by 1964 ian fleming's upper crust spy protagonist james bond had officially become a successful film
star having made the jump from page to screen with a little help from actor sean connery bond
had already been featured in two well-received action films but the best was around the corner
producers harry saltzman and albert r cubby broccoli were determined to make bond the biggest
thing to hit the world stage in ages so they got busy producing the most ambitious bond film yet
and they accomplished just that with a splash of gold paint one very eye-catching car and a
catchy theme song goldfinger has gone down in history as being the spy film to which all other
spy films look up to keep watching to learn 12 astonishing facts about the making of goldfinger
was inspired by a chance encounter in 1956 goldfinger was the seventh installment in ian
fleming's series of novels about the gentlemanly spy james bond and its very premise was inspired
by a random encounter he had in 1956 while fleming was staying at an english health spa
called enton hall he struck up a conversation with a man whose specialty was brokering gold
the idea for goldfinger began to take form in his mind he published the novel three years later hey
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stick around to see how the special effects behind goldfinger's famous laser beam were accomplished
the book and the movie are very different as with many film adaptations goldfinger the film differs
from its source material in several key ways in both the film and the book arik goldfinger
wants to control the world's gold supply but in the novel he's much more of a hoarder than a
conniving dealer in the novel it's also suggested goldfinger would actually steal all the gold from
fort knox but this was a huge logistics issue for screenwriters richard maibaum and paul dain
to deal with so they watered that down a bit in the film instead of stealing all the gold
goldfinger devises a plot to set off a dirty bomb at fort knox thus irradiating the gold and making
it worthless and making his private stockpile all the more valuable goldfinger was the first
bond film to change up directors in 1964 while the film's producers prepared to make goldfinger
terence fisher who had previously directed dr no and from russia with love was assumed to return
for the third film but he decided to step away goldfinger's producers selected guy hamilton
to replace him it was a historic decision that helped establish the template that every future
bond movie followed goldfinger introduced many james bond staples kai hamilton recognized he
had the chance to incorporate a greater sense of lightness and fantasy into the budding bond
franchise worried his lead character was in danger of becoming superman hamilton chose to shift away
from narratives that revolved around whether bond would live or die and to instead focus on
the character conflict between 007 and his enemies as part of his new vision hamilton introduced many
bond firsts goldfinger is the first bond movie to have a cold opening in which the character
goes on an unrelated mission to set the tone of the film it was also the first film in the
franchise to feature an opening theme performed by an iconic vocalist and it was the first bond
film to build upon the relationship between double 07 and his gadget-wielding cohort q sean
connery took some convincing even though the bond franchise had not yet reached the level of full-on
frenzy sean connery was already beginning to feel overwhelmed by the weight of the franchise
and what it demanded of him bond turned him into a superstar but his commitment to the series and
its producer's insistence on pumping out a film a year meant he was forced to exhaust himself
working on the films while having to turn down other roles connery's apprehension was further
intensified after he read the script he felt it was too humorous and at times unbelievable
he took his concerns to hamilton who also wasn't a fan of the original draft so screenwriter paul
dain was brought in to revise it but the humor was something that remained despite connery's concerns
goldfinger introduced bond and q's dynamic although desmond llewellyn appeared in from russia
with love he really didn't become fleshed out as the beloved bond character q until goldfinger when
bond visited his lab to receive a load of new spy gear it proved a pivotal moment not just for the
film but for the entire franchise all thanks to a crucial piece of direction from hamilton to
lewellen initially the actor was going to stand when bond entered the room as a demonstration of
respect but hamilton had something else in mind he instructed llewellyn to play up q's contempt for
the cheeky secret agent man q wasn't chummy with bond he hated the guy bond waltzed on into his
lab every time with a puffed-up ego disregarded what q had to say took his equipment used them
in entirely different ways than intended and never returned them so of course q saw bond as a menace
because from his perspective he was goldfinger didn't speak english cubby brockley's preferred
choice for the role as the title character was german actor gert frobe who he'd previously seen
play a child murderer in the film it happened in broad daylight hamilton agreed to the casting but
was flabbergasted when he found out that besides a few simple phrases phrobe didn't speak english
so instead of recasting the villain at the last minute it was decided his lines would be dubbed
over with the voice of actor michael collins honor blackman and harold cicada were the first choices
for their respective roles hamilton's first choice to play [ __ ] galore goldfinger's seductive
partner in crime was actress honor blackman who was more than ready to leave her starring role in
the hit tv series the avengers and already had a working knowledge of judo for the role of odd job
goldfinger's mute brawny hat throwing strong man all hamilton had to do to find his guy was flip
on his television where he saw former olympic weightlifter harold cicada working as a heel on
a pro wrestling show building the souped-up car in goldfinger wasn't a walk in the park
goldfinger was notable for introducing a lot of bond essentials to the franchise but the biggest
addition might have been the aston martin db5 bond's tricked out spy mobile was jam-packed
full of gadgets gizmos and defense measures while the film presents the vehicle as q's handiwork
in reality the aston martin was a product of a large team of visual effects and design experts
working ceaselessly to come up with its various effects the aston martin was already a compact
feature-heavy prototype so production designer ken adam and special effects supervisor john
steers had to really rack their brains to come up with the means to achieve the effects
seen in the finished film most of the film's exotic locales were faked while the scenes where
bond is speeding through the swiss alps were actually filmed in switzerland goldfinger was
made at a time when bond films didn't quite have the same kind of budget as they do today hamilton
and his crew had to make extensive use of body doubles for various exotic locales early in the
film's production for example a team was sent to miami to shoot the scenes where bond first
encountered goldfinger and jill masterson since connery and frobe weren't there stand-ins were
used for these shots and the hotel sets were built at england's pinewood studios likewise the scene
set in goldfinger's various layers swiss forests and other key sets were also shot in a similar way
it wasn't the real fort knox the filmmakers couldn't gain access to the real fort knox they
couldn't even get photographs of the interior that presented a problem ken adams and his team had to
create their very own take on fort knox at the pinewood studios backlot but broccoli rejected
draftsman peter lamont's original blueprints because he thought they made the place look too
much like a bank brockley instead insisted the set looked like a cathedral of gold so the team went
back to the drawing board and came up with the set seen in the film complete with stacks of gold
bars protected by steel grates goldfinger's laser beam scene was a pain for the visual effects team
producer harry saltzman came up with the idea to incorporate a laser beam into goldfinger's
dastardly plot and it was screenwriter richard maibaum's idea to use the technology to torture
bond himself in what has since become one of the most iconic scenes in the franchise the effects
team actually managed to get a hold of an actual industrial laser for the scene but once the set
was lit the cameras couldn't pick up its beam not wanting to nix the scene the production team had
to come up with another way the sheet of metal bond was lying on was pre-cut then solder was
used to fill the hole which was then painted over to blend in with the rest of the table two effects
technicians then had to lay underneath the table one holding a light and the other using a cutting
torch to replicate the effect of a laser piercing the table the laser beam was then optically
painted into the scene now it's time to hear from you what's your favorite bond movie let us know in
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