The Spy Who Loved Me marked a resurgence for the spy thriller franchise that goes by the name — James Bond. The film was a blockbuster, and it became a hit despite the various challenges it faced during its pre-production. The premise of The Spy Who Loved Me entails thrill, espionage, romance, and much more. After the spy action-adventure of The Man with the Golden Gun, James Bond has returned. This time, his mission involves investigating the sudden disappearance of the Royal Navy Polaris Submarine.
The case typically comes with a world-ending level of high stakes. The submarine in question houses sixteen nuclear warheads. Bond’s mission is to dig the mastermind behind this disappearance out, and to join him on his quest is the Russian KGB agent Anya Amasova. Starting off with reluctance and rivalry, the two agents gradually come closer and develop an intense romantic relationship. However, peril looms over them, as well as the rest of the world. Bond and Anya must work together to defy the villain behind the potential world war, Karl Stromberg.
The grand soundstage used in the movie
Let’s now delve into all the places where The Spy Who Loved Me was filmed.
The Spy Who Loved Me Filming Locations
From the arid pyramids of Egypt to the wet and tropical Bahamas, most of the filming for the film took place on location. One of the most prominent filming locations for The Spy Who Loved Me was in Egypt. The Great Sphinx of Giza that’s featured in the film is real. However, the pyramids are not. Initially, the crew tried shooting the pyramids on location.
The decision to then switch to miniatures came after the lighting conditions prevented them from properly capturing the heritage monuments. Miniatures were also used for some of the shots involving the car. Those shots of the Espirit car underwater took place in Nassau, Bahamas. The filming there used several miniature models of the car.
The filming for the insane pre-credits scene took place in Mount Asgard of Baffin Island, in Canada. The skiing stunt that we see in the film was shot here. The recognizable flat-topped rock towers provided the best climate and topography the makers wanted for the sequence.
Pinewood Studios & the Underwater Tanks
Some of the highlight action sequences that were filmed there included some of the most expensive stunts ever up until that point. The UK was also one of the filming locations for The Spy Who Loved Me, so was Spain, Portugal, Italy, Nassau, Bahamas, Malta, Scotland, Switzerland, and Okinawa, among other places. The supertanker that the antagonist Stromberg owns in the film was one of the most challenging tasks for the set designers. Its interior was to be very big.
However, no other studio in London was big enough to accurately create or accommodate that. So the set designer Ken Adam decided to create a new sound stage at Pinewood Studios, London. The Bahamas became the filming location for the underwater shots in the film. It was also where the shots of the shark underwater were filmed. A separate tank for the shark was built, and many miniatures for the car shots, as well as other shots, were used.
The chase scene near the end of the film was filmed in Sardinia
Who Stars In The Film?
The James Bond classic stars Roger Moore in the lead as the titular MI6 agent. Barbara Bach stars opposite Moore as the femme fatale KGB agent, Anya Amasova. Curt Jürgens stars as the lead antagonist, Karl Stromberg. Caroline Munro stars as Stromberg’s pilot and another femme fatale, Naomi. Richard Kiel stars as Stromberg’s beastly henchman, Jaws. Geoffrey Keen stars as Sir Frederick Gray.
Edward de Souza stars as Sheikh Hosein, George Baker stars as Captain Benson, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, and Walter Gotell as General Gogol. Michael Billington as Sergei Barsov, Vernon Dobtcheff as Max Kalba, Shane Rimmer as Commander Carter, Bryan Marshall as Commander Talbott, Nadim Sawalha as Aziz Fekkesh, and Robert Brown as Admiral Hargraves also feature in the film. Bernard Lee stars as M, and Desmond Llewelyn stars as Q.
Also Read: 5 Best Underrated Spy Films To Watch
