The James Bond Plot That Moonraker Actor Richard Kiel Refused To Film
For a long time, "Moonraker" was considered by many hardcore James Bond fans as the nadir of the franchise. Based on the third novel in Ian Fleming's 007 series, the film was rushed into production to take advantage of the blockbuster sci-fi craze kicked off by George Lucas' "Star Wars" and Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Like most adaptations of Fleming's work pre-2006's "Casino Royale," the film was a goofy, gadget-laden departure from Fleming's grittier, more grounded books. But for some, "Moonraker" went several steps too far.
From the cheeky references to the aforementioned '70s smashes (particularly punching in a door code with the five-note "Close Encounters" theme) to the laser-gun battle on Hugo Drax's space station, "Moonraker" played like self-parody. And to a degree, it is. But now that we've seen the series successfully course-correct several times over the next four decades, I think you can enjoy "Moonraker" as an over-the-top, unabashedly silly hoot.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert, whose previous Bond assignments "You Only Live Twice" and "The Spy Who Loved Me" rank as two of the franchise's best, "Moonraker" is a maximalist piece of escapism that panders to everything mainstream audiences had come to love about the series. It's got loads of gadgetry, wild set pieces (juiced by eye-popping practical stunts), and one of the top bond girls in Lois Chiles' Holly Goodhead.
Perhaps most importantly, it brings back Richard Kiel's steel-toothed baddie Jaws, who first appeared in "The Spy Who Loved Me." Kiel was, of course, happy to return, but he was less than thrilled with the production's plans for his character.
Jaws is tall and likes his ladies small
According to "Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films" by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury, scenarist Christopher Wood (who'd written the warmly-received "The Spy Who Loved Me") thought it would be amusing to give Jaws a girlfriend taller than the 7'2" Kiel. Upon reading the script, the actor was furious and threatened to quit the movie. "I felt strongly that what they had in mind wouldn't work for me or the audience," said Kiel.
They ultimately addressed Kiel's objections by going in the other direction and giving Jaws a love interest in Dolly (Blanche Ravalec), the petite young woman who rescues him from the wreckage of a collapsed cable car. After shooting the scene, Kiel recalls Bond producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli crediting the actor with having a better idea:
"'Cubby Broccoli was sitting with a journalist and, very loudly, so he could make sure I could hear said, 'Richard and I had quite a falling out about this. We wanted to do it in a different way and Richard wanted to do it his way, and actually he was absolutely right.' It was his way of letting me know he appreciated it, the fact I stood my ground and did something I knew would work."
Apparently, nobody asked the screenwriter what he thought
Jaws was such a popular character with audiences that Gilbert persuaded his collaborators to turn the villain into a lovable lunk of a good guy. I loved this idea as a kid, and now that we can all hopefully agree that "Moonraker" is one of the better Roger Moore Bonds. I think it works tremendously well to this day. Wood, however, disagreed. Vehemently. As he said in the Field/Chowdhury book:
"The whole business of Jaws turning into a lovable moral ape was totally against what I wanted and I fought as hard as I could. To stop the love interest with this diminutive little apple strudel with the pigtails which I find embarrassing and totally diminished any kind of tension in the story. To me it was just pukesville."
As opposed to Bond's gondola hovercraft, which was the height of seriousness.