varga, Hans, Kriegler, Necros, Stamper and more), or the Gimmick Henchman, with some colourful gimmick and typified by Oddjob and his deadly bowler hat (Tee-Hee, Jaws, Nick Nack, Xenia Onatopp).
    • For movie audiences who first saw Bond in the 1990s, when Bond is mentioned, Pierce Brosnan's incarnation has about as much recognition as the classic Connery original. Also because the generation that grew up with Brosnan as Bond also coincided with the branching of the franchise into popular spin-off video games, thereby increasing his exposure.
  • Hostility on the Set: Eon co-producer Harry Saltzman was notoriously difficult to work with, especially when he butted heads with actors or crews such as with Sean Connery, while Albert R. Broccoli was more easy-going and fatherly and thus was more popular with the actors and film crews.
  • Hypothetical Casting: There have been many, many candidates to play 007 over the years:
  • I Am Not Spock:
    • Roger Moore famously parodied this trope by playing obvious spoofs of his Bond, such as in Cannonball Run where he plays a character who pretends to be Roger Moore and acts like James Bond.
    • Sean Connery had to let his hair turn grey and grow a beard to not be Bond anymore.
    • Pierce Brosnan went through it even before playing the role, as he was identified as far back as Remington Steele as "the next/real James Bond" by his fans. He was offered the part for The Living Daylights after Remington Steele was cancelled, but the news about it revived interest and the show was renewed.
  • Irony as She Is Cast: According to Roger Moore's book Bond on Bond, Desmond Llewelyn (Q from From Russia With Love through The World is Not Enough) was a Walking Tech Bane who couldn't get a pocket calculator to work if his life depended on it.
  • Killed by Request: Happened to Daniel Craig's Bond in No Time to Die.
  • Life Imitates Art: Daniel Craig was made Honorary Commander of the Royal Navy in September 2021. Bond is a Royal Navy Commander in his backstory.
  • Magnum Opus Dissonance: The main reason for Sean Connery's dislike of the role. While he enjoyed making the first three movies, he rapidly came to hate being so strongly identified with Bond that it overshadowed all his other work in the public consciousness. In his 1965 interview with Playboy, he stated that his now-forgotten movie The Hill featured some of his best work onscreen.
  • One-Hit Wonder: George Lazenby's only claim to fame is having played Bond in just one film in the series (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), which has been considered as one of the canon's best.
  • On-Set Injury: Over the course of its existence, several actors endured injuries during production of the films.
    • From Russia with Love:
      • While scouting locations in Argyll, Scotland, for that day's filming of the climactic boat chase, Terence Young's helicopter crashed into the water with art director Michael White and a cameraman aboard. The craft sank into 40/50 feet of water, but all escaped with minor injuries. Despite the calamity, Young was behind the camera for the full day's work.
      • Daniela Bianchi's driver fell asleep during the commute to a 6 am shoot and crashed the car. Her face was bruised and her scenes had to be delayed for two weeks while the facial contusions healed
      • During an explosion for the ­boat scene, three stuntmen were injured and Walter Gotell suffered burns to his eyelids.
    • Goldfinger:
      • Harold Sakata accidentally gave Sean Connery a back injury while filming their fight scene. The incident delayed filming, and Connery allegedly used the injury to get a better deal out of the producers for the next 007 movie
      • Sakata was badly burned when filming his death scene, where Oddjob was electrocuted by Bond. Sakata, however, kept holding onto his hat with determination, despite his pain, until Guy Hamilton called "Cut!" This is also why Bond looked as if he was worried for Oddjob in that scene, because Connery really was.
    • While filming the Little Nellie battle for You Only Live Twice in Miyazaki Prefecture, aerial cameraman John Jordan, who was standing on the landing strut of the camera helicopter, was struck in the foot by the autogyro's blade. Although doctors in the area were able to reattach the foot, he had it amputated when he returned to the UK.
    • Roger Moore injured his teeth and knee on his first day of shooting on Live and Let Die. Fortunately, he was filming the boat chase, so he was largely seated.
