The existence of Never Say Never Again traces back to a bitter legal dispute in the early 1960s. Ian Fleming collaborated with producer Kevin McClory and writer Jack Whittingham on a script for a proposed Bond television series or movie. When those plans fell through, Fleming turned the material into his 1961 novel, Thunderball , without properly crediting his collaborators.
: Bernie Casey as Felix Leiter and a young Rowan Atkinson in a comedic role as Nigel Small-Fawcett.
McClory sued Fleming for plagiarism. A lengthy legal battle concluded with McClory winning the literary and film rights to the story, including the specific plot devices, the criminal organization SPECTRE, and the character of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
The legendary actor gave Blofeld a sophisticated, grandfatherly menace, even if his screen time was brief.
The official Eon Productions made Thunderball in 1965 with Connery. But the settlement stipulated that McClory could remake the film after a certain number of years. In 1975, McClory announced plans for a new Bond film, leading to a decade of litigation. By 1982, with Eon’s Octopussy already in production, McClory partnered with Warner Bros. and producer Jack Schwartzman to launch Never Say Never Again directly against the official Bond series.
Highlights include: ⚔️ The brutal fight with Pat Roach. 🎮 The video game scene that predicted esports dominance. 🧘♂️ Bond actually getting injured and having to heal.
To prevent a competing Bond film from derailing their nascent franchise, Eon producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman struck a deal with McClory to co-produce the 1965 cinematic adaptation of Thunderball . Part of the agreement stipulated a ten-year moratorium, preventing McClory from producing any other adaptation of the story until 1975. The moment that restriction expired, McClory set out to exercise his rights, eventually partnering with producer Jack Schwartzman to bring a new Bond film to life under the banner of Taliafilm. The Return of the Original 007