Luciana Paluzzi on Thunderball - SpyMaster Interview #73

[00:00:02] Hello and welcome to SpyHards Podcast, I'm Agent Scott.

[00:00:38] And I'm Cam the Provocateur shooting Clay Pigeons like a boss.

[00:00:41] Boy, do you look good doing it too.

[00:00:45] I make this look good.

[00:00:47] You do, but you know who else made it look good, Cam?

[00:00:49] Oh, I can guess.

[00:00:51] Well, I mean, I think we have a pretty special guest that looks pretty good whilst Clay Pigeons

[00:00:56] shooting.

[00:00:57] Why don't you introduce us all to that guest?

[00:01:00] Yes, we are joined by Luciana Paluzzi, the iconic talent behind Fiona Volpe in 1965's

[00:01:08] Thunderball.

[00:01:10] It can't be overstated how important Luciana Paluzzi is to James Bond, to Femme Fatale's

[00:01:19] in cinema history, I would say.

[00:01:21] I mean, not only did she win Best Bond Girl in last week's Sean Connery Roundtable, which

[00:01:26] I know is not high praise in times of...

[00:01:29] That's the highest of praise.

[00:01:30] I mean, after the Oscars comes our roundtable.

[00:01:34] But for us, I mean, you know, there was four people and, you know, she won.

[00:01:39] Not hands down, but quite easily won that round.

[00:01:42] And there's good reason.

[00:01:44] She is iconic to Bond fans worldwide.

[00:01:50] She is one of the people you think about when you think of Thunderball and you think about

[00:01:54] her screen time isn't actually that big in the film, but she leaves such an impression

[00:01:58] on viewers of Thunderball that I think, you know, people will now just think about

[00:02:03] her when they think of the Best Bond Girls and they do.

[00:02:06] And we did.

[00:02:07] And it's our pleasure to have her on the show with us.

[00:02:11] It's been a long time coming and a real dream for us to speak to Luciana.

[00:02:14] Yeah.

[00:02:15] And when you think about the Connery era, it is an embarrassment of riches in terms

[00:02:19] of villains and also the Bond Girls.

[00:02:22] And the fact that like Luciana stands so high in both categories when people talk

[00:02:26] about this particular era is a real testament because it's not like kind of a weaker

[00:02:32] era where you had kind of lesser competitors.

[00:02:36] She is like going up against the all timers of the entire franchise and the fact that

[00:02:41] just that performance is just so incredible, so indelible and creates a template

[00:02:46] that the franchise is going to continue to exploit probably in future movies

[00:02:50] even as we go forward.

[00:02:52] I mean, that's a credit.

[00:02:54] We spoke about Sean Connery being the template for Bond, but we also said

[00:02:58] that Fiona Volpe was the template for Bond femme fatale.

[00:03:03] And it's such a pleasure to speak to her about all of this.

[00:03:07] And I think without further ado,

[00:03:09] I know what you're all here for.

[00:03:11] Let's put on our motorcycle letters and head to the junk canoe.

[00:03:15] Cam, roll the interview.

[00:03:19] And joining us now on the show, frankly, the one and only Miss Luciana Pellucci.

[00:03:26] Hello, Luciana, how are you?

[00:03:27] I'm fine. Thanks. How are you guys?

[00:03:30] Living the dream, it's all the better for speaking to you.

[00:03:33] And I mean that when I say that because when it comes to stars,

[00:03:38] it comes to femme fatales, when it comes to the villains of the Bond films,

[00:03:41] you are number one with a bullet in my mind.

[00:03:44] Oh, that's so sweet. Thank you.

[00:03:46] And I would just like to lead us off the first question.

[00:03:49] You know, you studied naval engineering at, you know, the Scientific Academy of Milan.

[00:03:54] I'm curious, how did that sort of lead into acting?

[00:03:59] It didn't lead absolutely not.

[00:04:02] My acting was like a fluke.

[00:04:06] It happened one night when I was having dinner with my father and my mother

[00:04:11] and friends of theirs and my father, best friend,

[00:04:15] happened to be like the most recognized

[00:04:21] assistant director, production manager in Europe for when American films

[00:04:27] or English films, foreign films were in town shooting in Italy.