    • Moore had a near-miss on The Spy Who Loved Me. He decided at the last minute that it would be much more dramatic if he was sitting in the chair, instead of standing behind it when the gun underneath the dining table was fired. The special effects team had only reinforced the back of the chair for the original planned shot, which meant Moore risked serious injury if he didn't leap away in time.
    • On For Your Eyes Only, Cassandra Harris' stunt double was injured when she was hit by the dune buggy during her death scene.
    • Moore's stunt double on Octopussy, Martin Grace, had a serious accident while filming on the train. Hanging on the side of it, the train went into a non-assessed area of the track and he rammed into a pylon, seriously damaging his leg and hip and hospitalizing him for several months. He made a full recovery. In a similar vein, the actor who uses the buzz saw yo-yo broke his arm when he fell over the balcony onto Octopussy's bed. Despite his injury and having to wear a cast, he insisted on completing the rest of his scenes.
    • For the scene in Licence to Kill where Dario cuts at Bond's wrist binds, Benicio del Toro accidentally cut Timothy Dalton's hand.
    • Pierce Brosnan injured his hand while doing the ladder stunt in Goldeneye. Also, Famke Janssen claimed that he slammed her into a wall so hard she broke a rib.
    • While filming a fight scene in Tomorrow Never Dies, a stuntman's helmet hit Brosnan in the face, which required eight stitches down one side of his face, leaving the crew no choice but to film many of his scenes from one side only.
    • On Die Another Day, Brosnan suffered a knee injury jumping on to a hovercraft and Halle Berry needed surgery after debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye.
    • On Casino Royale (2006), Daniel Craig got splinters from the piece of wood used to protect his genitals during the torture scene. He also lost two teeth in a fight scene. The damage was so severe that Craig's dentist had to be flown in from London to fix caps into his mouth.
    • On Quantum of Solace, Craig suffered an injury to his face, which required four stitches, another to his shoulder, which required six surgical screws to be inserted in an operation, and his arm in a sling, and then his hand was injured when one of his finger tips was sliced off. He laughed these off, noting they did not delay filming, and joked his finger wound would enable him to have a criminal career (though it had grown back when he made this comment). He also had minor plastic surgery on his face.
    • On Skyfall, Craig ruptured both of his calf muscles during the rehearsal period, whereupon rescheduling took place requiring two weeks rest for his injuries.
    • On Spectre, Craig was injured at least twice during principal photography. He suffered a knee injury when filming in Austria, which required him to spent most of the shoot in a leg brace that was removed in post-production. He then hit his head on the interior of an Aston Martin DB10.
    • Craig sustained an ankle injury while filming No Time to Die in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. In a separate filming accident, a controlled explosion caused exterior damage to the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries.
  • The Other Darrin: Bond, obviously (Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig), since the series is ongoing since The '60s and actors don't get younger. But also other recurring characters such as:
  • The Pete Best:
    • Contrary to popular belief, Sean Connery wasn't the first actor to portray James Bond. Barry Nelson, an American, played him first by a good eight years before Connery. He played James Bond as an American named "Jimmy Bond" in the Climax! adaptation of Casino Royale mentioned above. Both his portrayal, and the Climax! episode at that, are barely even mentioned in most Bond related merch or books. The episode, a live broadcast, was considered lost until a kinescope emerged in the 1980s almost 30 years after the fact. What makes him The Pete Best though is that even when he had played him before, he wasn't even considered for the role for Dr. No, although the fact he was American and older than Connery by almost thirteen years probably didn't help his case.
    • Sort of; Peter Burton played a character named Major Boothroyd in Dr. No who is described as an armourer, before Desmond Llewelyn made the role as Q.
  • Production Posse: Cubby Broccoli thought of the series as his beloved "family business", and frequently retained crewmembers and collaborators through the years.
  • Promoted Fanboy:
    • Timothy Dalton was strongly influenced by the first three Bond films and drew heavily from the books for his portrayal.
    • Pierce Brosnan decided to become an actor after his parents took him to see Goldfinger as a child, and has also mentioned being influenced by Roger Moore's performance in The Saint.
