07 EON and its trademarks (James Bond)
Description
This article is from the James Bond FAQ, by Michael Reed reed55@core.com with numerous contributions by others.
07 EON and its trademarks (James Bond)
EON Productions, Ltd., is the maker of James Bond films, dating back to the
first silver screen effort in 1962. EON is supposedly an acronym of
"everything or nothing". Producers Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman formed the company in 1961. Saltzman sold out his shares in 1975,
and passed on in 1994. Broccoli died in 1996 and Barbara Broccoli and
Michael G. Wilson, daughter and stepson to Cubby, now run EON. While
Broccoli was American and Saltzman Canadian EON is considered a European
company since it is a subsidiary of Danjaq, S.A., and EON is a British-based
outfit. Danjaq is a contraction of DANa Broccoli and JAcQueline Saltzman,
wives of the founding producers.
As you will read in a bit, EON has not made every Bond film. But they have
created the trademarks closely associated with Bond and have complete
control over future Bond films.
Among the trademarks are the distinctive James Bond theme song, to be
documented in Brief #2, Section #11 A "The James Bond Theme Debate", and the
gun-barrel image opening every film. Please note it is not a camera shutter
or gun-sight, but a gun-barrel. Maurice Binder, who designed the majority of
the title sequences in the movies, also created the opening sequence,
initially using a real gun-barrel opened to allow a camera to peer through,
with a gun from a Piccadilly shop.
The sequence has been filmed a few times. The first one was in the first
film, "Dr. No". However, it is not Sean Connery who turns and fires. Working
in a hurry, Binder used Connery's stunt double Bob Simmons. After that, the
actor portraying Bond did his own firing. Here is the list of gun barrel
sequences.
"Dr. No" - the original, with stuntman Bob Simmons doubling for Connery
"Thunderball" - featuring Connery, shot in scope format like the film
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" - George Lazenby, dropping to one knee
"Live And Let Die" - Roger Moore, for the first time
"The Spy Who Loved Me" - Moore again, and again re-shot in scope
"The Living Daylights" - Timothy Dalton's turn
"GoldenEye" - Pierce Brosnan's debut, using a computer generated gun-barrel
image by Daniel Kleinman, who took over following Binder's death
For final proof to naysayers, watch the opening of "GoldenEye"'s credits as
the theme song begins. The bullet is shown exiting the gun barrel.
While it appears that the shot of the actor is the same, "Die Another Day"
features a bullet from Bond's Walther going through the barrel.
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