Edinburgh Filmhouse
On the evening of Tuesday 2nd December, actor Richard Kiel was in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh to present a screening of the 10th James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, in which he starred as the legendary henchman “Jaws”.
Set in the Filmhouse on Lothian Road under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, an audience of around 150, made up of Bond fans and families alike, gathered to watch the film and take the opportunity to see, hear and interact with one of the biggest men in the business, in literal terms.
The Q & A Session
Edinburgh skyline
Before the film started Richard participated in a question and answer session for half an hour at which he took questions from the audience and spoke of his memories and experiences of making the Bond movies. Some of the questions asked are listed below, with paraphrases of Richard’s answers.
Question: What was it like seeing The Spy Who Loved Me for the first time at the premiere or at the cinema?
Answer: Well, the first time I saw it was at a really strange screening. The studio bring in some blue-collar workers, you know drivers, people who work as secretaries and others to get an average Joe reaction. They slipped me in once the lights dimmed down at the very back, because it would have been quite obvious otherwise! It was great, they were all laughing in the right places. And of course there’s the train scene when I’m hiding in the cupboard and it had been so long since we’d filmed it that I forgot I was in there so I got a bit of a scare myself when I appeared, like everyone else.
Q: Do you still keep in touch with the actors you worked with?
A: Yeah sure, I speak to Lois Chiles, Roger I saw a while back, Barbara Bach as well.
Q: How do you feel about being immortalised in an action figure, does it disturb you that so many people have so much power over you?
A: (Laughs) Yeah, apparently I have 30 points of articulation! I was sent one a while back and it’s pretty cool. My grandson was over and saw it in the box and wanted to break it out and play with it. I’m busy telling him it was a collectible, not a toy! But he’s asked his grandma for a papa action figure this Christmas though.
Q: Did you really pick Roger Moore up during the train fight sequence?
A: You know, the British have a great way of rehearsing for stunts. In America we just pitch up and do it on the day, but we had practised this for days for Spy. When we rehearsed the scene I grabbed Roger by the chin and pushed him up the wall. The director loved it and wanted this in the final scene. The next day on the set, a luggage rack and been fixed to the wall of the carriage where we had rehearsed it, so the director had it removed there and then. In the scenes where Jaws is slamming Bond off the wall and throwing him about, Roger was replaced with a flexible dummy, which you could move about and was quite limp, though it had some resistance to make it more realistic when I’m throwing it about. In the scenes where Roger is being jammed against the ceiling, he had cables attached that snapped him up to the ceiling.
Richard keeps in touch with Barbara Bach
Q: Would you like to come back in a Bond film as a good guy?
A: Good question. I did end up helping James Bond in Moonraker, I turned good towards the end. And I did survive Moonraker by the way; I was picked up after surviving the burning space station. But would I like to come back? Yeah, I guess it could be fun if I had a cameo or something as an old retired adversary of Bond, who perhaps has some useful information or something.
Presenter: In many ways you are back though, in the new video game Everything Or Nothing. Jaws is a character in there opposite Pierce Brosnan’s Bond.
A: Yeah that’s right, Jaws is back in the new Bond video game, which I worked on. And it is a fantastic looking game; the graphics are just out of this world and this time you get to be James Bond, in that your not just looking down a gun barrel, you are actually there in 3rd person.
Q: Have you played the new James Bond video game?
A: It’s not really in playable form yet, so no I haven’t. I think it’s out February though. I have seen it in action though, they had it on a computer and it really does look superb. I think it’s better than what they’ve done before as you are actually the spy, the person is visible on the screen and you can make the moves like he does. You’ll love it and I’m sure it’ll be a big hit.
Q: What do you think of the Brosnan Bonds?
A: I think they’re great. It’s a different style again. I grew up with Connery, and of course I worked with Roger and they were completely different styles; it’s like comparing Cary Grant and Burt Reynolds. And of course you had Timothy Dalton, who’s a terrific actor and brought a lot of seriousness to it, and now we’ve got Pierce. I think the films are also going back to what we were used to with a little bit of humour, the action, the beautiful girls and the gadgets we all like. But you know, the box office speaks the loudest, and at $446 million no one can say they’re not successful. Bond is here to stay.
Q: What were the teeth like?
A: (Laughs) Ever had a dental impression, where your mouth is full of that
guey stuff? It was a lot like that except metal. It was very uncomfortable and I could only wear them for one or two minutes at a time before I became so nauseous. As soon as filming ended the teeth were straight out. There’s a picture of me holding the teeth on the set of Spy, they were just straight out when filming ended.
Richard also talked briefly about working with Clint Eastwood, in which he praised him as a director, stating he was very professional and was always on time and under budget, as well as being a very down to earth guy who went out of his way to make everyone feel relaxed.
