3. Terence Young Ambushes Sean Connery With Sharks Thunderball
Now, nobodys really
fond of sharks except sharkologists and this goes doubly true when youre in the water with one. Usually, theyll leave you alone and go about their business, but theres always a chance theyll tear you apart with a mouth and digestive tract lined with the equivalent of steely knives. So when Sean Connery Sean bloody Connery says he doesnt like sharks, you believe him. But unfortunately for Connery he had a rather lucrative day job as James Bond, meaning that occasionally he had to swallow his phobias and look damn suave while doing it. Case in point, Thunderball a film replete with a shark pool owned by the villainous Emilio Largo. Of course, you cant have a shark pool and not have someone end up in it, so 007 was required to take a dip with actual sharks. Now, even though Connery was terrified, he was still game for it, having been informed by director Terence Young that he would be protected from a tooth-related death by a large plexiglass tunnel. What the actor didnt know was that Young was lying to him the director knew he didnt have enough plexiglass to create a safe passage but elected not to tell Connery because hed say hell no to actually swimming with the beasts. When did Connery eventually find out Youngs ruse? While he was in the water, being filmed. Theres a reason 007 looks panicked and jumps out of that water like a salmon on film hes actually bloody terrified. Id loved to have been there in the aftermath of this scene, when the director has to explain to a former Mr. Universe that he didnt tell him about his impending doom for the films sake. Im willing to bet it was a short conversation, beginning and ending with Connerys fists.