20 Things You Didn’t Know About GoldenEye (1995)

16. “A Really Sinister Interrogation...”

Goldeneye Pierce Brosnan
MGM/UA

Due to the difficulty in ensuring an unwell Walter Gotell for his role as General Alexis Gogol in The Living Daylights (1987), the majority of his role was given to Welsh actor, John Rhys-Davies who played a new character, General Leonid Pushkin.

Pushkin was manipulated by that film’s villains, but ultimately won the day alongside Timothy Dalton’s Double-0 Seven. He was meant to return for a cameo in Licence to Kill to show that the Soviets were still important in James Bond’s world; however, Rhys-Davies could not reprise the role as he was busy filming Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).

Despite the change in regimes, Pushkin was originally meant to feature in GoldenEye, but the idea of a former head of the KGB being involved in the Russian federal government did not suit the message that the filmmakers wanted to send to audiences.

Therefore, the role of Pushkin was rewritten as Russian Minister of Defence, Dimitri Mishkin, portrayed by French actor, Tchéky Karyo, who is sadly shot and killed by his traitorous Head of Space Division, General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov (Gottfried John).

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.