Production
| “ | We had gone as far as we could into space. We needed a change of some sort, back to the grass roots of Bond. We wanted to make the new film more of a thriller than a romp, without losing sight of what made Bond famous – its humour. | ” |
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—John Glen |
For Your Eyes Only marked a change in the make up of the production crew: John Glen was promoted from his duties as a film editor to director, a position he would occupy for four subsequent films. The transition in directors resulted in a harder-edged directorial style, with less emphasis on gadgetry and large action sequences in huge arenas (as was favoured by Lewis Gilbert). Emphasis was placed on tension, plot and character in addition to a return to Bond's more serious roots, whilst For Your Eyes Only "showed a clear attempt to activate some lapsed and inactive parts of the Bond mythology."
The film was also a deliberate effort to bring the series more back to reality, following the huge success of Moonraker in 1979. As co-writer Michael G. Wilson pointed out, "If we went through the path of Moonraker things would just get more outlandish, so we needed to get back to basics". To that end, the story that emerged was simpler, not one in which the world was at risk, but returning the series to that of a Cold War thriller; Bond would also rely more on his wits than gadgets to survive. Glen decided to symbolically represent it with a scene where Bond's Lotus blows itself up and forces 007 to rely on Melina's more humble Citroën 2CV. Since Ken Adam was busy with Pennies from Heaven, Peter Lamont, who had worked in the art department since Goldfinger, was promoted to production designer. Following a suggestion of Glen, Lamont created realistic scenery, instead of the elaborate set pieces for which the series had been known.
Read more about this topic: For Your Eyes Only (film)
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