[00:04:33] Everybody would ask for him because he spoke five languages

[00:04:37] because that was his job.

[00:04:38] He was very good at it and he was a very good friend of my father.

[00:04:42] And he was telling the story that he was working at the time for

[00:04:46] Jean-Neguillesco, who was making three coins in the fountain.

[00:04:49] And he was just saying, my God, he's driving me crazy

[00:04:52] because he for a little role, three lines in the movies

[00:04:57] at the Asino radio, I don't know, 30, 40 girls

[00:05:00] and he never looked at anybody.

[00:05:02] And as he's telling the story, his eyes landed on me.

[00:05:07] And I was what?

[00:05:08] I was 14, 15.

[00:05:10] And he said, Luciana, why don't you come up and let's see if we can finish this thing.

[00:05:17] And I looked at my father because my father was a colonel in the army.

[00:05:23] And it was strict, not strict in the sense of being nasty with me

[00:05:28] or anything like that.

[00:05:29] But he thought that the best achievement for me would have been to be a teacher

[00:05:39] or a professor in some school.

[00:05:42] He didn't even like me to go to the Las Cales and Milano to take ballet lessons.

[00:05:47] So it was very strict.

[00:05:48] But for some strange reasons, maybe because this was his best friend,

[00:05:53] he just thought, why not?

[00:05:55] You know, he thought it was just going to be something that would end in one day.

[00:06:04] But I went up to see Gianni Gulesco and I said something in English.

[00:06:10] I didn't speak English at the time, so I learned a joke and I said it

[00:06:15] in English and he laughed and he said, OK, that's it.

[00:06:19] We got the girl.

[00:06:21] So my mom and I went up to the dormites where they were supposed

[00:06:26] to be shooting actually the scene outside of Rome.

[00:06:30] But at the time, nobody knew the difference because people weren't

[00:06:33] traveling as much as they do today, where they know everything.

[00:06:37] And we went with my mom and we were put in this beautiful hotel

[00:06:43] and I had a great time with every body, the costars and everything.

[00:06:47] And I said to my mom, my God, I said,

[00:06:49] and they even pay you to have fun.

[00:06:52] So I decided that's what I wanted to do in life.

[00:06:57] And that's how my career started.

[00:07:00] And I started working and I went from three lines to 20 to 40.

[00:07:08] And within two years, I was playing good roles.

[00:07:13] And that's it.

[00:07:14] And that's how I started and by bite to be in a naval engineer.

[00:07:20] Well, the first follow up question I have to that is,

[00:07:22] do you happen to remember the joke?

[00:07:24] No, I wish I would.

[00:07:26] It was a very simple joke.

[00:07:28] It was like a couple of lines.

[00:07:29] I should have written it down since that started my career.

[00:07:33] And I don't remember it.

[00:07:35] One of these days that will come back to you.

[00:07:37] Yeah, I may in May.

[00:07:39] Well, then I suppose leading yourself and I mentioned all things

[00:07:42] sort of James Bond, but there is a there has appeared in your career

[00:07:45] leading up to that point.

[00:07:46] And I noted that you you worked with underboards,

[00:07:48] director Terence Young on a film called No Time to Die.

[00:07:51] But how did that sort of James Bond connection come to you?

[00:07:54] Was it through No Time to Die?

[00:07:55] How did you get connected with James Bond?

[00:07:58] Well, definitely not because of my agent,

[00:08:00] because later on I found out that my agent William Morris

[00:08:05] at the time sent in recommendation that included

[00:08:08] the analysis Claudia Cardinale.

[00:08:10] My name was never mentioned.

[00:08:12] So it was not thanks to them that I got the role.

[00:08:17] I think it was because I had worked for Terence Young

[00:08:22] in No Time to Die and he really liked me

[00:08:26] and actually became like my godfather.

[00:08:28] I loved him so much, but that's another story.

[00:08:32] Anyway, he recommended me that I go and do a test

[00:08:39] for Thunderball because of our past, you know,

[00:08:45] experience together.

