Movie audiences nowadays expect scenes of graphic violence in James Bond movies, a big change from Roger Moore's tongue-in-cheek portrayal of the super spy, Moore believes.
“I am happy to have done it, but I'm sad that it has turned so violent,” Moore said of “Quantum of Solace,” which opens today and stars Daniel Craig as a darker Agent 007.
“That's keeping up with the times. It's what cinema-goers seem to want and it's proved by the box-office figures,” Moore said.
Moore, 81, recalled being appalled at the violence in “A View to a Kill,” the 1985 movie that was the last of the seven in which he played Bond. “That wasn't Bond,” he said.
In his new memoir, “My Word Is My Bond,” Moore writes of his distaste for guns, which he has kept since he was shot in the leg by a friend with a BB gun as a teenager.
While making “The Man With the Golden Gun,” director Guy Hamilton wanted Bond to be tougher and had him threaten to break the arm of Maud Adams'character to get information.
Moore writes: “That sort of characterization didn't sit well with me, but Guy was keen to make my Bond a little more ruthless.
“I suggested my Bond would have charmed the information out of her by bedding her first. My Bond was a lover and a giggler, but I went along with Guy.”
