Christopher Lee talks Scaramanga to promote Bond HD season

Triple-nippled baddie Scaramanga is exploding onto our screens in high definition for the first time courtesy of Sky Movies' James Bond HD Season. Legendary actor Christopher Lee reveals all about playing the Man with the Golden Gun and working with Herve Villechaize to IGN.

IGN: You were James Bond creator Ian Fleming's cousin. Did that help land you the part in The Man with the Golden Gun?

Christopher Lee: Most of the time I saw Ian on the golf course at Royal St George's in Sandwich, Kent, which he immortalised in Goldfinger. I said congratulations on your book Casino Royale [Fleming's first James Bond novel] and he said: 'I've written another one: Dr No, have you read it?' And I said 'Yes. Great characters. Wonderful.' Dr No was this immensely tall Chinese man with contact lenses which he taps with his steel claws. Ian said, 'Well, you've played Chinese haven't you? You are very tall and of course you'll have to be taller, but would you be interested in playing Dr No?' I said 'My god, I certainly would.' He said he'd talk to the producers. And he did, but too late. By the time he got around to talking to Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman [producers of the original Bond films] they'd already cast Joseph Wiseman, a very fine actor who is, as far as I know, still alive.

IGN: You filmed in Thailand. Is it true there weren't many creature comforts on the shoot?

Lee: We weren't allowed to take wives or anything like that. There was only one woman on the production, the continuity lady. It was pretty primitive to say the least. A very small village which they tried to do up with polished granite floors and so on. Phuket was nothing in those days. Now it's like Miami. I went back to the island with my wife and it's covered with stalls and people selling souvenirs. You could hardly see the sand. I was pointing things out to her when a tourist suddenly said: 'Aren't you?'. And I said 'No, no, no, I've never been here before,' and fled. Otherwise I'd probably still be there signing autographs.

IGN: Was the role tailored to you specifically?

Lee: No. Jack Palance was the first person to be offered it. There was a real Scaramanga. It's a real name. He was at Eton with Ian who disliked him intensely, so of course, he made him the heavy. [The character I play] is a great improvement on the character in the book. He's attractive to women. He has a sense of humour. He's the dark side of Bond and yet he could be amusing. He was almost like a child in some ways. The way he shoots the cork out of the Champagne bottle, 'Aha, this toy!'

Click here to read the complete interview.

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