Sean Connery refuses to promote James Bond box set for franchise's 50th anniversary this week
Sir Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan have agreed to promote the release of a new Blu-ray DVD set, but Connery is refusing. He believes he was cheated out of millions by 007 movie executives, sources said.
By James Desborough / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, September 18, 2012, 12:26 PM
LOS ANGELES — James Bond movie makers kick off a whirlwind celebration of the franchise’s 50th anniversary in London this week, but America’s favorite secret agent — Sir Sean Connery — is snubbing the whole shebang.
Sir Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan have agreed to promote the release of a new Blu-ray DVD box set, but Connery is refusing, and believes he was cheated out of millions of dollars by 007 movie executives, sources said.
The Bond franchise’s worldwide worth is unknown — but in the United States alone, Forbes has reported it at $1.6 billion.
Connery’s take from the six films he starred in for MGM: $3 million.
MGM and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, with Eon Productions on Sept. 25 will release a 22-disc collection of all the Bond films. With the accompanying hardcover collector’s book, the whole thing retails for $184.96 on Amazon.
Moore began a seven-day tour of Great Britain on Monday in an Aston Martin DBS, the car featured in “Quantum of Solace” in 2008, to push sales. Along the way, he’ll carry the first copy of the Bond Blu-ray collection in a golden briefcase.
[spoil]For Connery, who was spotted last week at the U.S. Open, that’s all nonsense.
The 81-year-old has been in a four decade-long running feud over his pay and treatment by Bond producers Albert (Cubby) Broccoli and Harry Saltzman.
The snub is a blow to thousands of diehard fans, who hoped that Connery — often voted the best Bond by fan clubs worldwide — would reconsider.
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Sean Connery is arguably the most recognizable James Bond in the franchise's history.
“Sir Sean is and remains retired,” Connery’s rep Nancy Seltzer said. “He has not given any current interviews regarding the anniversary of Bond.
“I’m sorry, but he has retired and has declined making public appearances.”
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MGM/courtesy Everett Collection
Pierce Brosnan as Bond with Denise Richards in 1999's 'The World Is Not Enough.'
A source close to the star said: “Sean still feels aggrieved by how he was treated by Cubby over the years. He felt that he was never well financially rewarded for his early work, and after his departure his work was used to generate tens of millions of dollars. Nobody has changed his mind about that in over 40 years.”
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Jane Seymour and Roger Seymour in the 1973 'Live and Let Die.'
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Roger Moore in the movie "For Your Eyes Only".
Broccoli’s production company Eon continued to use Connery’s image to promote the franchise in the ’70s and ’80s without the actor earning an extra penny.
Connery was so upset, he snubbed Broccoli’s funeral and memorial in the late 1990s.
Former leading men like Pierce Brosnan and Roger Moore and directors Michael Apted, Martin Campbell and Guy Hamilton have all contributed to tens of extra hours of commentaries and content about their role in the movies in the box set.
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Timothy Dalton held the role of Bond from 1987 until 1989.
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MGM Studios and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment unveil "Bond 50," a box-set featuring all 22 James Bond films on Blu-ray Disc in celebration of the James Bond franchise's 50th anniversary.
Fans will be left with old interviews from Connery promoting his movies back in the 1960s.
The rift with Connery is already apparent in the international trailer for the Blu-ray trailer of the Bond films. The nearly two-minute promo almost wipes Connery out of 007 history.
It shows Connery onscreen for less than five seconds.[/spoil]
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