  • Real-Life Relative:
    • Sean Connery's then-wife has stunt (particularly swimming) and stand-in parts in You Only Live Twice.
    • Pierce Brosnan's wife Cassandra Harris played Countess Lisl von Schlaff in For Your Eyes Only (Brosnan even visited the set once). She even hoped that someday he'd get to be Bond. It came true, but unfortunately she passed away before it happened.
  • Reality Subtext: Desmond Llewelyn's Q explains in The World Is Not Enough that he intends to retire and turn that John Cleese's R will replace him as quartermaster (much to Bond's disappointment). A few weeks after the film's release Desmond Llewelyn died in a car accident, tragically making this a definite farewell to the actor.
    Q: I've always tried to teach you two things: First, never let them see you bleed.
    Bond: And the second?
    Q: Always have an escape plan.
    [A trap door opens beneath Q, slowly lowering him out of sight as Bond sadly watches.]
  • Recast as a Regular:
  • Screwed by the Lawyers: This was why the series went on hiatus in the early 90s (coincidentally missing the end of the Cold War in the process). MGM was infamously purchased during this time by Italian fraudster Giancarlo Parretti; during his reign of error at MGM, he sold the television rights to the Bond movies at cut-rate prices without the approval of Eon Productions, resulting in the latter company suing MGM. Even after Parretti was arrested and his bank, the French Crédit Lyonnais, took control of MGM, the legal issues weren't resolved until 1993-94, by which point Timothy Dalton was only willing to do one more movie (what ultimately became GoldenEye) — the Broccolis wanted to sign him to a long-term contract. He declined and ultimately Pierce Brosnannote  took the role. All of this meant GoldenEye didn't hit theaters until 1995.
  • Sequel Gap: Usually, there was an average of two years between Eon's Bond films, though that changed significantly at times:
  • Technology Marches On: Given that it's a gadget-heavy series that spans over fifty years, it's bound to happen every now and again. However, the more high-tech, and therefore obviously fictional, a gadget was then the less likely it was to look silly in a few years.
    • Casino Royale (2006) came close to invoking this by featuring Blu-ray discs in several scenes back before it was determined what the next-generation HD disc would be and the aforementioned format was locked in a duel with HD DVD for the title. Beyond that, however, the Daniel Craig films appear to be intentionally averting this trope by rarely giving Bond anything more high-tech than a mobile phone to play with. However, ironically the real-life cell phone Bond uses in the 2006 film is already dated and outmoded, whereas some of his gadgets from the 1960s such as the rebreather from Thunderball or even Q's radioactive tracking lint in OHMSS, still come across as cutting-edge.
    • Skyfall parodies it, with Bond's only gear besides his firearm being a simple radio transmitter, which for its size would have been cutting edge back in 1962, but could be built with parts from a Radio Shack nowadays. Sam Mendes' explanation was that the most innovative gadgets they could think of were basically available in your local Apple store, so it was less ridiculous to avoid them entirely. The over-the-top gadgetry and special effects extravaganza of Die Another Day also generated bad press, and thus the Craig instalments focused on the characters to build audience appeal.
  • Unfinished Episode:
    • When it was clear that Roger Moore was serious about retiring from the role, the original plan for the 15th film in the series (and the 25th anniversary) was to be a prequel. In the original version, a twenty-something James Bond teams up with a senior agent named Burton Trevor on a mission to infiltrate the jungle compound of a Chinese warlord named Kwang. Trevor would die helping Bond escape, Bond would hunt down and kill Kwang and subsequently be promoted to the Double-0 section, taking Trevor's old number "007". The story would end with Bond getting the mission for Dr. No. Albert R. Broccoli rejected this, claiming that no-one wanted to see James Bond as a rookie. Despite Broccoli's wishes to the contrary, Casino Royale (2006) would depict Bond as a newly-promoted 00 agent.
    • Timothy Dalton was originally contracted to do a third film. It would have been called Property of a Lady and would be about an attack on a Scottish nuclear facility that threatens to set off World War III and Bond’s efforts to stop it taking him to Tokyo and Hong Kong. It would also feature Bond’s battles with another 00-Section spy, Denholm Crisp (played by Anthony Hopkins), who had been his mentor but had become a traitor. The aforementioned legal disputes between MGM and Danjaq/EON prevented it from being made and during the long hiatus, Dalton moved on.
