The Death Collectors: Bond Films that Never Were

Do we know enough about it, though?
It's been widely speculated that he had some issues with the script, namely, he didn't want to be the guy who did "that thing" (does this site have spoiler tags?) in the Bond franchise. There were also some leaked casting sides that implied the main antagonist was going to be visibly older than Rami Malek, and there was supposed to be a prominent Maori henchman.

Here's some concept art pieces from the film
 
It's been widely speculated that he had some issues with the script, namely, he didn't want to be the guy who did "that thing" (does this site have spoiler tags?) in the Bond franchise. There were also some leaked casting sides that implied the main antagonist was going to be visibly older than Rami Malek, and there was supposed to be a prominent Maori henchman.

Here's some concept art pieces from the film

Having just gotten out of the cinema, I feel like a visibly older antagonist would have made sense. Still very much enjoyed the movie tho
 
Having just gotten out of the cinema, I feel like a visibly older antagonist would have made sense. Still very much enjoyed the movie tho
That my problem with the last two.
Craig did not look old enough for the plots to really work.
We just saw Bond Origin. Now he too old ?
the last three needed a older Bond
 
11. For Your Eyes Only (1979)
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1979)
Michael Billington IS James Bond

pZP7dw8.png


FLASH GORDON”: A MIXED SUCCESS
FOR UNCONVENTIONAL FILMMAKER LUCAS

(Newspaper headline, 1976)​

Many young, aspiring actors were disappointed when George Lazenby got the highly coveted Bond role back in 1968, but few more so than English stage actor Michael Billington. Only two years younger than Lazenby at age 27, Billington had dared to dream about the role and had been unofficially told he had delivered a strong audition, but it was the even more unknown Australian model who had dazzled the producers. Not considered for Diamonds are Forever on account of EON’s flirting with American actors or trying to entice Sean Connery back, Billington went on to gain some visibility as Colonel Foster in the British sci-fi series UFO, and continued to hold some hope for the future on account of his youth. Surely his time would eventually arrive, once Connery finally tired of the role?

As it turned out, the iconic actor was more than tired of the role. As Connery himself said to scriptwriter Tom Mankiewicz: “All they can offer me is money, boyo.” Thus, Broccoli and Saltzman had to deal with the annoying – and potentially deadly – prospect of changing actors yet again, all while United Artists maintained his pressure regarding hiring a consolidated American star. And just as UA approached West, Reynolds, Eastwood and more, so did the producers seriously entertained Julian Glover and, more seriously The Saint’s Roger Moore. Why Moore wasn’t ultimately offered the role remains unclear, though the rumor that Broccoli and Moore clashed over the latter’s appearance has been a persistent one within EON Productions. Amidst all this confusion, Broccoli had a name in mind: Billington himself, who not only seemed to fit the part, but was also young enough to play Bond for a while and lacking the clout that a more established actor would have brought. “We don’t need a diva”, Saltzman agreed. Billington jumped for joy when he was asked to do a screen test with Caroline Seymour for Live and Let Die, and by all accounts he aced it. Thus Billington became the third James Bond, starting his tenure with a positive, if lukewarm reception.

Although the actor was enthusiastic about playing the secret agent – whom he envisioned as the epitome of charm and suaveness -, his early years in the role proved to be very unfortunate. Not only because of the growing feud between Saltzman and Broccoli, and the eventual forceful departure of the former, but because of the material Billington was given to work with. He clashed strongly with Tom Mankiewicz in the course of his first two outings on account of the tone – resisting the campier aspects previously introduced in DAD – and the resulting and inconsistent performance led many to dismiss him as a pale imitation of Connery, toupee and all. Still, a three picture contract was a three picture contract, and Billington dutifully plowed through a lukewarm success (LALD) and a disaster (TMWTGG) before stumbling into a reasonably strong outing in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) which brought the franchise back from the brink of death. At last, James Bond seemed to be back in force.

Having promised For Your Eyes Only at the end of the TSWLM – postponing Moonraker yet again on account of its plot feeling dated -, Broccoli gathered his writing team (Mankiewicz, Richard Maibaum and Christopher Wood) and assigned them the by now familiar of creating a new adventure without much Fleming material to go on, only having a short story to work with and the instruction to go for another action filled adventure Thus the project underwent several different outlines, from Mankiewicz’s proposal to base it around the theft of a space shuttle, to Maibaum’s push for adapting the plot of Risico and other Fleming short stories, and even an outside pitch from celebrated writer Ronald Hardy, who suggested a villain set on causing an ecological disaster. Eventually, they settled on expanding the Mankiewicz outline, while cannibalizing as much as they could from the original short story.

