Octopussy: Roger Moore stars as James Bond in 1983 trailer
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Today, October 14, 2022, would have been the 95th birthday of Sir Roger Moore. The British actor played James Bond on the big screen for 12 years, and performed in seven films as the international spy. But there was also a big part of the character he simply couldn’t handle.
Moore spoke with the BBC in 2017 about his Bond days and opened up about the one thing he didn’t like about the series.
He said: “I regret that, sadly, heroes, in general, are depicted with guns in their hands. And to tell the truth I have always hated guns and what they represent.”
Of course, guns have been a key part of 007’s arsenal since the first Bond movie, Dr No, in 1962.
However, this reliance on this kind of weaponry was a point of contention for Moore. And it’s not surprising considering an on-set gun malfunction left him traumatised.
Moore spoke candidly about the horrifying scenario during the commentary track on 1985 film A View To a Kill.
The star revealed he volunteered for a refresher training course in the army to perfect his performance as the militarily-trained spy. During the course, he was required to handle some firearms.
Moore was given a gun which – unbeknownst to the staff – had a blocked mechanism. So when the actor pulled the gun’s trigger, the weapon exploded in his hand.
Thankfully, Moore was left uninjured, but the combustion did have a lasting effect on him.
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Moore recalled that he was left “deafened for a few days,” hindering the Bond movie in the process.
The frightening situation also left Moore with a lifelong fear that another gun would explode in his hands.
During the same commentary, he confessed that A View To A Kill was his “least favourite film in the Bond series”.
Moore explained that his dislike for the film mostly came from the violence included in it. In particular, he criticised a vicious scene involving the Christopher Walken villain, Max Zorin, wielding an uzi submachine gun and firing maniacally into a group of people.
These experiences were the latest in a long list of qualms Moore had with guns, as well.
In his memoir, My Word Is My Bond, the actor recalled being shot in the leg when he was a teenager.
The shot was relatively harmless, being fired from a ball-bearing (BB) gun, but it apparently hurt the star enough to stick with him throughout his life.
Despite Moore’s disdain for guns and the fact James Bond used them so frequently, he did admit he loved being recognised as 007 throughout the years.
He told The Guardian in 2014: “Being eternally known as Bond has no downside. People often call me ‘Mr Bond’ when we’re out and I don’t mind a bit. Why would I?”
He added: “I still have some of Bond’s suits in my wardrobe but they don’t fit me now. During the 007 days I was so thin that if I turned sideways you could mark me absent. Thankfully I never had to squeeze into the trunks that Daniel Craig wore – it takes a lot of hard work to look like that.”
Moore died on May 23, 2017, after battling lung and liver cancer. He died at his home in Crans-Montana surrounded by his family.
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