This film is a remake of
Thunderball (1965), with some differences. Claudine Auger played "Domino" in the original movie, while Kim Basinger plays the character, now renamed "Domino Petachi". Adolfo Celi, played "Emilio Largo" in the original, while Klaus Maria Brandauer played the character in this film, now renamed "Maximillian Largo".

The Maximilian Largo character in this movie was called Emilio Largo in the earlier version
Thunderball (1965). In early outlines / treatments for that movie, he was known as Henrico Largo.

Maximilian Largo's North African estate was called Palmyra. This was also the name of Emilio Largo's Bahamas estate in the original
Thunderball (1965).

A number of the villains in the movie who work for SPECTRE had an Agent Number assigned to them. Maximilian Largo was SPECTRE Agent 1 whilst Fatima Blush was SPECTRE Agent 12. Blofeld for the first time in a Bond movie did not have a SPECTRE Agent number as he was Supreme Commander instead. French agent Nicole's agent number was Agent No. 326.

Final performance to date by Sean Connery playing James Bond in a motion-picture movie, though he does do James Bond's voice in the video-game
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love (2005).

This movie was basically made because of remake rights owned by Kevin McClory relating to
Thunderball (1965). According to the 20-26/10/1997 edition of the trade paper Variety, characters and situations which McClory claimed he owned included: SPECTRE and its octopus signia; characters Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Domino Smith, Fatima Blush and Fiona Volpe; James Bond up against the hijack of an A-bomb; James Bond fighting Sicilian Mafia; the Shrublands Health Clinic; Bahamas location; a yacht with a hidden hydrofoil and the rocket-firing motorbike. EON Productions owned the James Bond theme and logo plus a considerable number of characters and situations. Elements that were shared by both parties included James Bond, casino gambling, M, Q, Miss Moneypenny, Felix Leiter and the Aston Martin DB5. Interestingly of the latter, this vehicle did not appear in this movie whereas it did in
Thunderball (1965). Further, despite the claims, the Bahamas was still a location in
Casino Royale (2006).

The Fatima Blush character in this movie did not appear in neither the book nor movie
Thunderball (1965). She was actually originally created by Ian Fleming as a double agent. She actually existed in the story in early treatments / outlines of
Thunderball (1965).

The Domino Petachi character in this movie was called Domino Derval (aka Dominique Derval) in the earlier version
Thunderball (1965). In early outlines / treatments for that movie, she was known as Domino Smith.

Kevin McClory, Ian Fleming and Jack Whittingham collaborated on an original story and screenplay for what would have been the very first 007 film, entitled "James Bond, Secret Agent". McClory reportedly wanted Richard Burton to play James Bond. For whatever reasons, the movie was never made. Fleming had previously cannibalized plots prepared for two other abandoned Bond spin-off projects, a newspaper comic strip and a television series, for 007 novels, and similarly turned this one into his novel "Thunderball". However, in this case his right to do so was not so clear. When Harry Saltzman bought the film rights to the Bond novels from Fleming and went into partnership with Albert R. Broccoli, McClory initiated legal action. Although
Thunderball (1965) was a fairly faithful adaptation of the published novel, McClory's suit resulted in only the earlier screenplay being credited as source material. McClory's producer credit on that movie is possibly just another term of the settlement. The case was settled out of court.

Rowan Atkinson's first movie. His character was a humorous supporting character called Nigel Small-Fawcett. He would later parody James Bond himself as
Johnny English (2003).

The Thunderball court case began on 19 November 1963. Ian Fleming made a settlement with Kevin McClory after ten days, on 29 November 1963, giving McClory the film rights to this movie and 50,000 damages.

This movie is based on the original
Thunderball (1965) screenplay and not the script for the released version of
Thunderball (1965).

When Sean Connery appeared as James Bond in this movie, he returned to the role he made famous after an absence of twelve years.

Product placements and promotional tie-ins seen in the movie included Bentley Cars, Absolut Vodka, Smirnoff, and video parlor games Centipede and Robotron.

James Bond's Bahamian romantic interlude in this movie and credited as the Lady in Bahamas was played by Valerie Leon. She also appeared in
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as the Hotel Receptionist at the Cala Di Volpe Hotel in Sardinia.

The villain Largo's yacht "Flying Saucer" was actually the yacht "Trump Princess" known as "Nabila" during filming. In Spanish and Italian, "Flying Saucer" translates as "Disco Volante" which is the name of the yacht in the original version of the story,
Thunderball (1965).