[00:08:47] And I arrived in Pinewood and there were like,

[00:08:51] I don't know, it seemed to me probably less,

[00:08:54] but it seemed to me like 200 girls were there that day.

[00:08:58] And I actually did the test for the role of Domino.

[00:09:06] That's what I was supposed to play in the movie.

[00:09:10] But I went back to Rome and didn't hear anything

[00:09:16] for a long time.

[00:09:18] And one day, maybe two months later, I get a call

[00:09:21] and both Harry Salsman and Caby were on the line.

[00:09:27] And they said, I, Luciana, we have good news and we have bad news.

[00:09:31] So I always like to hear the bad news first.

[00:09:34] So that's over with and I end up in a good note.

[00:09:38] And I said, give me the bad news.

[00:09:40] And I said, well, you didn't get the role of Domino.

[00:09:43] And I said, how could there be any good news after that?

[00:09:47] Because I thought that that's what I was going to play.

[00:09:49] And they said, well,

[00:09:51] you said first of all, we have to explain.

[00:09:53] You said you didn't get it because we want to launch a new face

[00:09:58] each time now that we make a bone movie.

[00:10:00] We want to launch a new face and you've already been working.

[00:10:04] And so, you know, you're you're known.

[00:10:07] And and I said, yeah, but you're not telling me the good news.

[00:10:10] What are the good news?

[00:10:12] So he said, well, we decided to it was an Irish girl,

[00:10:16] but we decided to turn into an Italian and you're going to play the villain.

[00:10:21] And I said, but this is tremendous news.

[00:10:23] This is even better because I thought that the role of the villain

[00:10:27] was better than the role of the angel, the leading lady.

[00:10:31] So that's how I found out I was going to play Fiona Volpe.

[00:10:36] And I have to tell you, even today, it's very interesting.

[00:10:40] If I say my name to people on the phone or something and they say,

[00:10:46] what's your name?

[00:10:47] And even for a restaurant reservation,

[00:10:51] some of them will say, oh, my God, Fiona Volpe.

[00:10:55] That's how they that's how incredible.

[00:10:59] Sixty years later, how many I don't want to count whatever it is.

[00:11:04] Few years ago, how this role has impacted people that that are even

[00:11:10] that are young, that they still remember.

[00:11:13] And if I say which I'm a positive, it go Fiona Volpe.

[00:11:17] So that's it. OK, I'm finished.

[00:11:19] No, no, what a legacy to have.

[00:11:21] Even as you say, people of all ages discovering the character,

[00:11:25] this this interview is taking place transatlantically between London,

[00:11:29] Canada and Los Angeles just shows the love across the world that

[00:11:34] that not only Bond has, but your character has too.

[00:11:37] I get so many fan letters still.

[00:11:41] It's just amazing.

[00:11:42] And the things that they write, I mean, it's maybe a bit of exaggeration

[00:11:48] because I say, oh, come on, I am in a way very modest.

[00:11:53] I remember that I used to try to skirt

[00:11:58] the premiers by going not on the red carpet, but behind everybody.

[00:12:03] That's I am a little bit on the shy side.

[00:12:06] I got better with age, but I am very shy, modest in a sense.

[00:12:12] And they to hear and read these compliments that they pay me.

[00:12:17] It's just like it brings, you know, a smile and a little tear to my eyes

[00:12:23] because it's amazing after so, so many years.

[00:12:27] They still have this knowledge of this role, which I don't know.

[00:12:35] It seems so simple for me to do,

[00:12:38] you know, because I am such a good girl in life and to play a bad girl is

[00:12:42] the most fun thing to do.

[00:12:45] You know, anyway.

[00:12:46] Well, you really set kind of the mold of the Bond femme fatale that would be

[00:12:50] revisited many times over the future of the franchise.

[00:12:53] I'm just curious at the time when you get the role, are you looking for

[00:12:57] inspiration to any other onscreen performances you've seen in films or

[00:13:01] anything like that? Or isn't it entirely just working with the script yourself?

[00:13:05] No, it was entirely working with the script.

[00:13:07] And as I said, it came so easy to me.

