The premiere of the first James Bond film, Dr. No, took place on October 5, 1962 in London.
Over the next year, the film flew around almost the whole world, collecting a box office that exceeded the budget of $ 1 million dozens of times. A modest amount by the standards of an action movie forced filmmakers to save on literally everything.
By the end of the work on the picture, its authors did not even have money to correct the mistake in the credits: the artist Sid Kane was not included in the list.
Producer Albert Broccoli gave him a golden pen as compensation.
At first, the producers planned to film the story "Thunderball", but then the choice fell on "Doctor No" - the sixth book in the cycle.
But the first Bond novel - "Casino Royale" - was fully filmed only more than 40 years later (the first attempt was a series of shows "Climax" in 1954. The role of Bond was played by Barry Nelson).
The Difficulties of Casting and Creating the Perfect Special Agent
Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli faced a plethora of problems during the film's planning phase, with many Hollywood studios refusing to film Ian Fleming's novels, calling them "too British" or "too explicit".
As a result, the producers founded their own companies: Danjaq, which owned the rights to the films, and Eon Productions, which directly engaged in filming.
So they worked until 1975, making the first nine films in the series.
Saltzman subsequently sold his stake in Eon Productions to United Artists.
A lot of difficulties were caused by the casting of the actor for the main role.
The producers' first choice was Cary Grant, who inspired Ian Fleming, among others, to create the spy in his books.
But the age and star status (the estimated fee of the actor could be comparable to the budget of the film) forced him to refuse his candidacy.
Stanley Baker, Rex Harrison, Richard Todd and others were also considered for the role of Bond, but Albert Broccoli insisted on Sean Connery's approval - partly because of the advice of his wife, who appreciated the acting qualities and appearance of the stately Scot.
© Shot from the film "Dr. No"
The choice of producers shocked director Terence Young.
But, having overcome his dislike for Connery, he did everything to make Bond “succeed”.
The director advised the actor on all issues: how to stay in the frame, how to behave with partners.
Young took Connery to restaurants, instilling in him the necessary manners, and then introduced him to a personal tailor, who completed the image of an elegant super spy.
Ian Fleming was also initially skeptical of Connery.
The Scottish origin of the actor and his roots played a role (Connery is from the working class).
However, after the premiere of Dr. No, Fleming was so impressed that he radically changed his mind and, in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, attributed Scottish origin to Bond.
Another revelation for the writer was Ursula Andress, the first Bond girl.
He even created the character Tracy Di Vicenzo (in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service) based on Andress.
In total, over the entire series of films, the spy-womanizer seduced more than 50 girls, whose roles were played by Sophie Marceau, Monica Bellucci, Denise Richards, Jane Seymour, Olga Kurylenko and others, among others.
For the role of the main villain - Dr. No - Fleming proposed his cousin, actor Christopher Lee.
In the first film, nothing came of this idea, but Lee appeared as the main antagonist in another Bond series - The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), and in the first part of the villain Joseph Wiseman played.
Finds of screenwriters
Interestingly, the scriptwriters originally planned to make Dr. No ... a monkey.
They were interrupted by Albert Broccoli, who demanded that the script be rewritten closer to the original book.
Although this was done, there were still many differences between the novel and the film: the scene of Bond's fight with a giant octopus was removed, as was the escape from the island in the "dragon" armored car;
the poisonous centipede, which was supposed to kill the spy, was replaced with a tarantula (by the way, in this episode it was not Sean Connery who was terribly afraid of spiders, but his understudy Bob Simmons, who also appears in the opening credits of the picture, where Bond's silhouette is shown through the muzzle of a gun).
Other scenes have also been changed.
© Shot from the film "Dr. No"
In addition, the film adaptation included episodes that were not in the book at all: Bond's game in a casino, a fight with a chauffeur, the seduction of Miss Taro, 007's massacre of Dr. Dent, and the performance of Bond.
James Bond", which has become a real hallmark of the series.
Also, the scriptwriters decided to combine reality and fiction, adding to the residence of the main villain a canvas depicting the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya, stolen in 1961.
Additional income
Dr. No began filming on January 16, 1962.
The main part of the action of the tape takes place in Jamaica and the fictional island of Crab Key, with a few more episodes in the UK.
Filming in Jamaica was not easy: the heat and high humidity exhausted the actors and the group, and on February 21, work on the island was completely suspended: the weather deteriorated, it was impossible to continue filming.
The team flew to England, where they staged "British" scenes in Buckinghamshire.
Nevertheless, it was in Jamaica that one of the most recognizable Bond scenes was filmed - the exit of Ursula Andress from the water.
