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STEPHEN'S MOVIE GUIDE

A View to a Kill  

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON A View to a Kill



A View to a Kill

In 1983 Octopussy had been a success, and had held its own and even edged ahead of “that” rival Connery picture. Moore’s Bond for a new generation had proven his popularity… however, where Octopussy had placed an emphasis on the familiar and a touch of nostalgia, the producers were keenly aware that to survive, Bond needed to chart some new territory sometime soon. Part of the changes made included Michael Wilson getting a promotion.. Albert Brocolli had found him useful since The Man With The Golden Gun as both a co-screenwriter, idea man, and legal expert, helping chart through the tricky waters of a Kevin McClory inhabited world.. he had now earned his place as co-producer, and his grooming to take Brocolli’s place one day was entering its next stage. He worked on a story which strived to be contemporary, and co-wrote the screenplay with Bond stalwart Richard Maibaum. The mid 1980’s was a time when computers were making quantum leaps in performance and importance.. it was the era of Silicon Valley, 1984 being the year Apple put a personal computer on the market, and so the silicon chip would became integral to the story. On the other hand It was also a time when events in the world were taking a nasty turn.. In October 1983, a truck bomb in the marines HQ in Lebanon killed 216 people, with another bomb in a compound housing French peacekeepers 2 minutes later killed another 58. Other events that year were the miners strike in the UK, PC Yvonne Fletcher murdered outside the Libyan Embassy, AIDS was discovered, Grenada was invaded (to oust “Cuban thugs”), terrorism was on the rise in the Middle East, and all sorts of revolutions and counter revolutions were being backed by the CIA, not least of which was the Mujahedin in Afghanistan. The producers decided that the levity that Moore provided as Bond was needed a little longer, and the Cold War plot of Fleming’s original short story “From A View To A Kill” was discarded, and the story of Max Zorin and his attempt to destroy Silicon Valley was developed.

With a story and new co-producer in place, the cast were assembled. David Bowie was invited to play Zorin, and when he turned them down, Sting was considered, before Christopher Walken finally accepted, making him the first Oscar winner to play a Bond villain. John Glen would direct again, for the third time, and Lois Maxwell would join Moore in what would be her Bond farewell. Grace Jones became May Day (with a view to the younger generation) and against John Barry’s advice, a pop band were hired to perform the theme tune – Duran Duran. In a neat piece of casting, Patrick Macnee was hired as Bond’s support.

A View to a Kill


Tanya Roberts, a Charlie’s Angel, was hired as the Bond lady – Moore has said in interviews it was realising Tanya’s mother was younger than him that clinched the deal on making this his last Bond picture.

Other interesting casting was Alison Doody as Jenny Flex (get it? Jenny Flex..?), who later starred in the third Indiana Jones movie. UK audiences would recognize Bond’s San Francisco sidekick David Yip, from The Chinese Detective. Amusingly, Dolph Lundgren makes his first movie appearance as a random heavy – he got the role as he was available on set at short notice, since he was dating Grace Jones at the time.

Shooting took place in Iceland for the pre-title sequence, and then the production had a major setback, when right at the end of filming “Legend”, the 007 sound stage – the only one in Europe of its size – burned down.

A decision was quickly made – Cubby Broccoli would fund its rebuilding, from the ground up. The production had to reschedule its shoots, which meant going to France first and then San Francisco. This in itself reflected a change in the direction of the movies – traditionally Bond movies had been born in the age when travel was something for the elite, and so the franchise showed the sort of exotic places few had seen or perhaps even imagined – Bahamas, Turkey, Switzerland.. but now the age of easier travel meant that the Bond spin was that they would show familiar places, but they would show them with a fresh spin. Yes, it’s the Eiffel Tower – but we are going to jump off it! For that stunt, BJ Worth and his team once again returned to Bond movies to perform the stunt. 32 separate authorities had to sign off to allow the stunt to take place – but it went perfectly on the first take – much to the dismay of the back-up stuntman who was then not required to jump. He therefore took it in his own hands to go up early the following morning and perform the jump unauthorised. He was fired, and has never worked on a Bond picture since.