[00:13:11] So

[00:13:14] I guess I don't know, maybe inside of me there is

[00:13:20] a little bit of a bad girl because

[00:13:22] it never came out to surface, but it was very easy for me to do.

[00:13:29] No, Terence Terence is a genius.

[00:13:33] He was James Bond, in my opinion.

[00:13:36] He's the one that has all the little touches, the little, you know,

[00:13:40] the funny things, the little funny touches that in the movie are all

[00:13:46] created by Terence.

[00:13:49] And we had such a friendship.

[00:13:52] It was such a generous, wonderful, loving person.

[00:13:56] And we continue the friendship through the years.

[00:14:00] And he even gave me a way because my father died many years ago.

[00:14:07] He gave me a way to my present husband of forty three years.

[00:14:13] He came, he was shooting a movie in Rome and I was living in New York

[00:14:18] and I got married in New York to Michael and he came in for the weekend

[00:14:23] while shooting a movie just to give me away to my husband.

[00:14:28] That's how close we were.

[00:14:29] He was like my dad and I always loved him so much.

[00:14:34] And he was the one that is responsible for anything I did in Thunderball.

[00:14:41] He was the one.

[00:14:44] Well, I would love to know about the dynamic you have with Sean Connery

[00:14:47] and maybe, you know, Terence's role in shaping that like there's a really

[00:14:52] interesting kind of back and forth jockeying for dominance between you and Bond.

[00:14:56] I would just like to know about working with Connery and then Terence

[00:15:00] in finding that relationship.

[00:15:05] I know you're making it sound much more interesting than it really was.

[00:15:08] It was, as I said, I mean, it was just easy on the set.

[00:15:15] And Sean was terrific.

[00:15:18] And as a matter of fact, we also kept friendship through the years.

[00:15:23] We went to visit him with Michael in his house in New York.

[00:15:27] We saw him in the Bahamas.

[00:15:30] And actually now I'm very good friends with the son, Jason, because last year

[00:15:36] there was a celebration of Thunderball in in Nassau and for a three day

[00:15:44] celebration and obviously I was invited and Martin was invited.

[00:15:49] We are sadly the only two people left of, you know, still alive of that movie.

[00:15:58] And Jason lives in Nassau with his wife Fiona.

[00:16:04] And they recreated the scene where I dance in the nightclub because they

[00:16:11] recreated the nightclub in the hotel in the Bahamas.

[00:16:14] And so the last night there was they had a beautiful dinner and I had to dance.

[00:16:23] And guess who I danced with with Jason, with Sean's son.

[00:16:28] And that was like so much fun.

[00:16:31] And so a friendship that goes now that even further because of his this baby

[00:16:39] that I saw 60 years ago when he was on set with his mom for he was a year old.

[00:16:48] And all of a sudden after all this time here we meet again and now we are good friends.

[00:16:54] Wow, that's incredible.

[00:16:56] Yes, it is.

[00:16:58] Well, speaking of of Sean and your time working with him on Thunderball,

[00:17:03] just castling your mind back to just sort of filming Thunderball.

[00:17:07] Is there any particular moments that when you think back to that time with Sean and

[00:17:11] with the team that the spring to mind any particular behind the scenes moments

[00:17:15] you'd like to tell us?

[00:17:17] No, right now I can't.

[00:17:20] I can't be probably, you know, you should send me your emails.

[00:17:24] If I if I think of something I will you could edit.

[00:17:28] But

[00:17:30] right now there is no because it was I'll tell you what first of all, Sean

[00:17:36] we really didn't have an after work relationship because he was a very

[00:17:42] macho macho guy and he used to like not to go out with the other actors of the movie

[00:17:49] with Adolfo Chaley or with me or with Claudine.

[00:17:52] No, he used to go out with the crew at night.

[00:17:56] He would get the gaffer and you know, the people that work behind the scenes

[00:18:01] and he would go out with the boys.

[00:18:03] So we didn't really have a relationship after work.

[00:18:10] I that's it.

[00:18:11] So on the set, we were doing what we were supposed to do.

[00:18:15] We were acting with what we had to do.

[00:18:17] And he was, you know, in between scenes.

[00:18:20] He was always such a nice guy.

