20 Things You Didn’t Know About The Living Daylights (1987)
5. “Glad I Insisted You Brought That Cello!”
John Glen suggested that James Bond and Kara Milovy should escape in her Stradivarius cello case at a script conference at MGM Studios in Los Angeles, California. The concept was considered ludicrous, but Cubby Broccoli requested a cello case from the MGM orchestra. He and Glen then both sat in it, proving that the idea was viable when the case did not fall over.
Additional art director, Bert Davey introduced Peter Lamont to a dealer in Stradivarius cellos in London who provided cellos and their cases to the production (when Lamont could find him in his shop). This helped the art department to build a fibreglass cello case with skis on the bottom and a rudder for Maryam d’Abo to control it whilst Timothy Dalton managed the cello, making it appear that he was steering the unconventional vehicle.
d’Abo disliked the cold temperatures, the squibs representing gunfire, and the fact that she and Dalton were racing alongside a ravine, whilst Paul Weston pursued Dalton and d’Abo on skis to keep them from speeding off down the mountainside.
Dalton and Maryam d’Abo played in the snow once the sequence was completed to celebrate the end of 34 days of filming in Austria.