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Imagine the latest entry in a popular film series, and the budget for that film far surpassing any of the previous. Further disconcertingly, the film had undergone numerous rewrites, and a change of directors. You might think the subject was "Tomorrow Never Dies," the much anticipated 18th installment of Eon Productions' James Bond series.But 20 years ago this summer, those conditions also described Eon's 10th Bond film, "The Spy Who Loved Me." "The Spy Who Loved Me" was produced at a critical juncture for Eon. The production company's co-founders, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, had gone their separate ways two years earlier. Eon's previous two entries, "Live and Let Die" and "The Man With the Golden Gun", had received lukewarm to poor critical and commercial receptions in the United States. It may be a foggy memory now, but critics were wondering aloud whether James Bond's time had passed as a cinema hero. It seemed no Bond film could be a big hit without Sean Connery in the role. Roger Moore received no better than mixed reviews for his first two Bond films.
Instead, and maybe surprisingly, "The Spy Who Loved Me" turned out to be a huge hit, and was the biggest reason Bond films were again seen as viable. Even extremely profitable. But that wasn't a sure bet when in the early stages of production. In fact, aglance at events 20 years ago shows some similarities emerge between the buzz about "The Spy Who Loved Me" and Eon's current effort, due in U.S. theaters in December.
Here's a look back:
BIG CHANGES AT EON. Broccoli and Saltzman had a sometimes stormy relationship over more than a dozen years of film-making. By 1975, Saltzman had had enough, and sold his interest in the film series to Broccoli and United Artists, the then-independent U.S. studio that released Eon's Bond films. It was that split that brought Michael G. Wilson, Broccoli's stepson and then a practicing attorney, into the Eon production team. Wilson received a small "Special Assistant to the Producer" credit, which laid the groundwork for him to assume more of the workload later. Various accounts (including several of the obituaries written when Broccoli died last year) indicate this reorganization also delayed work on the next film. "The Man with the Golden Gun" debuted in the United States in December 1974, just 18 months after "Live and Let Die." However, there was no way "The Spy Who Loved Me" could meet such a schedule with the negotiations involved between Broccoli, Saltzman andUnited Artists.
CREATIVE PERSONNEL. Initially, Guy Hamilton was to direct "The Spy Who Loved Me", which would have been his fifth Bond film. At the same time, producer Alexander Salkind was gearing up his "Superman" series that would star Christopher Reeve. Salkind hired away Hamilton (though he'd be replaced later by American Richard Donner), leaving Broccoli in a lurch. Eon eventually turned to Lewis Gilbert, ringmaster of the sprawling "You Only Live Twice." Eon bought ads in Variety in 1976 to trumpet the upcoming Gilbert-directed "The Spy Who Loved Me".
A SOARING BUDGET. Since "Diamonds Are Forever", Connery's last Eon film, Bond film budgets had been in the $7 million to $8 million range. Broccoli and United Artists decided to "roll the dice" and boost "Spy's" budget to the $13 million range -- a huge gamble given Moore's mixed reception as 007. It seems quaint to talk about this rather paltry sum (by today's standards) 20 years later, ("Tomorrow Never Dies" is in the $85 million to $100 million range), but "The Spy Who Loved Me"'s "huge" budget received much attention in press articles of the day.
WRITING WOES. Broccoli really started from scratch concerning the plot line for "The Spy Who Loved Me". Ian Fleming's quirky novel of the same title was written from the perspective of a woman, and Bond himself doesn't appear for the first two-thirds of the book. Broccoli later said in a "The Mike Douglas Show" interview (co-hosted that week by Roger Moore) that Fleming specified Eon could only use the title from that novel. It's unlikely Broccoli would have used anything from the novel in any case. Broccoli cast an unusually wide net for writers. Stephen Jay Rubin and other authors have written on this issue in detail.
Among the writers auditioned by Eon were Cary Bates, a writer on DC Comics' Superman (something DC reminded its readers of in 1978); novelist Anthony Burgess; future movie director John Landis; and veteran movie and television writer Stirling Silliphant. Rubin's "James Bond Movie Encyclopedia" discusses the different drafts, but a common element involved hijacked nuclear submarines and unusual killers (including one draft that featured triplet murderers). Finally, Broccoli tapped 007 standby Richard Maibaum, whose story featured a new SPECTRE.
Once Gilbert came on board as director, Christopher Wood did another rewrite. In part, this was necessitated by Kevin McClory, owner of the film rights to "Thunderball," who also claimed ownership of SPECTRE. Eventually, "The Spy Who Loved Me", went with a billionaire, Karl Stromberg (initially Sigmond Stromberg, the name used in Wood's novelization), as an independent villain. In the end, the production problems for "The Spy Who Loved Me" were successfully overcome. Moore would later call the film his favorite. It was a commercial and critical success.
Though some "hard-core" fans quibbled that "The Spy Who Loved Me" too closely resembled Gilbert's "You Only Live Twice", (in the earlier movie, SPECTRE abducted space capsules; in "Spy," Stromberg abducts nuclear submarines), even they praised the miniatures by Derek Meddings, and Ken Adam's sets.
"The SpyWho Loved Me" would receive the most Academy Award nominations (3) of any Bond film -- art direction, original music score (Marvin Hamlisch) and best song (Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager). It would win none, losing to "Star Wars" (art direction and score) and "You Light Up My Life" (song).
The similar history of production issues of "The Spy Who Loved Me" is obviously not a guarantee of "Tomorrow Never Dies" success. But it has been largely noted "Tomorrow Never Dies" also went through a change in director, rewrites of scripts, and also has a huge budget. And, of course, "Tomorrow Never Dies" is the first film to be produced after the 1996 death of Cubby Broccoli.
The 20th anniversary of "The Spy Who Loved Me" is a reminder these types of problems aren't a first for James Bond. And they likely won't be the last.
But here's one sure bet: the phrase "James Bond will Return" will be included in the end credits of "Tomorrow Never Dies".
©1997 By William Koenig
