Trivia - For Your Eyes Only

This was the first Bond film to be based on one of Ian Fleming's short stories (instead of one of his novels). Interestingly, there are several scenes in this film lifted from other Fleming tales. Examples: The assault on the smugglers' boat and warehouse is lifted intact from a short story entitled "Risico", and the sequence featuring Bond and Melina being dragged through the coral is actually lifted from the climax from the book, "Live And Let Die". The Identigraph appeared in slightly different form in the book, "Goldfinger".

"For Your Eyes Only" was the first collection of Ian Fleming James Bond short stories and was first published on 11 April 1960. The collection was subtitled "Five Secret Occasions in the life of James Bond" and was the eighth James Bond book. It included the short stories "The Hildebrand Rarity", "Quantum of Solace", "From A View To A Kill", "Risico" and "For Your Eyes Only". These stories were originally conceived in the 1950s as scripts for a never-produced James Bond TV series. Fleming's working title for the "For Your Eyes Only" story was "Man's Work" whilst its title when it was written as a TV episode for CBS was "Rough Justice" then as "Death Leaves an Echo".

Greece is the major setting for this movie but it wasn't for any of the "For Your Eyes Only" short stories. It was however the key setting in the Kingsley Amis James Bond novel "Colonel Sun".

The story involving the sinking of the ship the St.Georges off the Albanian coast was inspired by an international incident on 11 April 1968 when a Soviet submarine was blown-up and sank in the Pacific Ocean. Seventy personnel died and the US Navy located the wreck using the nautical Glomar Explorer, a mission funded by Howard Hughes, whom the Willard Whyte character in Diamonds Are Forever (1971) was based on.

This film was originally planned for production and release in 1979 as the follow-up to The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). It was even announced as such in the closing credits of the earlier film. However, it was decided to make Moonraker (1979) instead, which delayed production of For Your Eyes Only. Following the release of Moonraker (1979), some newspapers erroneously announced that the next James Bond film would be called "The Sea Wolves". Roger Moore did make a film entitled The Sea Wolves (1980), but it was not a Bond movie.

The name of the Jamaican Bond girl Judy Havelock in the "For Your Eyes Only" short story was changed to Greek Bond girl Melina Havelock in the film. The Cuban Major Hector Gonzales also comes from this short story. The Lisl Baum character from the "Risico" short story also had a name change to Contessa (Countess) Lisl Von Schlaf for the movie. The Aristotle Kristatos and Columbo ("The Dove") character names also come from "Risico," but Henrico Colombo was an Italian in the book - the movie changed him to Milos Columbo, a Greek.

This was the first James Bond script to be written by regular James Bond writing duo team Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson. This writing partnership would continue until Licence to Kill (1989). It was also the first James Bond movie directed by John Glen whose first Bond movie he worked on was On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) as second unit director.

Steven Spielberg was very much interested in directing a James Bond film and did have talks with Albert R. Broccoli to direct this film, but at the same time George Lucas offered Spielberg the script for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

In earlier drafts of the script, the chase sequence in the snow had James Bond pursued by bad guys in snowmobiles rather than on motorcycles.

Regular James Bond film production designer Ken Adam did not work on the movie because he had gone to work in Hollywood on Herbert Ross's musical, Pennies from Heaven (1981).

After viewing Flash Gordon (1980), the producers at one time wanted to cast not just Topol (Zarkov) in this film, but also Timothy Dalton (Prince Barin) as Bond and Ornella Muti (Princess Aura) as Melina, even writing the part specifically for her.

For a time it was believed that Roger Moore would not be returning to the role of James Bond. A round of screen tests for a new James Bond were held and James Brolin, Lambert Wilson and Timothy Dalton were considered. Lewis Collins, David Warbeck, Michael Billington, David Robb, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Clay and Ian Ogilvy were also on the short list. Oglivy, like Moore, spent several years playing The Saint on TV. Maryam d'Abo, who would become the Bond Girl Kara Milovy in the later film The Living Daylights (1987), played Tatiana Romanova in the screen tests.

Carole Bouquet had previously visited the set of Moonraker (1979) as the actress is French and interiors and some exteriors of that movie were filmed in Paris, France. She was remembered when it came to casting this movie. Two actors in the movie had previously appeared in the James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967). John Hollis (Bald Man in wheelchair aka unofficially Ernst Stavro Blofeld) played a monk whilst John Wells (Dennis Thatcher) was Q's assistant Fordise.

