History Trivia / FromRussiaWithLove

* ShownTheirWork: The chess position is from a real game played in Leningrad in 1960 between Boris Spassky against David Bronstein. Alas, it is a little difficult to follow as the "big board" shows the queen in the wrong position at one point due to a continuity glitch.

* RunningGag: Bond being called away from his girlfriend Sylvia Trench just as things were about to get interesting was ''intended'' to be the start of a running gag, but the idea wasn't continued in the next film.

* Bond being called away from his girlfriend Sylvia Trench just as things were about to get interesting was ''intended'' to be the start of a running gag, but the idea wasn't continued in the next film.

* NamesTheSame: Red Grant's first name in the film is Donald, and thus he is a namesake of another British traitor, although the real one was a Nazi rather than a Communist.

** For the role of Kronsteen, Young wanted "an actor with a remarkable face", so that he would be well remembered by audiences. This led to the casting of Vladek Sheybal, whom Young also considered convincing as an intellectual. Sheybal was initially hesitant to take the role but was convinced by Creator/SeanConnery's then-girlfriend Diane Cilento.

* ChristmasRushed: With an October 1963 release date already announced, everything was done in just four months, and the TroubledProduction entry below shows it wasn't easy.

** Creator/DanielaBianchi's driver fell asleep during the commute to a 6 am shoot and crashed the car. Her face was bruised and her scenes had to be delayed for two weeks while the facial contusions healed

* TroubledProduction: Especially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by [[ChristmasRushed the scheduled release]] in October. Creator/PedroArmendariz (playing Kerim Bey) was dying of cancer 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. Armendáriz didn't wait for the cancer to finish him off, committing suicide shortly after he finished his scenes.[[/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 nearly found themselves 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: Especially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by [[ChristmasRushed the scheduled release]] in October. Pedro Armendáriz (playing Kerim Bey) was dying of cancer 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. Armendáriz didn't wait for the cancer to finish him off, committing suicide shortly after he finished his scenes.[[/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 nearly found themselves 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.

** The Spektor machine used as the bait for Bond was not a Cold War device, but had its roots in the Second World War Enigma machine, which Fleming had tried to obtain while serving in the Naval Intelligence Division.

** 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 (such as [[Film/AViewToAKill Max Zorin]]). It's arguable that ''Film/RockyIV'''s Ivan Drago is also meant to evoke Red Grant.

* CreatorChosenCasting: For the role of Kronsteen, Creator/TerenceYoung wanted "an actor with a remarkable face", so that he would be well remembered by audiences. This led to the casting of Vladek Sheybal, whom Young also considered convincing as an intellectual. Sheybal was initially hesitant to take the role but was convinced by Creator/SeanConnery's then-girlfriend Diane Cilento.

* DeletedScene: A scene was cut just before Bond meets Romanova on the ferry. Bond tries to lose his mysterious pursuer and hops into a taxi. Bond takes control of the taxi's brakes, causing the following Bulgarian to run into the back of the taxi as a third car joins the pile-up. The driver of the third car turns out to be Kerim Bey. When the angry Bulgarian protests to Bey, he is told "My friend, this is life", while Bond makes good his escape in the British Embassy's Rolls Royce. Terence Young shot the scene ten times to get the long ash on Bey's cigar that Pedro Armendáriz insisted on. It wasn't until a private screening week before the film's release that Young's twelve year old son spotted that the Bulgarian had in fact already been killed by Grant in the mosque, so it was cut.

* DawsonCasting: Rosa Klebb is said to be in her late forties in the novel. Creator/LotteLenya was 65 at the time.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: The Spektor machine used as the bait for Bond was not a Cold War device, but had its roots in the Second World War Enigma machine, which Fleming had tried to obtain while serving in the Naval Intelligence Division.

** Darko Kerim was modelled after Fleming's Turkish friend, Nazim Kalkavan. Fleming met the Oxford-educated shipowner in Istanbul whilst doing research

** Darko Kerim was modeled after Fleming's Turkish friend, Nazim Kalkavan. Fleming met the Oxford-educated shipowner in Istanbul whilst doing research

* ChristmasRushed: With an October 1963 release date already announced, everything was done in just four months, and the TroubledProduction entry below shows it wasn't easy.

* CreatorsFavoriteEpisode: Creator/SeanConnery named this as his favourite Bond film, while Creator/AlbertRBroccoli named it as one of his favourites. Creator/LoisMaxwell also named it as her favourite.

* BigNameFan: This was chosen as the second book to be filmed after UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy named it as one of his ten favourite novels. He was even shown the movie in the White House before leaving for the Dallas trip that killed him.

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

** Tanya Romanova was played by an Italian actress, Daniela Bianchi and voiced by a British actress, Barbara Jefford (due to Bianchi's heavy accent).

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

* WriteWhoYouKnow: Rosa Klebb was partly based on Colonel Rybkin—a real-life member of the Lenin Military-Political Academy about whom Fleming had written an article for ''The Sunday Times''.

* TroubledProduction: Especially because they had [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction to work against the clock]] to finish the film by [[ChristmasRushed the scheduled release]] in October. Pedro Armendáriz (playing Kerim Bey) was dying of cancer 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. Armendáriz didn't wait for the cancer to finish him off, committing suicide shortly after he finished his scenes.[[/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.