20 Things You Didn’t Know About Moonraker (1979)
2. “I Don’t Think I’m Ever Going To Fly With Anyone Else.”
The pre-credits skydiving scene could only be shot for several seconds at a time and therefore required 83 jumps to complete.
Second unit director, John Glen and skydiving coordinator, Don “Tweet” Calvedt captured the stunning aerial sequence over Lake Berryessa in the Vaca Mountains, California over five weeks from May 1978.
One-inch parachutes were used in the scene, deployed from beneath custom-made Velcro seams in the stunt performers’ costumes whilst they fought over a dummy parachute. A lightweight experimental Panavision anamorphic lens prevented the cameraman from experiencing whiplash when he opened his own chute.
After cutting his long hair and beard, stuntman Jake Lombard (who prepared the scene) closely resembled Roger Moore and portrayed James Bond in the dazzling sequence. B.J. Worth played the villainous private jet pilot, whilst Ron Luginbill portrayed Jaws. Close-ups of Roger Moore and Richard Kiel were later shot in Paris with French actor, Jean-Pierre Castaldi portraying the pilot as he looked like Worth.
Apollo Airways, which owned the Handley Page HP.137 Mk 1 Jetstream aircraft transporting Bond, obtained special permits from the Federal Aviation Administration to keep its door open during filming.