Bond On Bond (25 page)

From tracking down gunsmith Lazar in Macau, the former Portuguese enclave west of Hong Kong, we visited and filmed on the Floating Macau Palace – a converted vessel moored on the western shore – then took the ferry across the bay to Kowloon (the mainland suburb of Hong Kong), and the Peninsula Hotel, which famously (so Bond was told) runs a fleet of green Rolls-Royce limousines. I thought it seemed more famous for its array of shoes, until I learned Imelda Marcos was in residence.

The Bottoms Up Club, was also found in Kowloon amid the neon dazzle of the Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district. Villain Hai Fat’s estate was located at the Dragon Garden on Castle Peak Road, Castle Peak. Once I’d seen him off it was on to Bangkok for a few weeks, and a boat chase through the filthy klongs that criss-cross the city.

‘Under no circumstances should a drop of the water touch your lips,’ we were all warned. The diseases contained therein were deemed enough to give any chemist nightmares.

Unfortunately, after taking a corner – near an undertaker’s – a little too tightly in the boat (a long-tailed sampan) I was driving, I lost my balance and tipped over into the water. I stayed tight-lipped under the water to avoid the rotor blade that was whizzing about overhead, but made the mistake of opening my eyes; and saw what a ‘no frills’ burial meant in that particular establishment.

Other locations included the karate school in Muang Boran, about twenty miles east of town in Changwat Samut Prakan, which was actually an ancient city and the world’s largest outdoor museum, with scaled-down versions of the famous buildings and temples of Bangkok. Most famously, we then moved on to Scaramanga’s island hideout on Khow-Ping-Kan – one of a chain of tiny jungle-covered limestone pillars in Phang Nga Bay, Phuket.

It was a remote and undiscovered paradise at the time we filmed there, without even the most basic of facilities. The art department went ahead and built a small six-bedroomed prefabricated billet for myself, Christopher Lee, Guy Hamilton, Maud Adams and Britt Ekland to lodge in. Each room contained a bed, a large circulating ceiling fan and a short step down into a toilet that was 2 foot 6 inches square, with a dripping tap and bucket to slosh out the hole between the footsteps. I worked out I could sit on the steps, do what came naturally, while washing and shaving at the same time. Cubby went one better and said if I could have given him a broom, he could ‘shove it up [his] rear end and brush out the room at the same time’.

Today, it’s overrun by tourists (and souvenir shops) who take the fifty-four-mile bus journey north from Phuket Town, and a short boat trip out to see ‘James Bond Island’, as it’s now known.

The Spy Who Loved Me
started shooting in Sardinia, which became one of my favourite locations of all time, in no small way due to our being based at the Cala di Volpe. It was one of the most luxurious hotels ever, and featured in the film as Bond and Anya’s hotel. I was also scheduled time to learn to ride the wet bike (or jet ski, as they are now called) in the beautiful blue sea just outside my room, which was no hardship whatsoever.

Then we set off for Cairo, arriving on my birthday, in fact. I walked onto the location set and couldn’t quite understand why there were so many huge tents in the catering area. Catering manager George Crawford walked over, smiling widely, and said it was for my birthday lunch and, what’s more, he’d managed to find lobsters for us all. I looked down at these green creatures he proffered – which were still moving despite having been dead for six weeks! The birthday boy did
not
have the lobster for lunch, and lived to see another year.

From Cairo it was on to Luxor, and quite probably the worst hotel in the world. The same menu was presented to us every single night of our two-week stay. It was the only large hotel in Luxor at the time, and guests seemingly only ever stayed for one night when they came to visit the temple of Karnak. My nightly meal consisted of what looked and tasted like a camel’s testicle on a bun – it was difficult to figure out which was which.

I was so pleased when director Lewis Gilbert suggested we take an early plane out on our day of departure, meaning we could have a four-hour stopover in Cairo, before flying back to London. Cubby liked the sound of that. ‘We can go to Shepheard’s Hotel for a slap-up lunch,’ he beamed.

At Cairo airport the customs officials – not realizing how undernourished we were – said we had to remain airside, as we were ‘in transit’ and could not therefore go into the city. But they told us not to worry, they’d prepared a couple of rooms for us to rest in. I said I’d share with Cubby while Lewis had his own room next door. No sooner had we walked in than Cubby proceeded to take his trousers off.

‘I’ve got the part, Lewis!’ I shouted through the wall.

Moonraker
decamped from our usual Pinewood base to Paris. Filming with the wonderfully civilized French working hours – long lunches and beautiful architecture – was only slightly frustrated by being split across three separate studios in the city.