The voice of the Man in Wheelchair (unofficially Ernst Stavro Blofeld) in one of the movie's trailers is different to the voice of the character in the actual movie.

It was during this production that Cassandra Harris introduced then husband Pierce Brosnan to producer Albert R. Broccoli.

Michael G. Wilson makes a cameo as a Greek priest at a village wedding in Corfu.

The character of the father of Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), Sir Timothy Havelock played by Jack Hedley, was inspired by oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. He was once personally acquainted with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.

Bernard Lee, who played M for the last eleven 007 films, died while preparing for the role. As a mark of respect, Albert R. Broccoli refused to recast the role, changing the script to say that M was on leave. This is the only cinematic James Bond film to date to not to feature the M character. A number of scenes originally intended to include M were re-written with Q, eg the confessional scene. The telemovie "Climax!: Casino Royale (#1.3)" (1954) did not feature the M character.

Robbin Young was the Winner of the "Be a James Bond Girl" Competition as Girl in Flowershop. Playboy Magazine, which had had a long association with James Bond, ran a competition in their magazine for a reader to become a Bond Girl in 1980. The prize was a cameo in this movie and a photo-spread in the magazine. Young appeared in the flower shop scene when motorbikes crash into the florist's front window. Playboy published some of the James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming including "The Hildebrand Rarity" in 1960 whilst the James Bond character was seen reading a copy of the magazine in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) and Bond has a Playboy Club membership card in Diamonds Are Forever (1971).

One of the Bond girls was played by Caroline Cossey, stage name Tula, who was later revealed to be a male to female transsexual. She appears as one of the poolside girls, in a white bikini. The press had a field day when, after the film was released, Tula revealed that she had in fact been born Barry Cossey and had undergone gender switching surgery when he was 17.

Director John Glen has indicated that for a time it was considered bringing back the Jaws character for a third time but eventually the idea was rejected as it was believed that he did not fit the tone of this film.

Julian Glover, who played Aristotle Kristatos, was a candidate to play James Bond in the sixties and was on the short-list as a possible replacement for Sean Connery and George Lazenby prior to the role going to Roger Moore.

Topol was cast after Albert R. Broccoli's wife Dana Broccoli met him at a party.

First credited appearance of MI6 Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, played here by James Villiers. The character had previously appeared (played by an uncredited Michael Goodliffe) in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). The character would be resurrected as a regular in the Brosnan Bond films, played by Michael Kitchen in GoldenEye (1995) and The World Is Not Enough (1999).

Charles Dance's first screen movie role was as the thug Claus in this film.

Stuntman Bob Simmons can be seen as the henchman blown out by the Lotus car explosion.

The title song is the first in the Bond series in which we see the person who is singing, in this case Sheena Easton. The song was a Top 10 hit in both the UK charts (#8) and US charts (#4, 25 July 1981). It received an Academy Award nomination for Best Song, and was featured in a song and dance number at the Oscars on 29 March 1982. It featured dancers dressed as villains and henchman such as Dr. No and Ernst Stavro Blofeld as well as the real Harold Sakata and real Richard Kiel reprising their roles as Oddjob and Jaws respectively. A dancer played James Bond and at the end of the sequence he took off in a rocket with Sheena Easton who had been singing the title song live. This was just one of a medley of five song and dance numbers for each Best Song nominee on the night and it also acted as a preamble to the presentation by Roger Moore of the Irving Thalberg Honorary Award to 'Albert R Broccoli' in honour of the James Bond movie series. Starting with this film and the rise of the MTV Generation, all Bond films have had music video tie-ins.

Deborah Harry (Blondie) recorded a theme song for this film, which was rejected by the producers. It appears on their 1982 album "The Hunter".

According to the movie's CD soundtrack sleeve notes, Composer John Barry could not compose the score for this movie as he allegedly could not return to the UK for taxation purposes.

To enter the identigraph booth, Q enters a five digit code. Those five digits were the first five notes to the chorus of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme to a previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). James Bond responds by entering the final two notes. See also Moonraker (1979).

Wide public interest in the 1980 Lake Placid USA Winter Olympics was the inspiration for the production to use a Winter Olympics location and to include story action within its associated sports. The film used the Italian Alps location of Cortina D'Ampezzo which had hosted the 1956 Winter Olympics. As such, there are sequences set at Cortina D'Ampezzo's Winter Olympic venues. Winter sports featured in the film include the biathlon, ski jump, ice hockey, downhill skiing, ice skating, cross-country skiing and bobsled toboggan run. Cast member Lynn-Holly Johnson (now Givens) was a professional ice skater, noticed by Albert R. Broccoli for her turn at acting in Ice Castles (1978). Her character in the film was an aspiring Winter Olympic medalist funded by Aristotle Kristatos.

