History Trivia / FromRussiaWithLove

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: [[WhatCouldHaveBeen/James Bond Enough for its own page]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Reportedly, Creator/AlfredHitchcock was at one point interested in directing.
** Creator/TaniaMallet auditioned for the role of Tatiana Romanova.
** Creator/KenAdam was unable to return as production designer, as he was busy working on ''Film/DrStrangelove''.

** Rosa Klebb was played by an American (born Austrian) actress.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Robert Shaw originally turned down the role of Grant, calling the script 'rubbish'. His then-wife Mary Ure convinced him to take the part.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Colonel Rosa Klebb is based on an actual Russian colonel that Creator/IanFleming once wrote about in the Sunday Times.

** If your story has a shady leader of a super villain organization, played straight or parodied, chances are they were based on Blofeld. Dr. Claw from ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'' and Giovanni in his early appearances in the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' animé are among the more obvious imitators and an episode of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' has another one as a one-off villain [[spoiler: (which later reveals that the cat was the actual villain)]]. And let's not get started with [[Film/AustinPowers Dr. Evil]].

* TroubledProduction: Especially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by [[ChristmasRushed the scheduled release]] in October. Pedro Armendariz (playing Kerim Bey) was critically ill and had to shoot all his scenes within two weeks [[note]] Some documentaries even mention that he had to be literally propped up by two set hands because he couldn't stand still anymore.[[/note]] The script was constantly being rewritten all the way through. Major special effects (such as the wall of fire in the boat scene) failed putting the production desperately behind schedule. Director Terence Young and art director Michael White were nearly in a helicopter accident that could've killed them both. Creator/SeanConnery himself was almost killed while filming the scene where Bond is chased by the SPECTRE thugs in the helicopter when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost took his head off. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the cast and some extremely clever filming by editor Peter Hunt (a lot of Rosa Klebb's dialogue was rewritten and refilmed simply by having Lotte Lenya perform against a back projection) that the film survived and became so successful.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Reportedly, Creator/AlfredHitchcock was at one point interested in directing.

* BigNameFan: This was chosen as the second book to be filmed after UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy named it as one of his ten favourite novels.

** ''Moscow Versus 007'' (Portugal)

** ''Moscow Against 007'' (Brazil)

* TroubledProduction: Especially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by the scheduled release in October. Pedro Armendariz (playing Kerim Bey) was critically ill and had to shoot all his scenes within two weeks [[note]] Some documentaries even mention that he had to be literally propped up by two set hands because he couldn't stand still anymore.[[/note]] The script was constantly being rewritten all the way through. Major special effects (such as the wall of fire in the boat scene) failed putting the production desperately behind schedule. Director Terence Young and art director Michael White were nearly in a helicopter accident that could've killed them both. Creator/SeanConnery himself was almost killed while filming the scene where Bond is chased by the SPECTRE thugs in the helicopter when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost took his head off. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the cast and some extremely clever filming by editor Peter Hunt (a lot of Rosa Klebb's dialogue was rewritten and refilmed simply by having Lotte Lenya perform against a back projection) that the film survived and became so successful.
* UncreditedRole: Blofeld's debut as the BigBad of the series starts the tradition of [[TheFaceless keeping his face off-camera]], prompting the use of this trick to make sure ''nobody'' could be sure what he looked like. The ending credits acknowledge his existence by crediting one Ernst Blofeld with a question mark in place of the actor. (The body was Anthony Dawson and the voice was Eric Pohlmann.)
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Reportedly, Creator/AlfredHitchcock was at one point interested in directing.
** A tragic variant: like it says on the main page, ''From Russia with Love'' was chosen as the next film after UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy said it was his favorite Bond book. The advance print arrived at the White House on November 21, 1963; he'd had a private screening the night before departing for [[WhoShotJFK his trip to Texas]]...

* TroubledProduction: Specially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by the scheduled release in October. Pedro Armendariz (playing Kerim Bey) was critically ill and had to shoot all his scenes within two weeks [[note]] Some documentaries even mention that he had to be literally propped up by two set hands because he couldn't stand still anymore.[[/note]] The script was constantly being rewritten all the way through. Major special effects (such as the wall of fire in the boat scene) failed putting the production desperately behind schedule. Director Terence Young and art director Michael White were nearly in a helicopter accident that could've killed them both. Creator/SeanConnery himself was almost killed while filming the scene where Bond is chased by the SPECTRE thugs in the helicopter when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost took his head off. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the cast and some extremely clever filming by editor Peter Hunt (a lot of Rosa Klebb's dialogue was rewritten and refilmed simply by having Lotte Lenya perform against a back projection) that the film survived and became so successful.

* TroubledProduction: Pedro Armendariz (playing Kerim Bey) was critically ill and had to shoot all his scenes within two weeks [[note]] Some documentaries even mention that he had to be literally propped up by two set hands because he couldn't stand still anymore.[[/note]] The script was constantly being rewritten all the way through. Major special effects (such as the wall of fire in the boat scene) failed putting the production desperately behind schedule. Director Terence Young and art director Michael White were nearly in a helicopter accident that could've killed them both. Creator/SeanConnery himself was almost killed while filming the scene where Bond is chased by the SPECTRE thugs in the helicopter when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost took his head off. It's a tribute to the professionalism of the cast and some extremely clever filming by editor Peter Hunt (a lot of Rosa Klebb's dialogue was rewritten and refilmed simply by having Lotte Lenya perform against a back projection) that the film survived and became so successful.
** Specially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by the scheduled release in October.

* IAmNotSpock: For the rest of Lotte Lenya's life, new people tended to look at her shoes.

* ScullyBox: Robert Shaw had to stand on a wooden crate opposite Creator/SeanConnery due to being four inches shorter than Connery.

* RealLife/MeanCharacterNiceActor: Vile villain Rosa Klebb, played by gentle, cultured Lotte Lenya.

* DyeingForYourArt: Robert Shaw dyed his blonde for the film and worked out extensively.

* NoStuntDouble: Creator/SeanConnery and Robert Shaw did most of their fight scene themselves.

* FirstAppearance: Of Q and Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Vile villain Rosa Klebb, played by gentle, cultured Lotte Lenya.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/SeanConnery named this as his favourite Bond film, while Cubby Broccoli named it as one of his favourites. Lois Maxwell also named it as her favourite.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/SeanConnery named this as his favourite Bond film, while Cubby Broccoli named it as one of his favourites.

** Red Grant has inspired a long list of Aryan-looking near-undefeatable henchmen (whom Bond always manages to defeat). He's been imitated with [[Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice Hans]], [[Film/TheLivingDaylights Necros]], [[Film/TomorrowNeverDies Mister Stamper]], and other Aryan-looking villains. It's arguable that ''Film/RockyIV'''s Ivan Drago is also meant to evoke Red Grant.

* AdaptationDyeJob: Tatiana was brunette in the book, as opposed to blonde in the film.

* FakeNationality: Ali Karim Bey: A Turk played by a Mexican actor.

* DyeingForYourArt: Creator/RobertShaw dyed his blonde for the film and worked out extensively.