20 Things You Didn’t Know About Octopussy (1983)

17. “You Have A Nasty Habit Of Surviving!”

octopussy movie
MGM/UA

Various unused ideas from previous Bond films were considered or reworked for Octopussy.

The Acrostar Bede BD-5J microjet was originally intended for James Bond's (Sir Roger Moore's) escape from Hugo Drax’s (Michael Lonsdale's) Amazonian lair in Moonraker (1979). He would have flown over Angel Falls in Venezuela - the highest uninterrupted waterfall in the world - but the Falls temporarily dried up and the scene was dropped.

The circus and the knife-throwing twins, Mischka (David Meyer) and Grischka (Anthony Meyer) also featured in early drafts of Moonraker, but were discarded in favour of Jaws (Richard Kiel) and a fleeting visual appearance of a circus Big Top.

Screenwriter, Richard Maibaum also wanted to reintroduce Gert Fröbe as Auric Goldfinger's revenge-driven brother - an idea that dated back to Diamonds Are Forever (1971), whilst Octopussy was originally a villainess who exploited Double-0 Seven’s feelings towards SPECTRE for her own nefarious ends. Ongoing legal difficulties with Kevin McClory meant that SPECTRE could not be used and Octopussy became the film’s gem-smuggling heroine instead.

Additionally, the backgammon game between Bond and Kamal Khan was originally intended for The Spy Who Loved Me when Double-0 Seven (Sir Roger Moore) and Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) bid for a microfilm.

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