Background
When Connery agreed to return as James Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, United Artists pledged to back two of Connery's film projects of his own free choosing, including free choice for his own role, provided they would be costing $2 million or less. The Offence, made under the working title of Something Like the Truth due to Connery's choice of Hopkins' script, was shot in March and April 1972 in and around Bracknell, Berkshire (scenes were shot in the Wildridings area and also Easthampstead's Point Royal) with a budget of $900,000. The action sequences of the physical interaction between Connery and Bannen were designed by an uncredited Bob Simmons, who had designed similar action scenes for the Bond films. It is the only film that Sir Harrison Birtwistle has written music for.
United Artists finally released The Offence in 1973. It was a commercial failure and did not yield a profit for nine years, even going unreleased in several markets, including France, where it did not premiere until 2007. United Artists pulled out of the deal and the next project, a film version of Macbeth that Connery was to direct, was scotched by Roman Polanski's adaptation.
Read more about this topic: The Offence
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