[00:18:23] And I know that there were comments made of how he treated women and all of that.

[00:18:30] I never saw it.

[00:18:31] So, you know, but again, I was not part of his life.

[00:18:37] I was only part of making the movie.

[00:18:41] And what about, you know, for you, the

[00:18:43] after hours experience of working on Thunderball, you're in the Bahamas.

[00:18:47] I would just like to know just the experience of being there at that time.

[00:18:51] I'll tell you something.

[00:18:53] It sounds all very glamorous, but we've worked a lot of times at night.

[00:18:58] All the, you know, the night scenes.

[00:19:00] And also I had there my mother and my young son who was at the time three.

[00:19:09] I had a we had a very tranquil life.

[00:19:13] I would go to work and then we rented the bungalow.

[00:19:16] As a matter of fact, in the little outside of NASA, there were like three or four

[00:19:23] bungalows and I remember

[00:19:27] Sean had one with his wife, Diane C. Lento.

[00:19:31] I had another one across the street from him.

[00:19:33] And then the gentleman that played Felix Lighter, he was there with his wife,

[00:19:39] Anita Egberg at the time.

[00:19:42] And everybody had, you know, come home, relax to your thing.

[00:19:47] We didn't have a glamorous life.

[00:19:51] We were working.

[00:19:53] Well, I suppose then looking at the character of Fiona Volpe, a little bit.

[00:19:58] One thing that jumped out to me whenever I watched the film is you're quite an

[00:20:01] active antagonist against Bond and sort of really taking it to him,

[00:20:05] chasing him, hunting him down.

[00:20:07] But there's also you get to drive around a little bit on the motorcycle at one

[00:20:11] point where did you actually get to drive the motorcycle or was that just

[00:20:15] sort of shots of you on it? How did that work?

[00:20:17] Oh, that's that is a very maybe

[00:20:21] story you were looking for.

[00:20:23] OK, it doesn't involve Sean, but I remember that we had that scene

[00:20:30] set for the next morning and they asked me to get on the set around six thirty

[00:20:35] in the morning and they were and they taught me how to drive the motorcycle.

[00:20:40] I've never been on a motorcycle before in my life.

[00:20:43] So they gave me lessons, you know, show me where the accelerator is and blah,

[00:20:50] blah, blah and here we go.

[00:20:52] Action.

[00:20:54] I am on the motorcycle and I started and what happens that I make a mistake?

[00:21:02] And I rotated the accelerator instead of pushing on the brake and the motorcycle

[00:21:10] went flying around and there was a wall coming at me.

[00:21:16] So I just I don't know if it was, you know, it's longer to tell it than when it happened.

[00:21:23] Try not to hit the wall forward and I ended up on the side on the floor.

[00:21:30] The motorcycle was smashed and I was down on the floor with in my leather outfit.

[00:21:37] And I thought that, you know, Terence would come and say, what?

[00:21:41] How are you? OK? No, he's running at me and shouting.

[00:21:45] Look what you did.

[00:21:46] Look how you rode the motorcycle and he was yelling.

[00:21:49] He was so upset with me and I said, Terence, I said, I'd never been on a motorcycle before.

[00:21:57] I just learned of an hour ago and I'm sorry.

[00:22:00] So that was and thank God my leather outfit on the side was split into my underwear

[00:22:09] and I was split, but I didn't have a nothing on my skin.

[00:22:15] So I was very lucky that way.

[00:22:17] At that point we all decided together that they were going to use a stuntman

[00:22:22] to play me because I wasn't about to go on the motorcycle again right there.

[00:22:28] And then I said, if you give me another day and I can practice,

[00:22:32] then I will do it tomorrow.

[00:22:34] But if you want to shoot this scene now, then you have to do it with somebody else.

[00:22:39] And I wanted to learn.

[00:22:41] I mean, I know, you know, it makes sense, right?

[00:22:45] Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely.

[00:22:47] And I was really curious.

[00:22:49] We've talked to a number of actors who've been in movies that were really big,

[00:22:53] but there's few movies that were bigger in their time than Thunderball.

[00:22:57] I'm just really curious about the kind of the experience of being at the center

[00:23:01] of just such a massive phenomenon at the time.

