A View To A Kill is yet another campy James Bond film. The last film, to feature Roger Moore as the British spy, had a ludicrous plot of Bond going against a man (played by Christopher Walken) who plans to destroy Silicon Valley and create a microchip monopoly. While some were disappointed with the plot, others just felt Moore's old age limited him in portraying the usually charming and suave MI6 agent. However, the movie is still ed by Bond fans and there were many interesting factors that went into its making.
Here, we discuss such 10 interesting facts about A View To A Kill that you need to know.
Dolph Lundgren's Role Wasn't Planned
Before being known to the mainstream as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, the muscular Swede Dolph Lundgren had a small role in A View To A Kill as a KGB agent. He seemed to have got this role by chance as back then, he was dating singer and heroine Grace Jones at that time. Around this time, he had been working as a model and club bouncer.
One day as he went to meet Grace Jones on set, an extra went missing. So, director John Glen asked Lundgren if he wished to get some screentime. Lundgren agreed readily.
Roger Moore's Age Worries
Roger Moore was 57 years old while shooting for A View To A Kill, making him the oldest Bond actor. Albert Broccoli who served as producer for the franchise did feel it was a mistake for Moore to continue this role and hence, casted a much younger Timothy Dalton in the next Bond film.
It is said that Moore himself felt that he should stop playing the role of this sleuth after he realized that he was older than his A View To A Kill co-star Tanya Roberts' mother!
Christopher Walken Wasn't The First Choice Of Zorin
The role of mad genius Max Zorin was actually kept for legendary singer-songwriter David Bowie. Even press announcements at the time confirmed this. It might have made for convincing news as this role would suit Bowie's bizarre artistic persona. But eventually, Bowie took a raincheck as he didn't want to waste time for five months watching his stunt double fall off cliffs!
Sting was approached for the role eventually who declined and finally, the role went to Christopher Walken.
Duran Duran Got Featured After A Drunk Encounter
If there was one thing about the film that got acclaim from all sides, it was Duran Duran's titular theme song that had a successful stint in the charts and got nominated for a Golden Globe. There's an interesting anecdote behind how they got to be in the soundtrack.
Duran Duran's bassist John Taylor was a die-hard fan of the Bond series. In a midsummer party, he encountered producer Albert Broccoli and drunkedly said, 'When are you going to have a decent theme song again?' The rest is history.
Based On An Ian Fleming Story (But Not Really)
Ian Fleming, author and creator of the James Bond series once wrote a story titled From A View To A Kill, which was a part of his James Bond anthology For Your Eyes Only. But contrary to what many might think, the Roger Moore-Bond wasn't adapted from this short story.
Instead, it's based on an entirely original screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Michael G Wilson. In fact, the movie's original title was supposed to include 'From' but it was dropped before production.
Zorin's Father Figure Was Inspired By A Nazi Scientist
The character Doctor Mortner (formerly known as Hans Glaub) is a Nazi scientist and father figure to the antagonist of the film. Mortner's character is pointed out by critics too as appearing to be inspired by Josef Mongele, a quite infamous scientist who conducted unethical and barbaric experiments on Jewish captives at Auschwitz concentration camp.
Interestingly, in the German release of A View To A Kill, this character was depicted as a Polish communist rather than a former Nazis scientist.
A Stuntman Got Fired For Being Too Adventurous
There's a prominent scene in the film that features a jump off the Eiffel Tower, a scene that was perfectly taken in the first take by stuntman BJ Worth. But this disappointed stuntman and parachutist Don Caldevt was also supposed to perform another jump.
As revealed in behind-the-scenes footage in Inside A View To A Kill, he eventually parachuted off the tower finally without authorization from the City of Paris. For his actions, Caldevt was eventually fired from the film because he could have jeopardized the entire shooting of the film in the French capital.
Halley's Comet Had To Be Involved In The Plot Somehow
The plot of the film was ludicrous, but it turns out that it could have been a lot more unrealistic. It seems that producer and co-screenwriter Michael G Wilson's first draft revolved around Zorin destroying Silicon Valley by changing the course of Halley's Comet.
In the end, Wilson ditched this idea as he deemed it to be too unbelievable and stuck with the microchip monopoly concept.
The Producer's Rolls-Royce Is Featured
Apart from gadgets and foreign locations, Bond films also significantly feature expensive high-end cars. In this case, the Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud II features quite a lot. The model used in the film actually belonged to producer Albert Broccoli.
In the scene where Zorin and Grace Jones' May Day push the car into a lake, a stand-in model without an engine was used. Broccoli's Rolls-Royce is currently housed at the London Museum.
References To Kennedy's Assassination
Call it a coincidence or a sick-minded prank but if one would look carefully, it's easy to find many details in the film that can be linked to the assassination of American President John F Kennedy. Zorin's master plan (what he dubs as the 'Master Strike') was supposed to commence on the 22nd, much like Kennedy's assassination is on the 22nd of November. Seems like an exaggeration? Well, there are more connections.
There's a Texan character in the film who goes by the name Conley. A similar sounding name was that of John Connally who also got shot during the assassination. Also, guess Connally was the governor of which state? Texas! There's another character who gets killed. His name is Sir Gidfrey Tibbet. Again, the last name sounds familiar to another figure who died on the day of Kennedy's assassination i.e. a Dallas police officer by the name of JD Tibbit! The reasons behind these assassination references, we still don't know.
