Moonraker: Film – Trivia
- The role of Drax was originally offered to James Mason.
- Lois Chiles had originally been offered the role of Anya in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), but turned down the part when she decided to take temporary retirement. She got the role of Holly Goodhead by chance when she was given the seat next to Lewis Gilbert on a flight.
- Some portions of the Moonraker assembly plant were filmed on location at the Rockwell International manufacturing facilities in Palmdale, California, and at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
- Drax’s Venice laboratory has an electronic lock on it. The sequence which unlocks the door is the hailing tune from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). This pass code to Drax’s laboratory in Venice was 12589.
- At the conclusion of the fox hunt, the bugler blows the first three notes to “Also Sprach Zarathustra”, from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
- In his original 1955 novel, Ian Fleming describes Drax as “a Lonsdale figure”. Twenty-four years later, Drax was portrayed in this film by Michael Lonsdale.
- Continuing an in-joke used in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Moonraker marks the second appearance of Victor Tourjansky as the “man with bottle”. He would return a third and final time in the next Bond film For Your Eyes Only (1981), as the “man with wine glass”.
- In 1955, John Payne negotiated and purchased the rights for an option to “Moonraker”, paying a $1000 a month option for nine months. Payne was the first ever person in Hollywood interested in making the James Bond novels into a film series. Apparently, he eventually gave up the option when he learned he couldn’t obtain the rights to the entire 007 series. Moreover, there were allegedly trans-Atlantic problems between the USA and English agents of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. In 1955-56, the Rank Organisation via Ian Hunter bought an advance option from Fleming to the novel “Moonraker”. Fleming stipulated £1000 for an advance option and £10,000 for the film rights. Rank did not develop the material further. In Spring 1959, Rank sold them back to Fleming. Harry Saltzman obtained the rights to the James Bond novels in 1960-61 and “Moonraker” was included in the package. Saltzman later went into partnership with Albert R. Broccoli to produce the James Bond films.
- Scriptwriter Tom Mankiewicz wrote a script for this film which was not used. Apparently sections of it ended up in Octopussy (1983) (the Acrostar jet sequence) and A View to a Kill (1985)(the Eiffel Tower sequence). Mankiewicz had previously written scripts for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
- Eleventh James Bond film in the EON Productions James Bond film series. Fourth James Bond film to star Roger Moore as James Bond.
- Second consecutive James Bond film in a row in which the opening sequence involves James Bond parachuting.
- It was considered for a time that this film would follow On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969). However, that turned out to be Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
- The villain Jaws is the only time a sidekick villain or henchman has ever returned in a James Bond film. The character of Jaws first appeared in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). He is parodied in “The Secret Files of the SpyDogs” (1998) as a cat with metal teeth. In the Inspector Gadget (1999) film, a Jaws like character is credited as Famous Guy with Metal Teeth.
- The literal translations of some of this film’s foreign language titles include “Moonrocket” (Finland); “Moonraker: Operation Space” (Italy); “Moonraker: Top Secret” (Germany) and “Moonraker: Space Mission” (Latin America).
- Vehicles featured included NASA / Rockwell International Shuttle Spacecraft designs as the six Moonraker Space Shuttles; a Venezian Gondola that can turn into a hovercraft known as the Hovercraft Gondola or ‘Bondola’; Q’s Hydrofoil Boat, a Glastron speedboat with attached hang-glider; a white MP Roadster; a Rio de Janeiro Ambulance; a blue Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith II which takes Bond to his Rio hotel; a Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter; a Hispano-Suiza; and a Handley Page Jetstream Turboprop plane in the opening sequence.
- Cameo: [Dana Broccoli] [as a Woman at St. Mark’s Square along with family members Albert R. Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.]
- Cameo: [Melinda Maxwell] [The daughter of the series regular character Miss Moneypenny played by Lois Maxwell as one of Drax’s Master Race specimens.]
- The license plate number of Manuela’s white M.G. Rio sports car was KG 1881.
