New anecdotes from the late Tom Mankiewicz on scripting 007

Empire Magazine have recently published a 2010 interview with the late James Bond screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz.

Below is an excerpt of an anecdote Mankiewicz told about penning 'The Spy Who Loved Me' script:

The Best Bond quip maybe that I ever wrote – and I wrote hundreds of them – was cut out of The Spy Who Loved Me. It’s when Roger (Moore) meets Barbara Bach at the bar. He knows that she’s a Soviet Major or something and she knows he’s 007. Anyway, he says, “I must say, you’re prettier than your pictures, Major,” and she responds, “The only picture I’ve seen of you, Mr. Bond, was taken in bed with one of our agents – a Miss Tatiana Romanova.”…Roger then said, “Was she smiling?” And Barbara Bach answers, “As I recall, her mouth was not immediately visible.” Roger retorts, “Then I was smiling.”

Click here to read the full interview which also includes tidbits about Connery's ad-lib on the set of 'Diamonds Are Forever' and the Scot's opinion on playing Bond after six films.

Thanks to @HMSSweblog for the alert.

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