In the opening sequence, James Bond visits his deceased wife's grave at Stoke Poges Church, adjacent to Gert Fröbe's golf course from Goldfinger (1964). The gravestone reads "TERESA BOND 1943 - 1969. Beloved wife of JAMES BOND. We have all the time in the world," a direct reference to On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). The scene was written when Roger Moore was considering retirement from the series, to provide story continuity between different Bond actors. Peter R. Hunt, who directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), was approached to direct this movie, but was occupied with making Death Hunt (1981), a film with a similar setting.

Begging Bond to spare his life, Ernst Blofeld baffles viewers with the cryptic line "I'll buy you a delicatessen, in stainless steel!" It is reported that the phrase is attributable to Albert R. Broccoli, who recalled accounts of 1930s New York mafia gangsters offering full-service delis as a bribe to cohorts, complete with stainless steel countertops.

The helicopter sequence in the pre-credits sequence involves Beckton Gas Works, which Stanley Kubrick converted to Vietnam in 1987 for Full Metal Jacket (1987).

The assassination of Melina Havelock's parents was first intended as part of the pre-credits sequence. The reaction shot of the murder was intended to cut to a close-up on her face whereby the look of anger and revenge in her eyes would then segue into the main titles.

It was an early intention of the production to put James Bond in a scene with Greece's classic architectural building, The Parthenon. Old world architecture had previously been a backdrop for Bond in From Russia with Love (1963) (Istanbul and The Basilica Cistern) and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) (Cairo and The Pyramids). But in this case permission was refused to film at The Parthenon.

John Glen estimated that every foot of film shot during the attempted drowning of Melina and Bond by Kristatos cost about £2,700 UK pounds.

Snow had to be trucked into the ski resort of Cortina.

When Bibi flirts with Bond (Roger Moore), she states that Aristotle Kristatos (Julian Glover) is much older than Bond. The Kristatos character is also a 1939-1945 War veteran. In fact, Julian Glover was born in 1935, 8 years younger than Roger Moore.

Hockey jerseys in the rink brawl scenes are exact replicas of the "Montreal Canadiens" and "Toronto Maple Leafs" NHL jerseys at the time, minus the logos.

A major problem occurred during production which threatened to stop the filmmakers filming. The monks who lived in the monastery on top of the Meteora Mountain placed sheets and plastic on top of the roofs and external infrastructure so as to halt filming. They allegedly did not like the violence associated with James Bond. Reportedly, Roger Moore told them that he had once been a Saint! A special hearing of the Greek Supreme Court was convened where a panel of judges decreed that the monks only had rights over the interiors of the mountain-top monastery but the exteriors were the domain of the people and the local government. The film crew were eventually able to film at the location which included a gigantic fall by stuntman Rick Sylvester. They did not actually film inside the monastery (known as St. Cyril's in the film) but built a set on top of a neighboring rock for some of the hideout's exteriors. The interiors were filmed back at Pinewood Studios on a set designed by Peter Lamont.

Topol was injured when he was hit by flying debris during the dockside action sequence.

Roger Moore has said that he took a small amount of Valium and drank a glass of beer before some of the scary climbing sequences.

Roger Moore was not happy about the scene where he cold-bloodedly kills Locque by pushing his teetering car off a cliff. Although Moore acknowledged that this was a Bond thing to do, he didn't feel that it was a Roger Moore Bond thing to do.

Stuntman Paolo Rigoni died during the filming of the bobsled chase.

John Glen inserts his director's trademark (startled pigeon) when Bond almost loses his footing during his climb to the monastery when a pigeon from a nest unexpectedly flies in his face.

The close-ups of Carole Bouquet and Roger Moore for the underwater scenes were actually filmed in a studio with a windfan to produce the effect of floating hair. The scenes were then played in slow motion with the bubbles added in. The reason the underwater close-ups of Carole Bouquet had to be faked was that the actress had sinus trouble that made it impossible for her to dive or remain underwater.

The stunt double for Cassandra Harris (Lisl) was injured when hit by the dune buggy in the beach scene.

Emile Locque (Michael Gothard) does not have a single line in this film, although we do see him talk on a phone inside his car at one point.

