The crew member almost pummelled by a furious Sean Connery: “It took three grips to restrain him”
When actors join the industry, they know that while it might seem like the movie set is a life of luxury waiting to be indulged in, some roles will be more than a little challenging. The demands that some jobs ask of performers can be intense, to say the least, whether that be channelling strong emotions, having to shoot a scene naked, hours of make-up or death-defying stunts. Sean Connery, the machismo-loaded behemoth best known for playing James Bond, had his fair share of complicated scenes to shoot over his decades-long career.
Like a lot of young lads in the country, the Scottish-born actor initially wanted to be a footballer, but realising that it would mean retiring at an early age, he soon turned his attention towards the seemingly glamorous life of acting. Working his way up from a small job in a theatre, he eventually began landing small roles in tiny productions. But things soon changed for Connery when he appeared in Another Time, Another Place and starred alongside Hollywood icon Lana Turner. His name suddenly became a welcome whisper in the ears of industry executives.
As the 1960s dawned and the need for an actor to take James Bond from the pages of Ian Fleming’s books to the silver screen, Connery popped up as the perfect candidate, despite the initial hesitance from the author. His performance as the 007 agent remains a fan favourite despite the role now being one of the most interchangeable in cinema history. The actor continued to star in other movies in the meantime, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie, the western movie Shakalo, and Sidney Lumet’s The Anderson Tapes and Murder on the Orient Express. It speaks of a highly flourished career, but Connery’s resume isn’t without its question marks.
Connery landed a role in Zardoz in 1974, a movie which has since been heralded as a cult classic. Upon its release, it surprised many viewers, mainly because the film was somewhat unique, taking a rather early approach to science-fiction and fantasy that was certainly… interesting. The tough guy actor was made to wear a bizarre, skimpy, red outfit which was little more than some bright pants and thigh-high boots. Complete with long plaited hair, Connery looked almost unrecognisable – and unmistakably ‘70s.
However, during filming, an incident occurred that reminded people of why Connery was known as a a real life brute. Having famously beaten up gangsters after being held at gunpoint as a young man on set, the actor had the power to physically injure someone if he needed to, and he certainly felt this was the case when a very unfortunate mistake took place on set.
In an interview with Vulture, the film’s director, John Boorman, explained, “At the end of the film, we shoot a scene where his characters ages rapidly, and with the makeup, that scene took a whole day. So we’d shoot a bit, take him out, put on more makeup, shoot a bit more, and so on. When we finished it, we sent the film to the lab, and the lab scratched it. So we had to do it all over again the following day. Sean hated makeup, hated anything touching his skin. He was very grumpy the whole day when we shot the scene. So when I told him that we had to do it again, he was absolutely enraged. Enraged!”
That’s not all, though. “At any rate, we did it all over again, all day long, the whole process,” he continued, “And the assistant camera-loader opened the camera and exposed the film. So we had to do the process again. Sean wouldn’t believe me; he thought I was teasing him. When I convinced him that we needed to do it for the third time, he went after this camera-loader and nearly killed him. It took three grips to restrain him.”
The camera-loader certainly felt the effects of his clumsy mistake, with Boorman revealing that this incident significantly impacted his career. “This had become such a famous story in the film business that this guy couldn’t get a job or anything. So he changed his name and is working as a commercial cameraman now.”
