A VIEW TO A KILL (1985)
Lewis Collins IS James Bond
“
I hear the bedroom scene with Grace didn’t go too well.”
“I’d rather not discuss it.”
(Euan Lloyd and Lewis Collins, 1984)
Cubby Broccoli wasn’t fond of Lewis Collins. At least not at first, and certainly not by the end of it, but there was a time in which the powerful Bond producer developed sufficient faith on the intense British actor to take on a substantial gamble on his behalf. Having already had a brief, unsuccessful meeting back in 1980, it was only the combination of Roger Moore departing the franchise after contract disputes, and the financial collapse of Kevin McClory’s attempted Thunderball remake, which had conspired to open both men a second chance. Collins, by then fresh from portraying a sophisticated SAS operative in Who Dares Wins (1982), had gotten an audition thanks to Barbara Broccoli, who – taken in by Collins’s performance – suggested to his father that he was worth another look. Although the actor clearly desired the role, he was initially unwilling to make an effort to impress Broccoli until Euan Lloyd, producer to Who Dares Wins and something of a mentor to the young actor, made it clear to Collins that the simplest mistake could cost him the role for good.
Such is the origin for the rumour that Collins showed up dressed in character to meet Broccoli and the rest of the production team, which both the actor and Lloyd have dismissed as an exaggeration. In Lloyd’s own words, he merely tried to “smooth the rough edges”. Whatever the context of his audition, Collins made a sufficiently good impression to win the much desired role after some wrangling over his contract, and was announced to the world as the fourth James Bond in July 1982 right in the middle of the post Falklands War patriotic frenzy. The honeymoon, however, would not last very long as Octopussy became mired on production issues, personal conflicts and, perhaps crucially, Collins’ own dissatisfaction with a script he still felt reflected Moore rather than his own desired (and darker) take on the role. Still, Broccoli and the actor had soldiered on, with the former giving his new potential star some leeway with the more comedic elements of the script, and the latter dutifully promoting the film before the press. In the end, Octopussy neither impressed the critics nor smashed the box office, and to this day remains a competent yet not very inspiring entry on the franchise.
Thus, and perhaps hoping to avoid a repeat of Moore’s infamous second outing repeating itself, Broccoli and EON decided a different approach was needed, something that would both excite audiences and reverse the diminishing financial returns that had taken place ever since the late 70’s. Having announced the next entry as “From a View to a Kill” – soon shortened to A View to a Kill – a degree of continuity was maintained by retaining director John Glen, who worked with returning screenwriter George MacDonald Fraser to try and come up with an appropriate story. With both men interested in the prospect of another intrigue-filled adventure like Four Your Eyes Only, for which they wanted to use both the original story and unused material by Fleming, a competing pitch also emerged from Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum, suggesting a technology-based plot regarding the destruction of Silicon Valley with means such as Halley's Comet or the San Andreas Fault, which some felt were reminiscent of Goldfinger.
In the end, and after much debate with Cubby Broccoli, the final plotline ended up resembling more of the latter rather than the original concept, although a number of elements proposed by Fraser were preserved. In spite of warnings that the story becoming too cluttered, a number of action sequences left over from the draft of previous films were also added. Perhaps unintentionally, the finished plot also appeared to resemble Role of Honour, one of the Bond continuation novels by John Gardner, which led to some tension – privately and secretly resolved – with Gildrose Publications. Other than the search for a more appropriate plot for Collins’ take on Bond, the biggest novelty was to be found in the casting, with EON consciously trying to improve its standing and appeal with younger viewers by, as a critic would later put it “appealing to the MTV crowd”. Having written main villain Zorin with David Bowie in mind – going so far as to give the Zorin character heterochromia -, they only signed him up for the role after long discussions. Combined with the somewhat unorthodox choice of Priscilla Presley and Grace Jones to be the main Bond girls, A View to a Kill soon proved to be drowning in free publicity.
The filming process, which took place in Iceland, England, France and Switzerland across the latter half of 1984, proved to be just as contentious than the Octopussy shoot. For one, although Collins’ military background helped immensely in ramping up the tension and scale of the action set pieces, his feuding with famed stunt coordinator Bob Simmons – which dated all the way back to a past conflict in Who Dares Wins - led to substantial tension, with both men having to be separated from each other at one point. For another, David Bowie often questioned and prodded Glen and the EON team regarding the merits of the plot and the depth of the characters, which he found insufficient. And for yet another, it was reported Collins didn’t quite get along with Grace Jones for unclarified reasons, though both them would jokingly dismiss the notion in later years. In a final publicity coup, Broccoli got the popular English band Duran Duran to perform the film’s main theme after a chance encounter, maximizing the film’s commercial appeal.
A View to a Kill’s pre-title sequence takes place in Paris, with James Bond (Lewis Collins) trying to recover an advanced microchip stolen by the Soviets at a meeting with a contact at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. When the contact is murdered by the mysterious assassin May Day (Grace Jones), a prolonged and violent chase takes place across the city, resulting in the assassin escaping and Bond being arrested. Back in London, and assisted by Moneypenny (Michaela Clavell) and Q (Desmond Llewelyn), Bond identifies the recovered microchip as coming from Zorin Industries, a powerful French-based company that supplies military hardware to NATO. Suspecting someone in Zorin’s organization might be working for the Soviet Union and passing hardware, M (Robert Brown) assigns Bond to investigate the organization, including its eccentric chairman Max Zorin (David Bowie). 007 partners up with fellow operative Tibbett (Michael Byrne), and both men enter Zorin’s massive estate, which is meant to hold a private motorcycling Grand Prix, under false identities.