A letter was then read out from Michael G Wilson of EON Productions in London, apologising for not being able to be there in person and thanking Richard for his immense contribution to the Bond films, adding that his appearance in their two films had made Jaws one of the most recognised characters in film. Both Barbara and he congratulated him on the success of his autobiography also.
Michael G Wilson
In reply Richard told of how he really felt part of the Bond family and told how, while promoting Spy, he and his wife travelled everywhere with the Brocollis, stayed in the same hotels, ate in the same restaurants and such. He said that toward the end of filming Spy when he had to film the alternative ending, his wife was in the last month of pregnancy and explained how doctors don’t really like you to fly when you’re heavily pregnant. So when they were waiting to board the flight home to LA from London, a gentleman walked over to him and introduced himself as a doctor, and that Mr Broccoli had asked him to accompany them to LA to ensure everything would be OK if Mrs Kiel went into labour during the flight. Richard said that it showed the extent of just how much Cubby cared for the people around him, that he flew this doctor out to LA first class with them, just to get the next flight straight back home as soon as they were safely at the other end. He said he really did feel like part of a family and it’s gestures like the letter, that Michael Wilson had the thought and effort to sit down and write, that show just how much the Broccolis care for those around them.
He also mentioned the scene in the film when the Lotus emerges from the sea onto the beach. He pointed out the little blond boy who stares and points in surprise, who is Richard’s eldest son RG. He mentioned how they went to the cinema with him, about a year or so after it was filmed (and sat in the back row, of course, to which the audience laughed “there’s nothing worse than someone asking you to take off your head”) when that scene came his son jumped out shouting “It’s RG, it’s RG!” to the delight of the audience at the time. Needless to say, at 29 and going into medical school, he has a very special place for the Bond movies having been in one!
The Spy Who Loved Me – with an audience!
As Richard left the stage the lights dimmed and the gun barrel raced across the screen to the strains of the James Bond theme, heralding the start of the main feature. 26 years after the film was first released, to watch it on the big screen in an audience environment was in many ways like watching it for the first time. Although a little shaky at first (and included one heart stopping moment when the film cut to a 3-2-1 sequence toward the end) the film was of decent quality, particularly in sound, and conveyed the mammoth epic feel of The Spy Who Loved me excellently. Surprisingly for a Scottish audience, the first huge laugh of the night was at Roger Moore’s quip “So does England!” but soon Bond 77 had kicked in and we were sucked into Bond’s world.
Former James Bond Roger Moore © BBC News
It’s amazing just how much more clearly minor detail appears on the big screen and from several accounts of the evening the topless girls in Maurice Binder’s fantastic title sequence and the Barbara Bach shower scene raised a fair few eyebrows! Spy looked great on the big screen and really does hold up despite its age. The humour, action sequences, cinematography (especially the Egypt scenes) and amazing set pieces all still impress greatly. It was interesting to be there with the audience laughing at the jokes and one-liners that one takes for granted watching it at home. The sheer size of the Jaws character and his menace, particularly when he’s revealed in Anya Amasova’s wardrobe on board the train, are particularly emphasised on the big screen.
The range of people there (and the fact that it was sold out and filled to the brim) proves the enduring popularity of the series and in particular The Spy Who Loved Me. Most of the people there would not have been old enough when the film was first released. There were also a few excited kids there, overwhelmed by the whole event; AJB members in the future perhaps? But this also shows the appeal the film has to youngsters even today, despite the fact that they are becoming used to CGI. And having heard what favourable things they had to say about the film afterward, it looks like that popularity of the Bond films is only going to grow.
The Signings
Richard Kiel
After the film had ended, the audience spilled into the foyer where Richard Kiel signed photographs and copies of his autobiography Making It Big In The Movies, as well as any memorabilia that fans wanted him to sign. It was here that Richard’s patience and personality really did prove to be bigger than his frame, as he happily grabbed the heads of children who nervously asked for their photo to be taken and posed with all the menace of Jaws for their parents to snap away at. The autographs were standard prices, if not a little cheaper than autograph fairs – £15 for the signed book (cover price) and £10 for a photograph or signature on one of the many DVDs, model boxes, posters and books that children presented him (Book and photo together were £20).
Making It Big In The Movies by Richard Kiel
As I left for the evening, clutching book and photo, the mêlée continued in the foyer of the Filmhouse as staff tried patiently to form the audience into a queue – but they, like me, were also taking home the memory of a truly enjoyable evening, when they came face to face with massive 7′2″ Jaws.
Making It Big In The Movies is available to purchase now at:
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1903111315/absolutelyj0d-21
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1903111315/absolutelyjam-20
