Alan Cumming has opened up about his starring role as a James Bond villain in the 90s, and the moment a scene went disastrously wrong.
The Traitors host appeared in 1995 classic GoldenEye, which marked Pierce Brosnan’s first film as 007 alongside Dame Judi Dench, who made her debut as M.
In a new interview with Vanity Fair, the 60-year-old took a stroll down memory lane to unpack some of his biggest screen moments, including his battle against the superspy.
Reflecting on the scene where his creepy character, Boris Grishenko, died as a result of an explosion caused by liquid nitrogen canisters, he revealed that it was even more painful than it looked on screen.
‘These big gallons of computer coolant, they explode, come on top of me and freeze me to death. Just another day at the office,’ he said.
‘They had a rubber band around my waist that was tying me – so, when the force of it came, I wouldn’t fall down. I would just be basically in the same position as all this stuff came on top of me.
‘What happened was, they chucked the big thing of dry ice out, but it was lumps of dry ice, which then stuck to my head and burned my scalp.
‘I couldn’t move because I had this rubber band around my waist. I’m there going, “Ahhh, owww!” and they realized something was wrong, and then these firemen came on and started scooting my head.
‘It was a nightmare.’
GoldenEye served as Pierce’s first outing as James Bond, six years after Timothy Dalton’s final film, License to Kill in 1989.
Despite the long gap between action movies, the flick was a clear success and grossed more than $356million at the box office, with fans and critics praising the instalment.
Dame Judi previously shared her first impressions of her superspy castmate on set, telling People Magazine last year: ‘Be still, beating heart.
‘He was just an adorable man. He was absolutely glorious to work with, and as a person.’
‘His first day on Bond was my first day,’ she added. ‘But he was Bond! The both of us, I think, [were] pretty jumpy.’
The Mrs Doubtfire actor went on to star in Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day, before Daniel Craig took over the role for Casino Royale in 2005.
Fans are not-so-patiently waiting for any inkling of who could step into that luxe tuxedo next…
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