After a brief encounter with Stacey Sutton (Priscila Presley), a woman who Zorin is attempting to buy off, Bond and Zorin immediately suspect each other and try to uncover their respective goals, with the industrialist persuading May Day – his bodyguard and lover – to seduce Bond in search of information, and Bond stealing additional microchips from Zorin’s vault. Having discovered the identity of his visitors, Zorin challenges Bond and Tibbet to what is meant to be a friendly motorcycle race, but which turns into an intense, murderous chase with May Day’s assistance. Tibbett is murdered, and Bond, left for dead after violently crashing into a nearby river, is saved at the last moment by Sutton. Learning her rescuer is the heiress to a California-based tech company, rival to Zorin, Bond enlists her help to uncover his newest foe’s plan. Before Zorin and May Day can fly to California to enact their mysterious plan, they’re unsuccessfully confronted by General Gogol (Walter Gotell), with Zorin revealed to be a former asset who has outmaneuvered and betrayed his handlers.
Landing in San Francisco, Bond partners up with old friend and CIA agent Felix Leiter (Powers Boothe), briefly spars against KGB operative Pola Ivanova (Maryam D’Abo), and works alongside Sutton to uncover Zorin’s goals. As the investigation goes on Bond and Sutton develop a romantic connection, and after infiltrating the San Francisco City Hall, they eventually uncover evidence that Zorin is placing extensive amounts of explosives beneath San Francisco. Ambushed by May Day and Zorin at the building, a vicious gunfight ensures. Leiter is injured, and Sutton and Bond are captured after a dramatic chase. Brought to a number of underground caves beneath the city, Zorin reveals his intent to use the explosives to cause a devastating earthquake, destroying Silicon Valley and taking out his entire Western competition. Combining his intellect with technology he has stolen from the Soviets, he is confident of an imminent technological monopoly, which will give him unprecedented power and influence to wield. To May Day’s surprise, Zorin reveals the extent of his psychopathy by setting her up to die alongside Bond, taking Sutton as a hostage and preparing to watch and celebrate the unfolding disaster from his private airship.
Disgusted by Zorin’s betrayal, May Day chooses to disable the firing mechanism in spite of it being rigged, willingly electrocuting herself in the process whilst ensuring Zorin is able to see her ruining his plans. As the businessman rages and orders the airship to take off to make his escape, Bond manages to free himself and cling to a rope, mooring the airship to the Golden Gate bridge. Once the airship crashes on the top the bridge, Bond saves Sutton from the wreckage before being attacked by a manic, axe-wielding Zorin, both men engaging in a brutal fight. Assisted by Sutton, and lowering Zorin’s guard by mocking his self-proclaimed superiority, Bond prevails in the fight and the businessman falls to his death. Shortly after, and as General Gogol visits M to award 007 with the Order of Lenin, Bond and Sutton – via a Q spy cam – are seen “together” at her mansion.
The film premiered on May 1985 to significant expectations and an intense marketing campaign, focused on Duran Duran’s main theme, the Bowie-Jones duo, and to a lesser extent, the promise of a more action filled Bond than the more recent installments in the series. To Broccoli and Glen’s partial disappointment, critic reaction was tepid, with a minority of critics supportive of the film and very complimentary of Bowie, Jones and Collins outweighed by a majority which, while not entirely dismissive of the film, judged it “unimaginative” and “formulaic”, taking issue with the unprecedented level of violence displayed on screen, and dismissing Presley’s performance as bland. However, this internal disappointment at EON was rapidly overturned by what can only be described as sheer box office gold, an unusually powerful response by audiences helping overcome Octopussy’s weak results for the most commercially successful outing since Moonraker. Unusually for the series, Duran Duran’s “A View to a Kill” also skyrocketed all the way to being a No. 1 song, with a resulting urban legend suggesting the film’s box office numbers were actually inflated by people who just came to hear the song and then left the cinema.
Now consolidated in the mind of audiences after a very difficult transition, partly due to an aggressive courting of publicity, Collins felt pleased at having been able to get closer to the Fleming character of the novels, put on a darker performance as Bond and move away from Moore’s style, even if he still found the plots he had to work with rather constraining. As Wilson and Maibaum made preparations for writing what eventually became Risico (1987), Collins’ third of four Bond films, the actor and Cubby Broccoli both agreed in the potential involved in a fresher, more intrigue-filled approach, which signaled the highest point of the relationship between both men before what would eventually be such a contentious end to the English actor’s tenure.
Retrospectively, A View to a Kill has been described as the “MTV Bond”, an action filled spectacle with a memorable villain which, nonetheless, fails to live up to its potential by reusing previously seen aspects and plots. Highlights of the film include Bowie’s intense performance as the psychotic Zorin, the main action sequences (including the Paris and motorcycle chases, and the final axe fight), Bond’s rivalry with Zorin, and the chemistry between Zorin and May Day.
Author’s Notes: I wasn’t really familiar with Collins before, but he seems to come up often as one of the most persistent “What Ifs”. Here, he takes over Moore in Octopussy and pretty much gets to be the 80’s Bond. I initially toyed with going with the original Halley’s Comet plot, but I found it too ridiculous. Then I wanted to craft a more original, TLD or FYEO-like concept, but there wasn’t much material to work with. This leaves us with an alt-AVTAK devoid of some of the most unnecessary or exaggerated aspects, while still retaining what is admittedly a very tired premise. It wasn’t like the franchise was brimming with creativity at that point, something Collins himself can’t really change (much like Brosnan being undermined by mediocre scripts). Finally, Bowie and Presley were indeed considered for the film.
THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“GOLDENEYE”