It was she who spawned a fashion boom in bikini swimwear, sales of which soared around the world.
Andress' bathing suit was auctioned in 2001 to Robert Earl.
He placed it in the window of the Planet Hollywood restaurant.
The amount of the transaction with commissions and taxes was about £41,000.
Another piece of props from the filming of Dr. No that went under the hammer very well was Bond's Walther PPK pistol.
In 2006 at Christie's in London it was sold for £54,000 ($106,000).
It is curious that one of the "canonical" photos of agent 007 was taken without Walter - he was forgotten at the studio.
The situation was saved by the photographer, who had an air pistol with him, which ended up in the frame.
© Shot from the film "Dr. No"
By the way, later the famous Walter went under the hammer for the second time.
In 2020, the American auction Julien's Auction sold weapons to a buyer who wished to remain anonymous for $256,000.
Love and hate for agent 007
The first film about the adventures of agent 007 looks simpler and poorer than the next: a small budget did not give the directors the opportunity to turn to their fullest.
The script was repeatedly rewritten in the direction of simplification and economy, it got to the point that screenwriter Wolf Mankovich demanded that his name be removed from the credits, being sure that the picture would fail.
The filmmakers tried to save on everything: even the spy's car, a blue 1961 Sunbeam Alpine, was rented.
But there was more than enough product placement: Dom Pérignon champagne, Smirnoff vodka, Rolex watches…
The plot of "Dr. No" seems rather naive by today's standards: an agent with a license to kill is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of his colleague.
In the process, he seduces all the beauties in sight, successfully avoids traps and assassination attempts, eliminates enemies if necessary, and ends up in the secret underground base of the supervillain Julius Know, who is trying to disrupt the American missile program.
Naturally, the invincible Bond destroys the villainous plans and saves the world, himself and the beauty who happened to be nearby.
There are indeed a number of problems with the storytelling in Dr. No: some scenes are blatantly unrealistic (to fight over a switched on reactor and not pick up radiation? .. Easy!), others are naive (Dr. No offers Bond, a “smart guy”, to join the terrorist organization SPECTER , along the way giving out all his villainous plans - a cliché that has been repeatedly ridiculed in numerous parodies).
However, the film hit the right spot at the right time.
A few days after the premiere, the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out, which almost escalated into the third world war, and the story about an adventurer spy who saves the world from a villainous threat was liked by the public.
Sean Connery
Legion Media
At the same time, there were some scandals.
The famous theme song was originally written by composer Monty Norman and was called Bad Sign, Good Sign.
The film was re-arranged by John Barry.
As a result, the "James Bond Theme" repeatedly became the subject of court proceedings: in an interview, Barry stated that the authorship belongs to him, and Norman filed another lawsuit, presenting as evidence his composition, which premiered several years earlier than the release of "Dr. ".
Nevertheless, the success of the picture was undeniable.
The producers have begun work on the next part of the Bond movie - From Russia with Love.
In it, as in the next three (as well as in the seventh numbered part), the audience again saw Sean Connery as an agent with a license to kill.
However, over time, the actor's attitude to the role that brought him fame and fortune became more and more negative.
“Bond films are just fiction and set-pieces.
It is worth removing all the exotic - and what remains?
A boring and prosaic story about a British policeman!
- he once said in an interview.
In another conversation with reporters, the actor spoke even tougher: “I always hated the damn Bond!
I wanted to kill him."
Connery's dreams were not destined to come true: the spy only died in the performance of Daniel Craig in the last part of the Bond movie No Time to Die (2021).
In total, over the 60 years of the franchise's existence, 25 films about the main movie spy of all time were released, and the image of Bond on the screen, along with Sean Connery and Daniel Craig, was embodied by George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan.
About who will become the new agent 007 in the continuation of Bond, nothing is known yet, although there are a lot of speculations on this matter.
The media called Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill, Tom Hiddleston and even Idris Elba as possible contenders for this role, and according to the latest rumors, the producers are looking for a younger actor, 30-35 years old, with an eye to long-term cooperation (Daniel Craig, for example) , worked for the benefit of the franchise for 15 years).
One way or another, for most Bond fans, Connery was and remains the canonical agent 007.
And it was his phrase “Bond.
James Bond, which was first heard at the casino table in the movie Dr. No, continues to thrill fans.
Fun fact: Fans of the movie franchise have calculated that Agent 007 is the most resilient of all his "double-zero" counterparts, despite having been shot at over 4,000 times!
Agents 002, 003, 004 and 009 were killed in different series of Bond. .
The fate of three more agents remains an unsolved mystery.
Perhaps fans of the franchise will learn about them from the new films of the legendary series.