FILM · 1983 · UK
Octopussy
25 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (25)
- #001
According to Sir Roger Moore's DVD commentary on the dinner scene, the eye in the stuffed sheep's head that Louis Jourdan eats was made of marzipan.
- #002
It was released the same year as the rival Warner Brothers James Bond production "Never Say Never Again" (1983), which showcased Sir Sean Connery's return to the role. This film grossed 187 million dollars worldwide, while "Never Say Never Again" (1983) earned 160 million dollars.
- #003
The blue-ringed octopus is highly venomous. It produces tetrodotoxin, which it uses in self-defence. Tetrodotoxin is also found in the pufferfish. One milligram of the toxin can kill a human, and there is no known antidote.
- #004
A cyclist getting between the two fighting vehicles was not a planned part of the taxi chase scene in India, but by chance it provided extra tension.
- #005
Barbara Carrera turned down the role of Octopussy to appear in "Never Say Never Again" (1983) because she wanted to work with Sir Sean Connery.
- #006
In the train/flying car sequence, when the car lands, one of the stuntmen dressed as a fisherman had just managed to get out of the boat on the lake where the car landed. This footage can be seen in the finished film.
- #007
During filming, Sir Roger Moore was misdiagnosed with heart problems. When Maud Adams returned home, she asked her boyfriend, a doctor, for a second opinion. He declared that Moore was medically fit.
- #008
The joke "Fill'er up, please!" at the end of the opening sequence was initially removed by director John Glen. However, when he went to a local cinema and caught the trailer (which included the line) and saw how much the audience enjoyed it, he restored it.
- #009
Kristina Wayborn (Magda) says a romantic "au revoir" to James Bond by way of an elegant window exit. She performed the stunt herself, turning towards the ground, with her dress serving as support and opening as she landed safely. Wayborn's departure was filmed in two different places: her fall from the balcony was shot at Pinewood Studios in England, and her landing was shot in India.
- #010
Q appears as an active participant on a mission for the first time, rather than being behind the scenes.
- #011
This film was released four months before "Never Say Never Again" (1983). It was the second time two James Bond films had been released in the same year; this had previously happened with "Casino Royale" (1967) and "You Only Live Twice" (1967).
- #012
The final sequence with the Beech-18 plane was filmed in Utah using an old rocket-launching catapult. The plane was supposed to fly straight down when it crossed the border, but instead, while loaded with explosives, it turned right and flew in an uncontrolled circle over a busy highway before crashing harmlessly. The crash was re-filmed with a model.
- #013
During casting, James Brolin was nearly given the role of James Bond, but at the last minute Sir Roger Moore agreed to play Bond again. Brolin's screen tests can be seen on the DVD. Moore had lost his contract after Moonraker (1979) and had agreed to return to the role once more in For Your Eyes Only (1981). The production went to Moore because this film would compete with "Never Say Never Again" (1983), starring the original and former James Bond actor Sir Sean Connery. Uncertainty about using an American actor in the role, the necessity of bringing in a new actor, and the reasons for standing against Connery were all factors. Meanwhile, Oliver Tobias, Michael Billington, Timothy Dalton and Ian Ogilvy were also considered for James Bond.
- #014
As seen in the film, the Fabergé Egg was based on the Imperial Coronation Egg designed by Peter Carl Fabergé. It was made in 1897 to commemorate Tsar Nicholas II's coronation in 1896. The jewelled egg contains a model of the Coronation Carriage; its outer surface is covered in translucent lemon-yellow enamel over a guilloché field of starbursts; bands of trellised greenish gold laurel leaves mount an opaque black enamel Imperial gold double-headed eagle with a rose-cut diamond on its breast at each intersection; at the top is a large portrait diamond set with a cluster of ten small diamonds; and at the back end a smaller portrait diamond is set within a cluster of rose-cut diamonds. The real Coronation Egg was yellow. The egg reappeared in Ocean's Twelve (2004).
- #015
Maud Adams appeared (and was killed off) as a different character in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
- #016
Kristina Wayborn broke several toes while filming the Octopussy Circus's attack on the Monsoon Palace. A plastic model was supposed to be brought in instead of the bazooka a thug would throw from his arms, but the stuntman was accidentally holding a metal model.
- #017
In one scene, a Soviet President (played by Paul Hardwick) is seen and looks like a caricature of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The real-life Brezhnev died in November 1982, after the scene was filmed and before the film was released. In post-production, the producers considered deleting the scene (because of Brezhnev's death), but it was decided to leave it in the film since the scene was necessary to the plot and the film does not specify the year or time in which it is set.
- #018
The short story was serialised in Playboy Magazine in the March and April 1966 issues, two years after Fleming's death. It was also the last James Bond short story written by Ian Fleming.
- #019
This was the first acting role of professional tennis player Vijay Amritraj, who was trying to move into an acting career. Some parts of Vijay's role included inside jokes about his tennis career.
- #020
Although Maud Adams starred in the film, audiences do not see her face until the sixty-ninth minute. This explains why she was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category at the Saturn Awards rather than Best Actress. She lost the award to Candy Clark for Blue Thunder (1983).
- #021
The "company" taxi used to pick up 007 was specially built at Pinewood Studios and could reach speeds of more than seventy miles per hour (one hundred and thirteen kilometres per hour).
- #022
Production designer Peter Lamont was on a hijacked plane while travelling between England and India in August 1982.
- #023
With M returning in this film, it was Sir Roger Moore who suggested Robert Brown for the role. Moore had known Brown since they worked together on the television series Ivanhoe (1958).
- #024
The black-and-white octopus emblem was a symbol of the criminal espionage organisation S. P. E. C. T. R. E. seen in other James Bond films. However, it has no connection to either story in the short story or in this film. Even if the producers had wanted to revive the octopus symbol for this film, the legal agreement with Kevin McClory gave him all rights to the use of "S. P. E. C. T. R. E.", and so the black-and-white octopus emblem could not be used in this film. The species of octopus seen on the bodies of the Octopussy girls was different: it was a blue-ringed octopus. In this film the symbol was the mark of an old secret cult made up of female bandits and smugglers.
- #025
When the director's first choice, Rutger Hauer, turned the role down, Steven Berkoff agreed to play Orlov. The move paid off for Berkoff, as his short but fierce performance as the ruthless general was much admired by American audiences and led to his being cast as a villain in Beverly Hills Cop (1984) and Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985).
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