Vehicles featured included the Flying Saucer yacht (which translates as Disco Volante) and was known as the Nabila during filming and became the Kingdom 5KR and now Trump Princess; a black 1937 Bentley 4 1/4 litre B129JY Gurney Nutting 3-Position-Drophead Coup ; Fatima's gold metallic Mercedes-Benz SL convertible and red 1983 Renault Turbo 2; Q-shop's black Yamaha XJ 650 Turbo motorbike ridden by Bond; a black Chevrolet Camaro SS; US Navy submarine and XT-7B helicopter; Rockwell B-1A Lancer ; Ford Taunus; Peugeot; Renault 5 GT Maxi Turbo and a rubber dinghy.

Richard Donner was offered the job of directing the movie but turned it down according to the book "The Films Of Sean Connery" by Philip Lisa and Lee Pfeiffer.

Besides Sean Connery, only one other performer was involved in both this film and the original
Thunderball (1965): Robert Rietty (Italian Minister) voiced the character of Largo in the original.

This "Bond film" was not part of the franchise produced by MGM and Danjaq. Kevin McClory, who was producer and co-writer of
Thunderball (1965), won a legal battle against Ian Fleming to make his own Bond movie. The settlement stipulated that it had to effectively be a remake of Thunderball.

First ever James Bond movie made without a title originally written by Ian Fleming.

The only James Bond movie made during the 1980s which was based on a full Ian Fleming novel title. This was "Thunderball". All the 80s Bond Films made by EON Productions were titles based on short stories (viz
Octopussy (1983);
A View to a Kill (1985) and
The Living Daylights (1987)). Some story elements from the novel "Live and Let Die" were included in
Licence to Kill (1989) and
For Your Eyes Only (1981) but neither of those movie titles were from an Ian Fleming full novel.

The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include Never Say Never (Italy, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Turkey, Spain); Never Never Again (or Never Ever) (France); Agent 007, Never Say Never (Italy) ; and 007 Never More Say Never (Portugal)

A stunt involving a horse jumping off a cliff caused controversy among animal rights activists including the RSPCA. it became standard practice for movies to include a disclaimer (when applicable) indicating that animals were not mistreated during production.

The title is (allegedly) based on a conversation between Sean Connery and his wife. After
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) he told her he'd never play James Bond again, and there he was, playing James Bond again. Her response was for him to "never say never again".

John Barry was invited to do the music for this film but he politely declined out of respect for Albert R. Broccoli and his association with EON production.

When the project was first announced, the title was "James Bond of the Secret Service" and Orson Welles was going to play a villain.

A young Steven Seagal was the martial arts instructor for this film. He broke Sean Connery's wrist during training.

This Warner Brothers film was intended to go head-to-head with the official Eon Bond series film
Octopussy (1983) at the box office. Never Say Never Again was released just 4 months after Octopussy. Because the films starred Roger Moore and Sean Connery, each equally recognized to the movie going public as James Bond at the time, much of the talk in the press was of a "Bond vs. Bond" showdown at the box office. Most industry analysts predicted that Never Say Never Again would win out at the box office due to the return of Connery, more press, and a significantly larger production budget than Octopussy. According to a press release from Variety in 1985 this was not the case. Variety quoted figures from MGM and Warner Brothers that listed Octopussy's US gross at $67.9 million and Never Say Never Again's US gross at $55.4 million. It also listed Octopussy's worldwide gross at $187.5 million, and Never Say Never Again's worldwide gross at $160 million. The article also stated that according to the studios, Octopussy had $34.031 million in US rentals, while Never Say Never Again had $28.2 million in US rentals. When the final results were in Never Say Never Again and Sean Connery ended up losing the much discussed "Bond vs. Bond" showdown.

Most of Max von Sydow's scenes were deleted from the theatrical cut of the film. Marsha A. Hunt and Brenda Cowling had their roles deleted entirely.

MGM bought complete ownership of the movie in December of 1997 from Taliafilm Inc. for $15 million.

During the closing credits, there's a "Thanks A.K." listed. This refers to Adnan Khashoggi, the Saudi arms dealer who allowed them to film aboard his 282 yacht, the "Nabila". He later sold this yacht to Donald Trump, who renamed it the "Trump Princess". It is currently owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.

Barbara Carrera (Fatima Blush) did her love scenes with Sean Connery herself, declining the offer to use a body double.

In the early 1990s, producer Jack Schwartzman was supposedly planning a special edition laserdisc, with an all-new expanded cut of the film. There was also talk of having the film re-scored. To date, this has not come to fruition in any form.

Producer Jack Schwartzman wanted then up-and-coming composer James Horner to score the film. Sean Connery objected and 'Michel Legrand' was brought in after accidentally meeting Sean Connery in a studio corridor.

