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In one of his final interviews before stepping down
as 007 in 1985, Roger Moore shared his thoughts about
his last outing and the series in general...
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Roger Reflects
4th January 2012
Just a few weeks before he would announce he was ending his
time as James Bond, Roger Moore gave an interview to the Ottawa
Citizen about his final outing "A
View To A Kill" and some thoughts
on the series in general. Unfortunately for the newspaper, they
slightly misjudged their headline. Here are some key extracts
from the original piece published over 25 years ago:
The Urbane Roger Moore Still Happy Portraying
James Bond - Saturday May 25th 1985 (The
Citizen, Ottawa)
On how his interpretation of the role differed to his predecessors:
"My attitude is that it's completely unreal. Here you've
got this secret agent who's recognized by every barman in the
world and
they know that he takes his vodka martinis shaken and not stirred.
It's crazy. What sort of secret agent is that? So you know that
it is a spoof already before you start. I don't like to play
him as a true-blue hero. There's always a moment of doubt in
Bond's mind. I mean, if I save the girl, I may get killed doing
it. So I always let that go through my mind and then say, 'Oh,
to hell with it, I've read the script. I know I'm going to live.'"
On the predictability of the Bond movie structure:
"It's exactly the same as a child wanting to hear a bedtime
story and if you change a word or leave out a few lines because
you
think he's fallen asleep or you're bored and you want to get
off to bed yourself, look out! We want the comfort of sameness."
On Sean Connery's the rival Bond production "Never Say
Never Again: a couple of years prior:
"I think the director, not being English, didn't understand
what was happening in development of characters in terms of what
is
English and what is not English. Sean deserved better than that."
On clashes with co-star Grace Jones:
"I would have to unplug her cassette recorder. Such loud
music. And that mad, hysterical laughter. Oh, I suppose she was
a bit
nervous of me because she was giving the odd interview where
she was trying to point out that Hans, her boyfriend, would be
far more suited to playing the role than myself. So presumably
she was waiting for the day to arrive when I would read it and
throw an ax at her. I didn't. But I had that as a sword of Damocles
to hold over her head."
On the fate of the Bond girls:
"If they get in between the sheets with Bond in the first
two reels, then you know they'll have to pay for their sins.
There's a little justice being meted out by Cubby Broccoli."
On the diminishing sex scenes:
"There's always been less sex in Bond than people think
there is. Cubby said years ago that Bond was sadism for the family.
The notion of sexuality in Bond stems from Ursula Andress coming
out of the water in Dr. No wearing a bikini which by today's
standards would be a golfing outfit. Sex in Bond is suggested
but never suggestive."
On filming the 'suggested' sex scenes:
"They always pick the coldest day of the year, and usually
a Monday morning when the studio's been shut all weekend, and
the heat's
been turned of, so you're freezing cold. And you've got 60 to
a hundred people standing around and electricians up on the rail
staring down. There's very little romance. If you can get really
excited about doing that, you should be starring in blue movies."
On the rumours of Pierce Brosnan taking over
the role:
"He'd be splendid, I'm quite sure."
On what his traits his eventual successor should have:
"Well, you have to be prepared to get up early and say your
lines and not trip over the furniture. And you have to be prepared
to answer questions with a smile on your face when you're asked
how your Bond compares to Roger Moore's."
