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STEPHEN'S MOVIE GUIDE

The Living Daylights (1987)  

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON The Living Daylights (1987)

1985, and Roger Moore announces his retirement from the role of Bond, James Bond. This doesn’t, however, mean the work on the next Bond movie is halted. Michael Wilson and Richard Maibaum once again get their heads together with ideas for the next Bond movie. A story is developed with Bond’s origins, a disenchanted naval Commander and how he is made a sub agent. Broccoli nixes the idea, however, saying that we have only had an experienced Bond who knows how to do what he has to do – and this is what allows men to project themselves into his shoes. Going back to the drawing board, they go back to Fleming – a short story entitled The Living Daylights, in which Bond has to assassinate an assassin, but on finding out she is a woman alters his aim to merely knock the weapon from her hand. This becomes the prologue of the movie – the rest is filled out with elements once again both borrowed from and somehow predicting the front pages. Arms dealers were on the rise, but so were instability and uncertainty in the Soviet Union. A large Soviet network was uncovered in the mid 80’s when a KGB officer defected, and in 1985 a senior KGB officer defected to the US – only to mysteriously defect back again, leading to suspicions that he was actually mining information to take back with him. This provided grist for the storyteller’s mill, along with the growing saga of the Soviet’s Vietnam – namely, Afghanistan, which had been rumbling on since 1979.



The Living Daylights (1987)



During production, the Iran-Contra scandal uncovered CIA involvement in smuggling arms to Iran in exchange for release of American hostages in Lebanon. Whether Oliver North really was a rogue general has been a matter of speculation, but it certainly made the plot of The Living Daylights look peculiarly prescient.



Beyond the story though, there was a more significant change in Bond – the tone. Ever since Diamonds are Forever, the model of the Bond movie had been that comedy was never far from mind.. this suited Roger Moore’s style, who arguably rescued the franchise after On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but that tone actually started with Connery in Diamonds. Now though, audiences were way down for View To A Kill, and the feedback was that the comedy was somehow no longer working. Director John Glen and producers Broccoli and Wilson all agreed – the answer was to go back to Fleming, make a harder edged Bond once again. In addition though, Bond had to nod to the future – AIDS was on the rise, safe sex the talk of the day – how could it be appropriate for Bond to continue to make casual fun of casual sex?



Ultimately the script walked a fine line, not knowing who the next Bond would be. The director and Michael Wilson felt that it was clear who Bond would be – Sam Neill’s screen tests were convincing to them.. but Broccoli vetoed him, preferring instead someone who had been approached as far back as 1968 – Timothy Dalton.




The Living Daylights (1987)

Sam Neill

He had considered himself too young then, but now felt ready – however he was in the middle of another movie and unavailable. The production team moved on to their next best choice, a man who Broccoli had met on the set of The Spy Who Loved Me when he visited his wife (Cassandra Harris) on set – Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan was thrilled at the opportunity, and said yes. The Living Daylights now had a Bond, and production started. Then disaster struck – Brosnan had only a few months left on his Remington Steele contract, but a loophole meant that if they developed new episodes before it ran out, they could automatically extend it. Sensing their actor now had a fresh buzz with all the Bond talk, they quickly put together new episodes and just days before the end of his contract, it was extended, and Brosnan had to withdraw from the role of Bond – for now. This caused a delay in start of the Bond picture – just enough for first choice Dalton to become available. He finished shooting Brenda Starr in America, flew back at the weekend to UK and started filming as Bond on the Monday.

Dalton was one of the most prestigious actors to play Bond to date – he was an established movie actor, holding his own against O’Toole, Hopkins and Hepburn in The Lion In Winter, as well as key roles in Wuthering Heights and Mary, Queen of Scots.. in 1980 he was probably best known for his role in Flash Gordon. It’s not long after starting to watch The Living Daylights, that Dalton’s intent to “capture the spirit of Ian Fleming” becomes evident. From the pre-title sequence alone, we see him doing his own stunts, getting in to the thick of the action without breaking away to stuntmen, and even head-butting the bad guy.

Can you imagine Moore doing that..?



The Living Daylights (1987)



The Living Daylights (1987)



The Living Daylights (1987)

The Bond girl was updated too – Maryam D’Abo plays something more than the token lady interest in previous movies, playing a substantial role in the development of the story. She is not the strongest Bond girl to be sure, but a leap forward from the vapid Tanya Roberts in the previous movie.