The following actors are dubbed: John Hollis, John Moreno, and John Wyman.

The Italian second-unit director Victor Tourjansky makes a cameo as Man with Glass in the last of 3 appearances after The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).

The exploding Lotus at the start of the film was a tacit acknowledgment that Bond would not be relying on fancy gadgets in this film as he had done in the last few entries in the series.

The name of the underwater apparatus that confronts James Bond with a man inside whilst they were in the Neptune submarine is called a JIM Suit, named after its creator Jim Jarratt.

The company Autosafe provided the car alarms stickers for James Bond's Lotus Esprit which read "BURGLAR PROTECTED".

Product placements, brand integrations and promotional tie-ins for this movie include Olin Skis; Bogner Ski Suits; Seiko Time (U.K.) including the Seiko H357 Duo Display & Seiko 7549-7009 watches; Diner's Club; Philips Industries; Garmont Boots; Mitsui Yamaha UK Motorbikes; Tyrolia Ski Bindings; Visa Card; Lotus Cars, S.A.; Automobile Citroën; American Express; Kelloggs; Interflora Florists; Scubapro Diving Equipment; Jewel Water Buggies; Osel Mantis one-man submersibles; Perry Oceanographic submarines; and Normalair-Garrett (NGL) Deep Dive 55 sea diving helmets, wet-suits and breathing equipment including the Deep-Dive 500 lift support system.

Vehicles featured included two Lotus Esprit Turbo 2.2 sportscars, one white and one copper metallic to contrast against the white snow after the other is blown up; a yellow Citroën 2CV fitted out with a Citroën GS 4-cylinder boxer engine for a drive in the country to escape two black Peugeot 504 sedans; black Yamaha XJ 500 and Yamaha 500 XT motorcycles; Hector Gonzales's black, yellow & white Cessna U206G Stationair Amphibian seaplane; a remote-control Universal Exports red & white Mi6 Augusta / Bell 206B Jet Ranger helicopter; Aris Kristatos' black Everflex top white Rolls Royce Silver Shadow / Silver Wraith II car; a white two-person Neptune lock-out submersible exploratory mini-submarine; a PZL-3A / PZL Mi-2 / Polish Mil Mi-2 standard Soviet light helicopter; Colombo's yacht SS Colombina; the archaeological research vessel Triana; a black and yellow one-person atmospheric submersible Osel Mantis mini-submarine; the fishing trawler electronic surveillance spy ship HMS St. Georges containing one ATAC device; Emile Locque's black Mercedes Benz 280SE; a black GP Beach Buggy; and Aris Kristatos' motor yacht the Santa Mavra.

When shooting the still for the movie's main poster, photographer Morgan Kane allegedly asked his model to put the bathers on backwards as they hung too low over her legs. After the poster had been released, some newspaper editors felt that there was too much buttock shown in the poster. To show less skin, the bathers were extended or shorts were added to the hips in the posters. The original poster caused outrage amongst various groups, causing Saskatchewan, Canada, to rate the film "Special X", despite being rated PG or equivalent virtually everywhere else. That rating was later lowered. Apparently the model's identity was not known for some time. More than one model alleged they were the owners of the legs but it was finally revealed they belonged to then 22 year old New York model Joyce Bartle.

The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include Only For Your Eyes (France, Italy, Spain); On A Deadly Mission (Germany); Agent 007: Strict Confidence (Denmark); From A Lethal Viewpoint (Sweden); Top Secret (Finland); 007 For Your Eyes Only (Brazil); Only [strictly] For Your Eyes (Norway) and 007 Only For Your Eyes (Portugal)

Topol asked producer Albert R. Broccoli to invite former co-producer Harry Saltzman to the Premiere and he did.

The Royal World Premiere of For Your Eyes Only (1981) was held on 24 June 1981 at London's Odeon Leicester Square Theatre in the presence of British Royals Prince Charles and the then Lady Diana Spencer [Princess Diana] of England. The Gala Charity Premiere Benefit was held in aid of the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation.

Last EON Productions James Bond movie soley released by United Artists. They would merge with MGM before the release of the next Bond film, Octopussy (1983).

The film saved United Artists from financial ruin. At the time of the film's release, the studio was still reeling from Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), a notorious $40,000,000 bomb that was about to force UA to file bankruptcy. When this film took in a worldwide gross of $194,900,000, the studio was saved and afterwards turned its focus toward blockbusters and less on personal films.