Never Say Never Again = What the heck?

GordoLeiter

The one thing i find strange about this movie is that Sean Connery had said many times that he had no intrest in playing 007 again, yet come the 80's and he stars in this sorry excuse for a Thunderball remake.

I guess Connery couldnt make up his mind or he was one greedy son of a gun.

PPK 7.65mm

This film largely happened becuase the offer made by Warner Bros. and producer Jack Schwarzman was too good to pass up. Acorrding to Connery himself, he signed on because he was allowed for the first time to have a say in the creative process. As the book The Films of Sean Connery and the bonus features on the DVD tell however things began to fall apart quickly, once filming began.

Connery even said later on the film was not one of the best he made in his career.

Napoleon Plural

He kind of got talked into it in the mid-70s by huckster Kevin McClory, who roped in thriller writer Len Deighton for Warhead, but it never got made. The idea was originally to say, well, you don't want to be in it, would you like to contribute in some way? A bit like the Burton character talking Harris into his job on The Wild Geese.

In the early 80s Connery talked relaxedly about Bond in a Starburst interview to tie in with Outland, rather than shutting out all talk. He was critical of jokey scenes in FYEO. Ultimately, I think it was the money and that he was in minor financial or cash flow difficulties. It did seem he signed without seeing the final script, and he went on to do this kind of thing with The Avengers, League of Gentlemen and others, in that he got mad at the sheer disorganisation that unrolled.

BIG TAM

I read the same Starburst interview. Rather good if memory serves. Connery's never liked send-up in relation to Bond. He used to say he came in through the serious door & went out the humorous door. He reckoned Moore did the opposite at times. Connery has such a brute force about him that you just can't imagine him being daft, which is why some moments in NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN are bizarre. Napoleon Plural has said elswhere that compared to earlier efforts, Connery seems amiable, almost benign. Quite right. In DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER despite weight gain & dodgy toupe, he still looks like a man who could hurt you if need be.
As an afterthought, I must admit to chuckling at the scenes where he pretends to be the masseur with Domino - "Sh'est la vie... Shuch ish life."