Aiming to get back to the two-year period between Bond films, Broccoli – by now living as a tax exile in the United States – pushed to start production in the middle of 1978, fighting with United Artists over a planned budget between $15 to 20 million, far more than what was spent on The Spy Who Loved Me. Having originally planned to have Lewis Gilbert back again at the director’s chair, Broccoli found himself taking an unexpected chance: back in 1975, after storming the box office with his surprise hit Jaws, Stephen Spielberg had already asked Broccoli to direct a Bond film twice and been rejected. Undeterred, and now with Close Encounters of the Third Kind as further proof of his abilities, Spielberg pushed again, and eventually prevailed over a producer – and above all, a studio - all too keen (some would say desperate) for an unqualified box office blockbuster.

For his part, Billington, having feared before TSWLM that the Bond character was on the verge of death, felt invigorated after finding long awaited success, and didn’t hesitate to sign on for his fourth film. Still only 36, he figured that if EON could keep up momentum, he might even get to break Connery’s record. After initial plans for a joint Franco-British production fell through, EON signed up James Mason as the main villain, and came close to casting Sylvia Kristel as the heroine before controversy over her previous roles led Broccoli to bump her off as a secondary Bond girl. Thus, the cast was rounded up with Jaclyn Smith – of Charlie’s Angels fame – as the main Bond girl, and Anthony Smith, Louis Jourdan and a returning Richard Kiel on supporting roles. Thus, filming took place between late 1978 and early 1979 on India, Nepal, England, Mexico and Guatemala. Wanting to ramp up the eventual appeal of the film to younger viewers, EON continued to double doubt on the youth angle – already possessing a young Bond and a young director – by approaching 20 year-old English singer Kate Bush, fresh from a rather successful debut album. Although Bush came close to turning an offer down on account of her plans to go on tour, she ended up performing the title song “For Your Eyes Only” to considerable critical and commercial success.

For Your Eyes Only’s pre-title sequence takes place in the skies of the North Atlantic, where a group of cutting-edge space shuttles known as the “Enterprise Fleet” is hijacked by the mysterious Gonzales (Anthony Smith). Soon afterwards, while returning to London on a private plane after a successful mission, James Bond (Michael Billington) is ambushed by a returning, vengeful Jaws (Richard Kiel). Fighting Jaws for a parachute after the plane goes down, Bond makes a narrow escape at the last moment. Unbeknownst to him, Jaws also survives the encounter.

In London, Bond is informed by M (Bernard Lee) and Defence Minister Frederick Gray (Geoffrey Keen) regarding the theft of the Enterprise Fleet, loaned to the UK by the powerful conglomerate Drax Industries. Bond is tasked with finding the shuttles, and flies to California to meet with company owner Hugo Drax (James Mason), a heavily scarred, influential businessman with an obsession for Eastern culture and philosophy. Feigning innocence, Drax asserts that a mysterious assassin he names “The Archer” has been attacking his organization as of lately, and suggests he may be behind the theft. Mutually suspicious of each other, Drax has his private pilot Trudi Parker (Sylvia Kristel) try and seduce 007 to probe him for information. Bond, however, turns the tables on her and learns Gonzales will be making a trip to Mexico.

Bond survives an assassination attempt at the Drax estate masked as an accident thanks to Trudi, and, after 007 leaves for Mexico, Drax decides to punish Trudi by having her brutally killed by his ferocious pet dogs. Following Gonzales and realizing he’s gathering some kind of toxic material, Bond is stunned when The Archer appears and murders the henchman with a bow and arrow. Both are subsequently chased and have to make a joint escape, after which Bond successfully unmasks “The Archer” as Julia Havelock (Jaclyn Smith), daughter of Sir Timothy Havelock, a famed botanist and an old colleague of Drax that recently died a mysterious death. Blaming Gonzales as his father's murderer and Drax as the mastermind behind it, Julia has sworn to take revenge. Although 007 warns her regarding the potential consequences of personal revenge, he agrees to work with her to uncover Drax’s operation.

Learning of Gonzales’ death, an exasperated Drax hires Jaws as a replacement, and orders him to capture Bond and Julia. For their part, the couple follows the trail of the space shuttles all the way to Bombay, India, and are chased across the city in a tense, chaotic struggle against the relentless Jaws. Captured and knocked unconscious, they wake up on Drax’s private yacht, the businessman informing them that they’re to be punished for their transgressions by being keelhauled to death on a neighboring coral reef. Drax then leaves to his secret base of operations via helicopter, putting his henchman Chang (Toshiro Suga) in charge of the torture. After a painful ordeal, Bond is able to save Julia and himself by faking his death. Following Chang all the way to the Taj Mahal thanks to the help of the wise Kamal (Louis Jourdan), Station India Chief, the couple learns that Drax may be using a supposedly abandoned Nepalese monastery (resembling the real life “Tiger’s Nest”) as a possible storage for the Enterprise Fleet. A struggle takes place near the monument, and Chang is killed after being hurled out of a window.