- For the fight between James Bond and Chang, the film had the largest amount of break-away sugar glass used in a single scene.
- The film had the largest number of actors in weightlessness (on wires) ever filmed.
- Roger Moore arrived a few days late for the shoot Rio due to a kidney stones attack in France. Moore had also had a renal colic attack whilst filming Live and Let Die (1973). Once arrived in Rio, he literally walked off the plane, went into make-up and hair, got fitted out, went back onto the plane, and was then filmed arriving in Rio as James Bond for the film.
- It was the first film to feature the modern space shuttle in a motion picture. The film’s release was suppose to coincide with the first ever launch of the space shuttle, but this unfortunately didn’t occur until 1982, after the release of the next James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only (1981).
- The film utilized the largest set ever built in France.
- During the cable-car stunt high above Rio, a real cliff-hanger moment occurred when stuntman Richard Graydon slipped and was hanging-off for his dear life. The recce crew, including Ken Adam, were petrified while the camera was rolling and they were watching-on from a vantage point.
- Final James Bond film directed by Lewis Gilbert.
- Cameo: [Albert R. Broccoli] [Long-time James Bond producer as a man at St. Mark’s Square wearing a untucked light blue shirt.]
- Cameo: [Michael G. Wilson] Makes three cameo appearances, one as a Man outside Venini Glass, St Mark’s Square, one as a Man on a canal bridge whilst M and James Bond talk and one as a NASA technician in the central control room.
- The only Roger Moore Bond film where he does not draw his Walther PPK
- Fifth and final James Bond film (to date) to feature John Barry’s second signature James Bond theme, “The 007 Theme”. Only Roger Moore Bond film in which it is heard.
- Moonraker was filmed on three continents, in four studios, and across seven countries.
- The budget for Moonraker was more than the combined budget total of the first six EON James Bond films put together.
- The scene where Bond is riding to M’s temporary headquarters in a South American hacienda is accompanied by Elmer Bernstein’s theme from The Magnificent Seven (1960).
- Despite the previous 007 film telling us that James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only (1981), producer Broccoli choose Moonraker (1979) as the next installment after the success of Star Wars (1977).
- Actor Richard Kiel has only one line of dialogue in his two Bond appearances as “Jaws” (Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)). He says, “Well, here’s to us” near the end of this film.
- According to writer Tom Mankiewicz there was a scene featuring Drax meeting his co-financiers in the Amazon lair; they use the room located just below the space shuttle launch pad that Bond and Holly later escape from. This scene was shot but later cut out.
- With the exception of the title, the character Drax, and a couple other minor elements, this is an original story rather than an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel.
- Except for a few brief close-ups, the entire sequence of Bond, Jaws and the pilot falling from the plane with Bond and the pilot fighting for a single parachute was actually shot in free-fall. The camera for these sequences was mounted on the helmet of another skydiver, and a few shots are of the cameraman’s own arms and legs. Stuntmen Jake Lombard and B.J. Worth wore parachutes concealed within their suits. The “parachute” they fought over was actually a dummy ‘chute which had to be removed before the stuntman could use the real parachute underneath. Stuntman Jake Lombard would don and remove the dummy ‘chute up to three times in a single jump. The actual parachutes used by the stuntmen had both a main and reserve ‘chute concealed within the suitcoats. A breakaway seam ran down the backside which allowed the parachute to be opened without the need to remove the coat. There were only sixty to seventy seconds of freefall time between when the stunt performers exited the aircraft and when they had to activate their ‘chutes. After factoring in the time needed to get the performers and cameraman into position after leaving their plane, only a few seconds of film could be shot per jump. Therefore, the entire sequence required 88 jumps and five weeks to film, just to produce the two minutes of footage in the final film.
