20 Things You Didn't Know About Licence To Kill (1989)

18. The Villain Got The Girl

James Bond Timothy Dalton Carey Lowell Pam Bouvier Licence To Kill
MGM/UA

Timothy Dalton was unavailable during the screen tests for the film’s Bond Girls; therefore, Robert Davi - who portrayed the film’s vicious lead villain, Franz Sanchez - played James Bond when testing the film's potential leading ladies.

Amongst the actresses whom he screen-tested was Talisa Soto, who was subsequently hired for the role of Sanchez’s kept woman, Lupe Lamora. Soto attended her screen test wearing a dress whose bottom half could be pulled away to make it shorter, inspiring a similar costume that Pam Bouvier wears in her capacity as James Bond’s “executive secretary”.

As the script was not finished in time for the screen tests, Carey Lowell was given some of Tanya Roberts's lines from A View to a Kill (1985) to perform.

As an aside, Lowell’s character was named in honour of former American First Lady, Jacqueline “Jackie” Lee Kennedy Onassis, whose maiden name was Bouvier.

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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.