Meeting up with Q (Desmond Llewellyn), Julia and Bond are supplied with two twin Acrostar Jets to survey the monastery. Once they arrive, they are confronted by a number of Drax Hawker jets, and an aerial battle ensues. Destroying the enemy aircraft, they are nonetheless captured again and brought to Drax’s presence. There, Drax finally identifies himself as former Nazi officer von Hammerstein, who took advantage of his battle scars in WW2 to change his identity and assume the Drax personal. Acknowledging his responsibility regarding the theft of the Enterprise fleet and the murder of Havelock (to take over his research), he announces his plan to use the shuttles to carry a highly poisonous substance across the world, murdering enough “inferiors” so he can take over the world with a new “master race”. As the shuttles are launched, Julia frees Bond and herself, and after fighting their way across the exotic Hammerstein base, a battle takes place due to the arrival of NATO reinforcements. Taking on Jaws, Bond is able to make him leap to his death at the bottom of the Himalayas, though his body is never shown.

In the meantime, Julia disarms Hammerstein and is ready to murder him before Bond intervenes, reminding her of the heavy toll that revenge may bring. Still, Julia is forced to kill Hammerstein in self-defence when he brandishes a knife, thus completing her personal quest. Both activate the self-destruct sequence for the Enterprise shuttles and the monastery itself, and make an escape. They later spend a romantic evening at a neighboring monastery, all while M, Gray and Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) attempt to make radio contact.

Initially planned for June 1979, the movie was almost delayed due to internal conflict as Spielberg and Broccoli began to clash regarding the planned action sequences, the fate or actions of certain characters, and even the tone of the film itself. From Broccoli’s point of view, he had made the mistake he avoided with Billington in “hiring a diva” (though in this case for the director’s chair), whereas Spielberg felt extremely constrained by Broccoli’s demands and wanted the creative control he felt he deserved. Tension rose exponentially, only tempered by Billington serving as an intermediary of sorts and Spielberg’s own enthusiasm as an actual Bond fan. It was also widely believed in EON that the movie was suffering from a case of “too many cooks”, all while the budget ballooned upwards of $25 million and UA forced the production team to cut a number of additional sequences, including a planned chase at the Eiffel Tower and a scrapped beginning with the murder of the Havelocks.

Thus, For Your Eyes Only premiered on June 1979, with EON privately fearing another TMWTGG-style rout that could prove crippling. Far from it, audiences loved the action-packed film and its sense of adventure, and critics were quick to complement what they perceived to be much needed depth being given to Billington’s interpretation of Bond, as well as the menacing figure provided by the experienced Mason, seen as a far more threatening villain than Karl Stromberg. A minority of the critics found the film too derivative of The Spy Who Loved Me, criticized the overreliance on gadgets and special effects, or weren’t sold on either Smith and Kristel, but by and large Spielberg seemed to deliver the sort of box office triumph that was so desperately needed. Indeed, even with the large budget, the movie made upwards of $200 million, an utter record breaking juggernaut for the franchise.

With Spielberg quickly moving onto different ventures – and Broccoli determined to exercise far more control in the upcoming Moonraker – Billington reached the height of his stardom as Bond and his best personal moment, consolidated in the mind of audiences as more than a Connery-clone, a worthy heir. Soon mired in an internal controversy with Broccoli over his daughter Barbara – who wanted to date Billington, twenty years her senior – and the torturous process to get Moonraker off the ground, the increasingly beleaguered actor would soon look back to For Your Eyes Only as greatest success of his tenure, the largest of any Bond actor to this date. Time, however, has not been as kind as audiences and critics were on its time, with FYEO soon moving from “masterpiece” to “competent, if not formulaic”, and eventually becoming more of a mid-tier effort in spite of Spielberg’s distinctive touch. Highlights of the film include the majority of the action sequences (the pre-title sequence ambush, the Arcostar Jet fight, the keelhauling scene) as well as Bond’s less overtly romantic relationship with Judy, and Mason’s performance as Drax/Hammerstein.