Reportedly, Francis Ford Coppola made script contributions to the film. The movie's producer Jack Schwartzman was the husband of
The Godfather (1972) star Talia Shire. The film's credits state that Shire acted as a Consultant to the Producer. She is also Francis Ford Coppola's sister.

SPECTRE stood for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

The original/working title for the film was "James Bond of the Secret Service" but in a London court case between Eon Productions and Kevin McClory, the court ruled that this title could not be used as it was too similar to the title for
On Her Majesty x27;s Secret Service (1969).

The type of drink that Domino orders at the Casino Royale was a double bloody Mary with plenty of Worcestshire sauce.

Kim Basinger had never seen a Bond film when she signed on as Domino.

The final cinema Film role of Anthony Sharp.

Cameo:
[Amy Irving
uncredited voice of the computer when Gavan O x27;Herlihy (Captain Jack Petachi) gets his eye scan.

The film's title song "Never Say Never Again" sung by Lani Hall is also the name of a song recorded previously by The Bee Gees and heard on their 1969 double LP album, "Odessa". In 2008, an original song recorded but never used for the film was revealed to the public. Stephen Forsyth and Jim Ryan wrote the song which was also called "Never Say Never Again". It was sung by Phyllis Hyman and Warner Brother's intended it to be the film's title song during the making of the movie. The film's composer Michel Legrand allegedly maintained that he had contractual rights over the title song and considered suing. Consequently, the Ryan-Forsyth track reportedly had to be jettisoned by the studio just before the release of the movie due to legal reasons. The song was never released until 2008, when for the first time, the song was made available to the public - released on an album and made accessible via the internet.

Ernst Stavro Blofeld was named after Tom Blofeld with whom James Bond creator Ian Fleming went to school at Eton. His son is cricket commentator Henry Blofeld. Blofeld's birthdate as given in the literature is the same date as Ian Fleming's birthday which is 28 May 1908.

Two official James Bond novels, unrelated to this movie, have titles using the word "never". These are the 1993's Never Send Flowers by John Gardner and the 2001's Never Dream of Dying by Raymond Benson.

Pamela Salem as Miss Moneypenny in this movie officially became the very first actress other than Lois Maxwell to play Miss Moneypenny in a straight Bond movie (Barbara Bouchet played Moneypenny in the Bond parody spoof
Casino Royale (1966)).

Cameo:
[Pat Roach
as Count Lippe, Bond's would-be killer in the health clinic (played by Guy Doleman in
Thunderball (1965)). Roach is the only actor to deliver severe beatings to both James Bond and Indiana Jones; see
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984).

Kevin McClory originally planned for the film to open with some version of the famous "gun barrel" opening as seen in the EON Productions Bond series, but ultimately the film opens with a screen full of "007" symbols instead. When the soundtrack for the film was released on CD, it included a piece of music composed for the proposed opening.

Actor Manning Redwood, who appears as General Miller in this film, Also appeared in the franchise's next Bond Film,
A View to a Kill (1985), as Bob Connelly, one of Max Zorin's associates. Redwood shares the distinction of appearing in back-to-back Bond films with different Bond actors playing both a good guy and a bad guy. (Walter Gotell and Joe Don Baker played good guys after playing bad guys.)

When Bond arrives at the spa, he is driving a convertible Bentley. This is easily seen when the valet pulls his suitcase from the backseat and the flying B is on the hood. This is a tribute to the original Ian Fleming novels where James Bond drove a convertible Bentley, not an Aston-Martin like in the other films.

To date (2010), this is the only 007 movie to be directed by an American - Irvin Kershner. However, this was not Kershner's only outing with Sean Connery, having first directed him in
A Fine Madness (1966) 17 years earlier.

SPOILER: At the end, Bond winks at the camera. Not counting the parody
Casino Royale (1966), the only other Bond film in which 007 breaks the "fourth wall" is
On Her Majesty x27;s Secret Service (1969), though in that instance the character could be said to be just talking to himself.

SPOILER: The first Bond film in which Felix Leiter is played by an African-American actor (Bernie Casey). The character is also African-American in the EON Productions official series movies
Casino Royale (2006) and
Quantum of Solace (2008).

SPOILER: It is rumored that Sean Connery had an alternate ending to the "wink" in mind. As the characters walk down the street, a man brushes by them, causing them to double-take and look back at him. The camera angle shifts, and we see that it is Roger Moore, who turns to look at them and says "NEVER say never again!". Roger Moore and Sean Connery were good friends, and both were willing to do it, but they were never able to convince the director and producers.