Whatever your feelings about Roger Moore, he had taken hold of the franchise and stamped his style on it. He had been part of helping the franchise survive through some tough years, and had never tried to emulate anyone else – he was his own Bond. For this his swansong, he was never happy with it, calling it his least favourite. His primary objection was the violence; seeing Walken machine gun his minions seemed to take the franchise in a new direction he did not like. Additionally he intensely disliked Grace Jones, and he admitted that, in his words, he was only about 400 years too old for the part. It’s certainly increasingly apparent in this movie where he is clearly being doubled by a stuntman.

…You think this is Moore..?

The critics were mixed – Walken was praised as an effective villain, but although critics seized upon Moore’s age – his performance was as cool and collected as always. The inserted humour – notably the ill-conceived Beach Boys song inserted into the opening action scene, was not so well received. This movie had the lowest rating on Rotten Tomatoes for any of the official Bond movies – something which I find a little unfair given some of the quite good action scenes. Tanya Roberts was nominated for a Golden Raspberry award.. I’ll leave my thoughts on her performance at that.

A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill



Trivia

With this being Lois Maxwell's final appearance as Moneypenny, it brings her screen total across all the James Bond films she appeared in to just one hour. She also delivered fewer than 200 words.

The disclaimer, "Neither the name Zorin nor any other name or character in this film is meant to portray a real company or actual person" was added after producers discovered a real company known as Zoran Ladicorbic Ltd. Their industry was fashion design.

When Grace Jones as May Day screams during the mine sequence when sparks fly around her, her screams are for real. She did not know that electric cables around her would go off as a special effect for the scene.



A View to a Kill

The film's story is considered a re-working of much of the story structure of the earlier James Bond movie Goldfinger (1964). The two films share many similar story elements.

To cut costs, the production only painted one side of the full-size model of Max Zorin's blimp.

Roger Moore's hair had to be thickened every day during filming.

The Remy-Julienne Stunt Team from France did many of the stunts in this movie, but in the San Francisco segment, a scene in which Roger Moore was supposed to be driving a fire truck, the stunt driver was too short to reach the pedals and properly operate the truck. There wasn't much time to 'rig' the truck so Moore volunteered to drive it himself, quite expertly as noted by the local San Francisco Teamsters. Moore claims he was a lorry driver among other things before his acting paid the bills.

Roger Moore celebrated his 57th birthday during filming, making him the oldest actor to play Bond. Sean Connery was 52 in Never Say Never Again (1983).

The title song was written by John Barry and Duran Duran and was sung by Duran Duran. It has been the only ever James Bond song to reach #1 in the USA. It stayed at the top position for two weeks out of its seventeen week run in the charts.

First Bond film to not state the title of the next Bond film during the ending credits.

The 1962 silver Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II seen in the film was actually owned by producer Albert R. Broccoli, who lent it to the production. A duplicate model without an engine is used when Zorin and May Day push it into the lake.

Because of the unprecedented level of co-operation from the San Francisco authorities, producer Albert R. Broccoli insisted that the film's premiere take place in the city. It was held at the Palace of Fine Arts, and was the series' first World Premiere to be in the USA.

None of the principal cast ever went to Iceland for this film, not even Roger Moore.

Roger Moore had some cosmetic surgery before filming began.

The role of Pola Ivanova was originally meant to be Anya Amasova, the female lead from The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). When Barbara Bach declined to reprise her role, a new character was created. Cameo Maud Adams: as a woman in the crowd at Fisherman's Wharf. Adams happened to be visiting San Francisco when the film was in production there. Roger Moore got her to appear as an uncredited extra in a crowd scene, making her the only actress to appear in 3 Bond films (excluding actresses in recurring roles), after The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and Octopussy (1983).

Michael G. Wilson: man heard over loudspeaker at San Francisco City Hall.

This film was intensely disliked by Roger Moore himself. Moore who was barely on speaking terms with Grace Jones during filming.

A View to a Kill

He did not consider this to be a real 007 movie. On the scene where Christopher Walken was machine-gunning hundreds of people, Moore said, "That wasn't Bond, those weren't Bond films. It stopped being what they were all about. You didn't dwell on the blood and the brains spewing all over the place."

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors forbade any falling stunt (as per The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker (1979) and For Your Eyes Only (1981)) from the Golden Gate Bridge in fear of copy-cat suicides. As such, the death of Zorin was created by special optical effects.

clapper




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