A Bit of AVTAK Trivia

The character Achille Aubergine has to be a send-up of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. Achilles and Hercules (Heracles) are both Greek gods. Aubergine means eggplant, while poire (the root of Poirot) is French for pear. And both have outrageous French mustaches.





At any rate, this may be common Bondian knowledge but I've never heard anybody mention it.

Good sleuthing there Khan. Nope, first I've heard of it, although I have noticed that Aubergine did appear to be a a kind of French caricature.

When he made the tasteless remark about the butterfly-girl though, I knew he was going to be killed, and sure enough he didn't live to finish his soup.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

.. And both have outrageous French Belgian mustaches..

As Poirot might say.

lachesis wrote:

Perilagu Khan wrote:

.. And both have outrageous French Belgian mustaches..

As Poirot might say.

Salomoppers' heaving breasts just jutted with impertinent pride.

Okay, so after getting a firmware update for my Blu-Ray player, I finally sat down and started watching the new release of AVTAK. As I'm watching the special features, I noticed something I probably saw a million times on the 1999 special editions but failed to realize. In the then 1984/85 trailers for AVTAK, Bond dips into the hot tub with Pola Ivanova and says " We haven't been properly introduced. My name's Bond. James Bond." WHAT????

What happened? Was the hot tub scene filmed first as promotional material? Did they originally intend for the characters to have not known each other at the time the hot tub scene was filmed? Were there multiple versions of the scene?

I'm betting that the hot tub scene was filmed earlier on in the shooting and then when they finally got around to filming the encounter scene outside of the pumping station, the backstory was changed to reveal that the two already knew each other. Just a guess.

Also watched the brief BBC feature, and it had an on-the-set interview with Tanya Roberts where she describes the role of Stacy as so integral to the plot that the story could not move forward without her. Clearly her cocaine habit had begun by the time she started filming AVTAK; the woman is insane. Her character was dispensable. And Roberts says this to the camera man with the most vacant, glassy-eyed stare you could imagine. She looked like she had just finished huffing paint thinner or airplane glue.

Moore was interviewed and you could tell he was trying to be diplomatic about the way he described Roberts. Anyone know if he ever commented upon her in any of his later interviews? Moore was always a team player, so I wouldn't be surprised to find out he'd never said anything negative about her, but oh man, did he ever get saddled with a terrible, awful actress for his last film.

Who cares about her acting talents. Snogging Tanya Roberts in the shower is a great way for any actor to leave the series. :)

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Also watched the brief BBC feature, and it had an on-the-set interview with Tanya Roberts where she describes the role of Stacy as so integral to the plot that the story could not move forward without her. Clearly her cocaine habit had begun by the time she started filming.

Now we know what that shotgun was loaded with.

CJB wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Also watched the brief BBC feature, and it had an on-the-set interview with Tanya Roberts where she describes the role of Stacy as so integral to the plot that the story could not move forward without her. Clearly her cocaine habit had begun by the time she started filming.

Now we know what that shotgun was loaded with.

What I honestly want to know is this: What was the casting director loaded with? Who looked at her screen tests(?) and thought she was anywhere close to approximating a decent Bond Girl? How bad were the other contenders that Tanya Roberts actually ended up looking the more qualified of the bunch? I know the Bond Girl roles aren't meant to grab Oscar nominations (at the time), but it also didn't mean that an actress had to slum it. I mean, there were some pretty good casting choices out there....Jane Seymour, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Maud Adams, Luciana Paluzzi, Claudine Auger.

I think EON was genuinely stunned by the reaction to Roberts. Maybe her drug habit intensified after she was hired. I don't know. But by the time AVTAK came out and the criticism of her was universal, EON cleaned up their act and put together a really solid cast for the next film. with D'abo being one of the more credible Bond Girls we've seen.

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

CJB wrote:

Gravity's Silhouette wrote:

Also watched the brief BBC feature, and it had an on-the-set interview with Tanya Roberts where she describes the role of Stacy as so integral to the plot that the story could not move forward without her. Clearly her cocaine habit had begun by the time she started filming.

Now we know what that shotgun was loaded with.

What I honestly want to know is this: What was the casting director loaded with? Who looked at her screen tests(?) and thought she was anywhere close to approximating a decent Bond Girl? How bad were the other contenders that Tanya Roberts actually ended up looking the more qualified of the bunch? I know the Bond Girl roles aren't meant to grab Oscar nominations (at the time), but it also didn't mean that an actress had to slum it. I mean, there were some pretty good casting choices out there....Jane Seymour, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Maud Adams, Luciana Paluzzi, Claudine Auger.

I think EON was genuinely stunned by the reaction to Roberts. Maybe her drug habit intensified after she was hired. I don't know. But by the time AVTAK came out and the criticism of her was universal, EON cleaned up their act and put together a really solid cast for the next film. with D'abo being one of the more credible Bond Girls we've seen.

Wasn't Roberts cast because someone on the production team (I think it was Dana Broccoli) saw BEASTMASTER and thought she would be a good choice?

Tubes wrote:

Wasn't Roberts cast because someone on the production team (I think it was Dana Broccoli) saw BEASTMASTER and thought she would be a good choice?

Correct. It was either that film or SHEENA; can't remember which. But I want to say it was Debbie McWilliams, not Dana Broccoli. I know of at least two other people that they had in mind for Stacy: one was Priscilla Presley, but I don't know how strong the sales pitch was that might have been made to her, if any. The other is a name I've forgotten off-hand, but she was some sort of television news anchor that may have gotten an inquiry or second glance from EON. I used to know her name but now cannot remember. Needless to say, it doesn't seem like an extensive casting search went out for this role. I'd also suggest that with a couple of light script revisions, the role of Stacy could have been dramatically reduced to a very small, supporting role (maybe even a sacrificial lamb), while the character of Pola Ivanova (or perhaps Anya Amasova, as had been rumored to have been under consideration) could have been the lead Bond Girl.

There's nothing particularly special about Stacy's knowledge that Bond could not have gotten from other sources. Bringing Anya back would have at least bolstered the relationship that Bond is alleged to have had with this Russian agent. As it stands, the relationship between Bond and Pola is of no great interest to the audience because they've never met Pola before. At least audiences were familiar with Anya, and one wonders, based upon the way the character of Pola was written, if Anya was a serious consideration for a quick cameo before deciding against it or maybe they were never able to get Barbara Bach on board.

The ideas and concepts of AVTAK are so much better than the finished product, but I will always love May Day and Zorin. Both Walken and Jones rise above the material.

Quote :

There's nothing particularly special about Stacy's knowledge that Bond could not have gotten from other sources. Bringing Anya back would have at least bolstered the relationship that Bond is alleged to have had with this Russian agent.

Only if Barbara Bach had improved as an actress in those 8 years.