It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when ‘James Bond‘ wasn’t confident. Before the franchise became its own genre, Ian Fleming actually wanted Alfred Hitchcock to direct Bond’s very first movie.
The idea never came true, but the story behind it is fascinating. And funny enough, even without directing a single Bond film, Hitchcock still left his mark all over the franchise.
Ian Fleming’s Wild Idea About Alfred Hitchcock In The Bond Franchise
By 1959, Ian Fleming had written six Bond novels and was desperate to see his secret agent come alive on screen. He was already working on a story that would later turn into Thunderball, and when he thought about who could capture Bond’s cool, mysterious style, one name came to mind: Alfred Hitchcock.
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Fleming even sent Hitchcock a telegram, outlining the plot and inviting him to direct the film. But the two never met, and it’s unclear whether Hitchcock ever even read the script. He had just finished ‘North by Northwest‘ and was about to start ‘Psycho‘, so he wasn’t exactly looking to jump into another spy thriller. Still, even though the collaboration never happened, Hitchcock’s influence seeped into the early Bond films.
Fleming had clearly been inspired by ‘North by Northwest‘ when shaping how Bond should look and feel on screen. He wanted the cinematic Bond to be less “ruthless” and more charming, more like Cary Grant’s ‘Roger Thornhill‘, the cool, confused hero at the center of Hitchcock’s film.
In many ways, North by Northwest was the perfect test run for Bond. Cary Grant played an ordinary advertising executive mistaken for a spy, dragged into an international plot, and chased across the country. The movie had everything: sleek suits, international tension, a charming lead, and a mix of danger and humor. The only difference was that Thornhill wasn’t in control; he was constantly confused, sweating his way through chaos. Bond, on the other hand, would become his opposite: confident, prepared, and always one step ahead.
Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli even considered Cary Grant for the Bond role. The only issue was that he was too big a star to commit to multiple movies. So they went with Sean Connery, who gave Bond a tougher edge while keeping that same suave confidence.
The ‘Hitchcock’ Touch That Stayed
There’s Hitchcock’s influence in that helicopter chase in ‘From Russia With Love‘. That was practically a modernized version of the crop-duster sequence from ‘North by Northwest‘. That’s not all. Hitchcock’s style also shaped the women of Bond’s world. In ‘North by Northwest‘, Eva Marie Saint played Eve Kendall, a smart, mysterious woman who keeps the hero guessing about whose side she’s really on.
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But Hitchcock had already defined this type of character long before. The cool, composed blonde who’s equal parts alluring and dangerous had appeared in films. That influence carried straight into Bond’s world, only this time with a glamorous, jet-setting twist.
And speaking of jet-setting, Hitchcock’s love for exotic backdrops, as seen in Brazil in ‘Notorious‘, the French Riviera in ‘To Catch a Thief‘, and Morocco in ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much‘, all point towards Bond’s signature style. Those dazzling global locations became a must for 007. By the mid-1960s, Bond had evolved far beyond his roots. But the DNA still traces back to Hitchcock’s sleek suspense and storytelling rhythm.
Even though Hitchcock never got to direct a Bond film, he didn’t drift too far from the world. Hitchcock, though, had his own spy thrillers with ‘Torn Curtain‘ and ‘Topaz‘. But by then, Bond had completely taken over the genre. Still, there’s no denying that without Hitchcock, Bond wouldn’t be Bond.