    • A treatment was written for a fourth film with Dalton, Reunion with Death, which would have been set in Japan and featured Leila Ponsonby, Bond's secretary from the novels.
  • Word of Saint Paul:
    • Lois Maxwell believed that Bond and Moneypenny did have an affair when they were younger, "back when he was the tea boy at MI6 and she was one of the girls in the typing pool". They had a weekend in the country, but called it off for the sake of their careers, deciding they were Better as Friends, though not above flirtatious banter.
    • Judi Dench created a backstory for M.
      I see her married to this man with two grown-up children, two girls. The man is either a writer or a professor or a literary agent - a strong, rather quiet, dusty kind of man who doesn't like going out.
  • Written by Cast Member: Daniel Craig has enjoyed much creative input in the writing of his character, unlike the previous actors. He helped director Marc Forster to flesh out the script of Quantum of Solace when the Writers Strike troubled the movie's production, and was responsible for hiring Phoebe Waller-Bridge to work on the No Time to Die script.
  • You Look Familiar: In the era of Cubby Broccoli (and for some films beyond it under Barbara Broccoli), several actors were employed multiple times for different characters in the film series.

    Gunbarrel Openings Trivia 
There have been twelve variations on the iconic gunbarrel openingnote . As shown by the compilation videos on YouTube, every gunbarrel scene has a different soundtrack.
  • The first one, with Stunt Double Bob Simmons as the Bond. This one was used from Dr. No to Goldfinger. The "Bond" is actually a silhouette.
  • When the aspect ratio changed, the sequence had to be re-done. This version used Sean Connery, and was the first version to "expand" onto the screen. This edition was seen in Thunderball, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever. It was filmed in black-and-white, and a sepia tint was added for two of those movies.
  • Lazenby featured in the gunbarrel sequence only once. His Bond drops to one knee when firing and is wiped out by the blood.
  • Roger Moore was the first Bond to shoot the sequence twice—again, necessitated by an aspect ratio change. His first version was used in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun, and his second version was used in The Spy Who Loved Me and onward. He's the first Bond to lose the hat, too. He's also the first Bond to don a tuxedo in the gunbarrel. Moore is also notable for being the only Bond that uses the Weaver stance when shooting—so he can be said to be the only Bond that employs proper firearm etiquette in the gunbarrel sequence.
  • Timothy Dalton filmed it once.
  • Pierce Brosnan filmed it twice, but the one he did when he was about to star in The Living Daylights was never used, as he was prevented from starring in it at the last moment by his contracts on Remington Steele. His second version, introduced in GoldenEye and used for all his subsequent films, had the first digitally-generated gunbarrel. Die Another Day had a CGI bullet added in, as celebration of the 40th anniversary.
  • Daniel Craig holds the unique distinction of having a completely different gunbarrel in every one of his films:
    • To signify the reboot status in Casino Royale, Craig's gunbarrel was actually incorporated into the opening sequence, with the blood now being opaque. It's the second gunbarrel to segue directly into the opening.
    • Quantum of Solace featured a return of sorts to the "classic" form. It was now at the end of the movie, featured a different barrel and Craig became the first Bond to be shown walking away at the end.
    • Skyfall's gunbarrel was also featured at the end, in a different pose yet again.
    • Spectre puts the classic gunbarrel back at the start of the movie like it used to be before Casino Royale. This time Craig doesn't conceal the gun while walking. It also holds steady and then fades to black before fading into the opening sequence, rather than the typical "gunbarrel shifts from left to right then widens to reveal opening scene".
    • No Time to Die again features it at the start of the movie. On the international versions, the Universal globe turns into a larger white dot which moves to the left, transitioning into the usual dots moving in to the right. The US release starts from black as usual instead. Instead of any blood falling, Bond fades to white as the camera moves through the gunbarrel and out into the opening scene.

    Video Games Trivia 

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top