Author’s Notes: It’s always been a fun trivia bit that TSWLM promised FYEO as the next film only for EON to jump onto Moonraker after the success of Star Wars. There really isn’t much info regarding the original Mankiewicz FYEO outlines in 1978 other than mentions to the “Enterprise fleet”, “The Archer” and so on, so the plot here is a pastiche of OTL Moonraker – which doesn’t resemble the novel anyway – plus the Fleming short story. Other than Billington (who screen tested five times!) getting the role in 72’, the other main POD is George Lucas doing Flash Gordon instead of Star Wars, preventing the space mania that influenced OTL Moonraker so heavily. Thus, we get a more balanced and “grounded” (by comparison) film helmed by Spielberg, which may or not butterfly his involvement on what we know today as Raiders of the Lost Ark.​

THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“SPECTRE”
 
Last edited:
Hot take: Rather then being a remix if 2015’s Spectre, I predict that the next film is going to be S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the planned follow up to Never Say Never Again
 
Last edited:
Hot take: Rather then being a remix if 2015’s Spectre, I predict that the next film is going to be S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the planned follow up to Never Say Never Again

I am wondering if it will be the one with the Amsterdam PTS and the Chiwetel Ejiofor version of Blofeld, as we know a lot about that treatment iirc
 
Hot take: Rather then being a remix if 2015’s Spectre, I predict that the next film is going to be S.P.E.C.T.R.E., the planned follow up to Never Say Never Again

Close, but not quite! There's also a twist associated with it, but it is indeed not the 2015 EON film.

Bond novels by nonFleming authors-why not film them?

EON (Broccoli and Saltzman) made it clear they had no interest whatsoever on filming any of them after Gildrose Publications rejected Per Fine Ounce, an unoficial policy they've mantained with the exception of adapting some scattered elements of Colonel Sun. You can check the Per Fine Ounce scenario as an example of an adaptation, although of a novel we know little of.

I am thinking of writing at least one entry surrounding a novel adaptation (possibly one of the John Gardner books), although I'm as of yet uncertain whether it should take place within the PFO universe or whether I need to come up with a different reason as to why the continuation novels would be filmed. I do have an actor and two preferred novels in mind, and I can say I'm planning to have it coincide with an event in British history going a different way.
 
I am thinking of writing at least one entry surrounding a novel adaptation (possibly one of the John Gardner books), although I'm as of yet uncertain whether it should take place within the PFO universe or whether I need to come up with a different reason as to why the continuation novels would be filmed. I do have an actor and two preferred novels in mind, and I can say I'm planning to have it coincide with an event in British history going a different way.
Sound like fun .
Looking forward to reading it
 

Longitude 78 West
I can't imagine a worse title for a Bond film...
he wanted none other than the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock​
Nor a worse director, I think... Judging by "North by Northwest", "Topaz", & "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Hitch had no damn business making spy films.
the casting of Shirley MacLaine [and] Burl Ives
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Richard Burton – backed by Fleming – wanting a serious tone
Good for them! (Burton does have one major drawback as Bond: he couldn't fire a weapon to save his life...:eek::rolleyes: That's why it was Clint who did the shooting in "Where Eagles Dare".)
the entire 00 section
This would have been an excellent opportunity to define just how damn many 00s there were at any one time... The writers of various films couldn't seem to make up their minds (or be clear) if there were many, or just one. (In particular, when Bond says, "If you kill me, I'll just be replaced by 008.)
Hermann’s score (including his thrilling Bond theme)
I presume it's distinctly different from the familiar Monty Norman version. That saddens me; I like it a lot.
Carry Grant as Bond
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Christ, you might as well cast John Wayne.:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
This would have been an excellent opportunity to define just how damn many 00s there were at any one time... The writers of various films couldn't seem to make up their minds (or be clear) if there were many, or just one. (In particular, when Bond says, "If you kill me, I'll just be replaced by 008.)
According to the Thunderball novel, there are at least nine of them, at least when SPECTRE start his plot, dunno how much in the movies, we got Alex Treybanan/006 and 009 is the franchise running gag
 
According to the Thunderball novel, there are at least nine of them, at least when SPECTRE start his plot, dunno how much in the movies, we got Alex Treybanan/006 and 009 is the franchise running gag

There have been at least 11, Moonraker mentions a 0011 has gone missing, but Fleming also stated there were only three active Double Oh agents in the same novel, perhaps indicating licenses/codenamed aren't automatically recycled.

The only other agent Fleming gives a name to is 008, called Bill. The other novels take us up to 0012, and give us more names.
 
There have been at least 11, Moonraker mentions a 0011 has gone missing, but Fleming also stated there were only three active Double Oh agents in the same novel, perhaps indicating licenses/codenamed aren't automatically recycled.

The only other agent Fleming gives a name to is 008, called Bill. The other novels take us up to 0012, and give us more names.
Seems 00 agents mission are so high risk those get offed very frequently, if anything James is the Living Legend because of how resilient he is, but seems in Thunderball the 00 section was at 'full Strength' with all 00 available, the world is not enough show us at least six. seems 007 and 009 might be the most resilient one
 
dunno how much in the movies, we got Alex Treybanan/006 and 009 is the franchise running gag
There have been at least 11, Moonraker mentions a 0011 has gone missing,
i always thought that the character of Charlies Robinson as played by Colin Solomon in the Brosnan films was a former 00.
There was nothing in the films that said so , but he seem to be Bond equal and Bond treated him as one .
 
Top