- Bond stunt double, veteran skydiver Jake Lombard, bore a strong resemblance to Bond actor Roger Moore. (That is, after he was persuaded to cut his long hair and shave off his equally long beard). This allowed many relative close up facial shots of Bond in freefall. As for the role of the pilot, skydiver B.J. Worth was actually chosen first, with actor Jean-Pierre Castaldi being chosen later for studio scenes, due to his resemblance to Mr. Worth.
- The filmmakers did not think that viewers would accept the relationship between Jaws and Dolly due to the height difference between them. It was only when Richard Kiel pointed out that his actual wife was the same height as Dolly that they changed their minds.
- The world premiere was supposed to be held in Houston, Texas; however, problems with the launch of the Space Shuttle Columbia forced the change of venue to London, England.
- Kate Bush was reportedly considered to sing the theme, but turned it down.
- Barbara Bach was originally scheduled to make a brief appearance as Anya, the character she played in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), but the idea was dropped only weeks before filming began. According to the book The Bond Files, her character was going to be the woman shown in bed with General Gogol in the scene where he moans to his British counterpart that he’s having trouble sleeping.
- Plans for a motion picture based on Ian Fleming’s novel date back to 1956 when the book was first optioned by a producer, but a film was never made.
- The title song is sung by Shirley Bassey, the third and last time she did so in the Bond series. The other two were Goldfinger (1964) and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). She also sang a version of the “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” song for Thunderball (1965) which was not used. To date, Bassey is the only singer to have performed a Bond title song more than once.
- In order to create the final shot in which the space station is destroyed, the visual effects crew locked themselves in the studio and shot the model of the space station to pieces using shotguns.
- When work on the film began, NASA had in fact not yet officially “finalized” the design of the Space Shuttle. Fortunately for the production designers, there were subsequently no visible changes made to the shuttle’s design, making their rendering of it accurate.
- Claude Renoir was originally hired as Director of Photography but had to depart because of his failing eyesight.
- Others considered to perform the theme song included Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra.
- Carole Bouquet was interviewed for the female lead.
- Bond does not drive a car in this film.
- The only time Bond fires a gun in this film is when he shoots the sniper out of the tree with Drax’s hunting rifle.
- Michael Lonsdale replaced Stewart Granger.
- Corinne Clery is dubbed.
- Louis Jourdan was offered the role of Drax.
- The painting that James Bond shoots with the wrist activated dart is that of King William III of England.
- When Johnny Mathis and Frank Sinatra were approached to sing the title song, it was called “Think Of Me” and had different lyrics.
- The code to Drax’s laboratory in Venice is 12589.
- Since new Tax Laws were announced in Great Britain, the Producers decided not to use the 007-Stage which they just had erected for the previous Bond film. Instead the interiors by Ken Adam were mostly filmed at 3 sound-stages in France. The condition from the filmmakers to the French Film Industry was, that they could overtake literally all Soundstages in Paris. (This didn’t make them all too popular with other Filmmakers)
- Adapting to the different work ethics in France, Ken Adam (Production Designer) was informed by the union leader that the crew will not work overtime. Ken Adam could not recall even one Bond film he designed which did not include overtime on part of the construction crew to complete the interiors. Ultimately the crew saw his designs and they decided that it was indeed worthwhile to work overtime. In fact he recalled that on Sundays they did bring their whole families.
- Identical sound effects during battle scenes, such as twisting metal fatigue noises; yelling and computer equipment usage were used both in this film and The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).
- The film was partly set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil because the filmmakers wanted to film the magnificent Iguaçu Falls of Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil.
- Early script and storyboards for the film reveal another character who was ultimately dropped from the picture, a sidekick villain henchman called Ratz, who was involved in the cable car sequence with Jaws.
- On the space station, Drax’s crew is revealed to have a large number of women (something of a first for a Bond film). However, all these female characters seem to disappear once the final battle begins and only men are shown fighting, being killed, or already dead, though it can be assumed that none of the women (save for Dolly, Jaws’s girlfriend) survive, giving this film the highest female fatality rate of any Bond film to date.
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