Quote:
Originally Posted by Webby
AH.. I was just a kid at the time Kristian, knew nothing, - had just started college - National Film School.
Russia was the first feature film I knew anything about - and that was more accident than anything. My "involvement" on this was anything - literally *lol* Planting explosives at roadsides and covering em with cork, messing about with crashed copters and "arranging" em to look like they just fell from the sky - so they could then be blown up to add the final touch. Running around scrubland for days with kit behind the cameraman and ducking the undercarriage of a swooping copter as it supposed to be targetting Bond. (That was dangerous shit - Connery actually got his shoulder knocked out by that copter in reality - the undercarriage clipped him on the way by and we took a break from that crap. He was very lucky the copter never hit his head.)
There were a lot of "mechanical devices" on that movie - trains, boats, planes, copters blah and was effects-intensive, but generally more "real" than the hi-tech movies that followed. There were also a good few accidents, but not too serious - prob the main one that troubled the producers was when the leading lady (Daniela Bianchi) got two black eyes in an accident 
Dunno Kristian.. think Russia was prob a "cop out" for me - it was the first thing that came along, tho others were planned at that time. Was supposed to have gone on a documentary shoot to the Congo (Uganda) and into Edi Amin's territory where there was a war/killings going on at the time. The guy who ended up replacing me as one of the cameramen was eventually shot in the leg and still has a problem with that leg. Makes ya wonder about luck  |
I'm seriously blown away. I've been writing screenplays for years (hoping to establish an indie company when I retire in 4 years) and a huge Bond Fan since I was four. I never expected to bump into a guy like you on gfy of all places. The original movies are, by far, my favorites. To actually have been there, literally a part of movie history, must be a wonderful feeling. I dont think it matters what you did. It would just be cool to have been there, seen it, and then kind of watched the movies the way you might a documentary.
What I like most about the originals is the verisimilitude of the Bond universe. I watched Die Another Day again last night (enjoyed it, great movie) and it's a good example of the changing Bond universe. After watching the movie I realized I disliked only one scene : Bond surfing on a 40-foot tidal wave. It was a mixture of cg, live action and blue screens. It looked wonderful but the problem was that it was impossible in our universe (we need only see the making of the foreshadowing opening surf scene to see the life and death complexity). What used to work about Bond was that he operated in our universe and, yet, he had enough luck, skill and composure to carry off some amazing stunts that might actually be possible. The introduction of cg-intensive filmmaking and a more fantastical Bond universe serves, in my opinion, only to lessen the emotional impact.
Anyway, thats why I prefer the older movies. I should drink less coffee.