The Living Daylights (1987)

To add to this updating of the character at the core, other updates were made – John Barry returned for his last ever Bond score, and although he was becoming well known for his lush orchestral sound in movies such as Out of Africa, he had been experimenting with synthesisers, and on this movie let rip. Not only did they revisit the idea of a young pop band singing the song, this time A-Ha, Barry wrote two more songs for the movie, for Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. One of these was to be played presaging a killing by the blond Russian assassin Necros in the movie, and the other, a love song, played over the end titles. In a nice touch to mark his farewell to the series, he plays a cameo as the conductor of the orchestra in the final scenes.

Moneypenny was also recast, and the Aston Martin was to return in its latest guise.



The Living Daylights (1987)



The Living Daylights (1987)

Filming took place in Gibraltar for the pre-title sequence, moving to Morocco (doubling as Afghanistan as well) and Vienna, where scenes were shot in the same fairground park where John Glen started his career as assistant sound editor on The Third Man. Aerial stuntmen B.J. Worth and his team returned once more, performing some spectacular stuntwork hanging off the back of a Hercules, and elsewhere many of the crew also returned.

On its release, the movie became the 3rd most successful Bond movie yet. International audiences were watching in numbers a third more than the previous outing. Only in America was the box office somewhat muted, with Dalton an unknown there, and the misapprehension that Dalton was second choice to Brosnan, since Brosnan was very well known in the States. Ultimately though, the critics were positive, the movie even now having a 75% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A few voices dissented bemoaning Dalton’s discomfort when called upon to be humorous, but most lauded the fact that he did his own stunts and made Bond ‘real’ again, bringing a welcome hard edge back for the first time since early Connery versions.

The Living Daylights (1987)



Trivia



The Living Daylights (1987)

The woman who appeared in a white negligee in one of the movie's main posters was American model Kathy Stangel. She was allegedly paid $600 for this modeling job. This poster caused some controversy because it seemed to evoke violence against women, as the poster girl appeared at the end of a gun barrel. However, the poster did not generate as much controversy as the one from For Your Eyes Only (1981).

The character of Pushkin was originally to have been General Gogol, a recurring character since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Indeed, Pushkin is chief of the KGB, the very position Gogol held in previous appearances. A new character was created actor after Walter Gotell fell ill and producer Albert R. Broccoli could not get him insured. Gotell has said Broccoli even offered to pay an extensive sum personally but still could not get coverage. Pushkin's girlfriend was likewise supposed to be the secretary seen romancing Gogol in several films. Gotell was able to film a cameo as Gogol (now a member of the Soviet foreign office) for the end of the movie, marking that character's final appearance.

Contrary to popular belief, the strange looking rifle Bond uses to shoot Kara is an actual rifle and not some prop designed for the movie. The rifle is a WA2000 sniper rifle, perfect for Bond since it's designed by Walther Firearms, maker of his classic PPK.




The Living Daylights (1987)

The last film of Geoffrey Keen (Minister of Defence) before his retirement from acting.

The Living Daylights (1987)

The rocket fired from the "ghetto blaster" in Q's lab was an effect activated off-screen by Britain's Prince Charles - who was touring the studio at the time of filming. The effects crew offered to allow Prince Charles to activate the rocket that was used in the final cut of the film. The Royal visit also instigated the famous footage/photograph of Princess Diana hitting her husband over the head with a breakaway bottle (apparently instigated by actor Jeroen Krabbé).

Last James Bond movie to use an original Ian Fleming title until Casino Royale (2006), a gap of almost twenty years.

This was the first appearance of the Felix Leiter character in the EON Productions official series since Live and Let Die (1973), a gap of fourteen years.

The gourmet food contained in the picnic basket brought by James Bond to General Georgi Koskov at the Blayden Safe House included Bollinger RD Champagne, Caviar and Foie gras. The contents mentioned are pretty much the same as what James Bond has in his suitcase at the Shrublands Health Clinic in Never Say Never Again (1983) and Thunderball (1965).

Final Bond movie to date to show a ‘bevy of women’ scene. Here it was a swimming pool full of girls in bikinis at Brad Whitaker's villa mansion.

The Living Daylights (1987)

Cameo by Michael G. Wilson: At the opera, sitting near Saunders, to the right of the lady with a white dress.

clapper




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