Chapter One : The Lazenby Years : 1969 – 1971
‘The deal was that I would played Bond in seventh films but as fate play her hand, I only did one out of the seven’ – George Lazenby (Being Bond, 2017) (1)
Making of a diamond
George Lazenby was the age of 29 when he was cast as James Bond, the only Bond actor to have two films to his name, after OHMSS Lazenby considered quitting the role after his agent try to convince him that Bond will not fit in the 70s, however with one phone call to production Albert Broccoli Lazenby stay on to do Diamonds Are Forever, the deal was that Lazenby would play Bond with in several films which some analysis that Lazenby could have been Bond until the early 80s,during the filming of Diamonds Lazenby and the productions had a falling out about payout so the deal was cut short to only Diamonds, to quote Broccoli ‘Diamonds will be what Goldfinger was to Connery’, however the only thing that connects the two films is the singer Shirley Brassy.
The progress of the story of Diamonds was to bring Bond into the 70s, Writer Richard Maibaum has said that the film was not only to bring into the 70s but for the Americans audience as well, continuing from OHMSS Bond had to be changed to fit the mood of the film, in a 1975 interview Maibaum has quoted by saying ‘Bond couldn’t be his usual self, we wanted to have Bond as a lawman from the Wild West a man who stop for nothing for revenge’, (plus Western was big at the time with the man with no name(2)),’ we also wanted to build a pawn the criticism of the perverse film’, probably the most critical part of OHMSS was Lazenby performance with many saying that he was wooded in most parts,’we took the criticism and we made Bond speak less than what the audience was use too,Lazenby had to act through facial expressions his emotions just as the saying goes show don’t tell’,’in short we wanted Bond to be an antihero’.
Not only Lazenby was back but the director Peter R.Hunt was back as well,Broccoli only agree with Hunt as the director because Guy Hamilton couldn’t done it before his other projects were done and the film could benefit from Hunts style,originally Hamilton was to directed the film such as he did Goldfinger however unfortunately schedule cancelled the plan(3), the filming was tense between Hunt and Lazenby from the beginning with both men having a different vision for the film and character, the myth that both men were fired after the filming from Diamonds isn’t true, reportedly said that Hurt didn’t want to direct another film and wanted to go into Television, Lazenby wasn’t fired for the unprofessional behave,he was drop after a payment discussion between him and the studio.
‘Before I could return to the set as Bond Broccoli phoned me up and ask if I still had the beard, I shave it off and trimmed my hair to look the part once again’, Lazenby said that he enjoyed the experience this time and that he could really show off his acting skills,’I think it was me crying at the end of OHMSS that inspired the Bond we got in Diamonds,it’s a very different man from the previous films’..
The Bond girls this time around are double the amount of last film that being two,with the main attraction being Jill St. John playing Tiffany Case and Lana Wood playing the second Bond girl Plenty O’Toole,unlike his last film Lazenby got on well with his co-stars.
Telly Savalas reprise his role as Ernst Stavro Blofeld for a more action role at the end,probably the most odd decision in the production was to have Charles Grey play as Blofeld as well to create an red herring for the audience(4),this was to fool both the audience and Bond into believing that Grey was a new Blofeld, the main henchmen of the association duos of Mr.Wint and Mr.Kidd who was played by Bruce Glover and Putter Smith respectively, in the original script the characters of Wint and Kidd were supposed to be a comedy act with them assassination people in humorous fashioned however the idea was scraped to fit the tone of the film.
Filming began in April of 1971 and luckily for everyone involved unlike the previous film it went more smoothly,the filming finished in late August of the same year with a week of filming delayed due to the set of the ending fight scene being in a salt mine and the stuns for the weather balloon was delayed for bad weather(5),after the film was the press tour had begun to promote the film and Lazenby stayed clear shaving for most of it.
The real problems came after the film with what Broccoli called ‘the Lazenby problem’, with his new found love for acting Lazenby had quite the ego off the set of Diamonds (more so then on OHMSS) and became quite troublesome for the products, the contact with Lazenby had was to make another six films before he left the role,however both parties negotiations with each other to found a solution, Broccoli said during one of these negotiations that Lazenby was ‘more trouble than he’s worth’, which in turn made Lazenby unprofessional and by the early 1972 Lazenby was out and the hunt for a new Bond began once again. (6)
1. You didn't think I want have actually write about Lazenby having eight Bond films did you?, but to be fair I think he would only do two films and move on.
2. This is my vision of how they would take the criticism of Lazenby performance from Scente Service, I don't know if they would have been different calming from the ending but that how i would take the character,plus I don't know if Westerns were still around during the 70s but I know it was the rise of the Antihero which I try to explain.plus Bonds films always like to ripped off what's popular at the time.
3.I read somewhere that Guy Hamilton was to direct the Superman film however it never came to be, in OTL it was the reverse I believe that Hurt couldn't be direct Diamonds so I just switch them around.
4. I didn't mind Charles Grey as Blofeld and I can imagine them playing with the audience then tricking them they recast another actor to play him.i think it would be a good twist but an pointless one at that.
5. With Conney not in the film they don't have to spend half the budget paying him to play Bond again, they can film the original version of the final fight between Bond and Blofeld.
6. Probably the most disagreement over films is payment, I did that because I think Lazenby would have a ego and demand for more payment, and it not really hard to imagine.
, and finally hope you enjoy it.
