20 Things You Didn’t Know About Live And Let Die (1973)
8. When I See Kananga
At first, it appears that Live And Let Die has two villains: Caribbean island diplomat, Dr. Kananga and seedy crime kingpin, Mr Big who appears to have some hold over Kananga.
However, during the film’s second act, Kananga and Big are shown to be one and the same when Kananga takes the "quite revealing" step of tearing off his Mr Big disguise in front of Double-0 Seven and Solitaire.
Part of the effectiveness of the scene is not only down to Yaphet Kotto’s acting chops but also due to the work of make-up effects wizard, Rick Baker, who designed Kotto’s Mr Big make-up.
Baker was still in the infancy of his career at the time, but went on to become a master in his profession, designing make-up and creature effects for such distinctive and successful films as King Kong (1976), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Ed Wood (1994), Men in Black (1997), The Wolfman (2010), and Maleficent (2014).
Kotto's dual role was created not only to add to the mystery of the plot, but also out of thanks to Ross Kananga, who owned the crocodile farm in Jamaica (doubling for the Louisiana Bayou) that featured in the film and who performed the daring stunt of James Bond running across crocodiles and alligators to get back onto dry land.