[00:23:04] Well, it was because at the time

[00:23:07] they

[00:23:10] the Bond franchise was proven in a sense when the first one came out,

[00:23:14] they didn't know what was going to happen.

[00:23:16] And then obviously as the second and the third

[00:23:21] became more and more successful by the time we were shooting,

[00:23:27] everybody was in such a good mood because they knew that no matter what,

[00:23:31] the money was going to be coming back,

[00:23:36] that it was going to be a success.

[00:23:38] And so if cloud appeared on the sky and you had to stop for four hours to do a scene

[00:23:45] because I didn't match the previous shot,

[00:23:50] usually on any other film, you see panic, you see people looking at their watches

[00:23:55] and say every minute cost thousands of dollars, whatever, not in this case.

[00:24:01] Everybody was calm, tranquil.

[00:24:03] They didn't care if we have to wait, we wait.

[00:24:06] So the whole atmosphere was sensational.

[00:24:10] And Terrence, as a frustrated James Bond in life, I think,

[00:24:17] had us in such an incredible surrounding of how can I say?

[00:24:25] We were so comfortable with everything at night

[00:24:29] when we were working nights, it would have a tent put up on the beach

[00:24:35] with a long table with white tablecloths and candles on it.

[00:24:40] And that would be our break for dinner.

[00:24:44] Everything was just, you know, we didn't have a little room somewhere to change clothes.

[00:24:50] No, we had a yacht anchored where we would go and to make up and changes.

[00:24:57] So it was just like a fairy tale, that movie,

[00:25:01] because I did movies where I had to sit on the grass, you know,

[00:25:06] and on a paper plate and under the sun in a costume in Velvet in Almeria,

[00:25:14] where there was 150 degrees and no protection.

[00:25:19] So that was that movie was like a fairy tale.

[00:25:24] We interrupt this program to bring you a special report.

[00:25:27] Red Alert, spy hards.

[00:25:29] We are shaking things up over on the Patreon page.

[00:25:33] That's right, we are launching an exclusive new show where we tackle

[00:25:36] the exploits of the small screen's greatest secret agents like Jack Bauer,

[00:25:41] George Smiley and beyond.

[00:25:43] And don't forget every month you also get two agents in the field episodes

[00:25:49] where we decode the adventures of your favorite spy actors in their biggest

[00:25:54] non spy movies, but can tell the people what we have coming up next.

[00:25:59] But um, but um, Inspector Cluzo is back.

[00:26:03] We are tackling the third Pink Panther entry,

[00:26:06] the return of the Pink Panther from 1975.

[00:26:09] Tune in for this one, folks.

[00:26:11] It's going to be a real barrel of minkees.

[00:26:13] So don't get left out in the cold.

[00:26:15] Help support your favorite spy movie podcast and join the circus at

[00:26:20] patreon.com slash spy hards.

[00:26:23] But before this message self-destructs, let's get back to the spy jinx.

[00:26:33] In terms of your time working on the film, looking back on it now,

[00:26:38] I assume you may have watched the film once or twice since.

[00:26:42] What was your favorite moment to sort of work on and your sort of favorite

[00:26:46] moment in the scene when it was finished?

[00:26:48] My favorite moment,

[00:26:50] I think it was the bat

[00:26:52] tab scene.

[00:26:54] Because

[00:26:57] parents just told us in the last minute what he wanted to do.

[00:27:02] And I thought he was so cute when he comes in and I give him my slippers.

[00:27:07] And that was my favorite.

[00:27:10] The one that should have been my favorite was the one in bed with Sean, but

[00:27:14] we had they had flown in a plane from London

[00:27:19] full of journalists.

[00:27:22] And we had people

[00:27:27] that were standing around the bed while we were doing our scene, shooting photographs.

[00:27:33] So that very intimate scene was actually surrounded by, I would say, about 60,

[00:27:41] 50, 60 photographers and journalists.

[00:27:45] Oh, wow.

[00:27:46] That must have really taken you out of it.

[00:27:49] It was, yeah.

[00:27:50] But everybody was so nice.

[00:27:52] I have nothing but good memories.

[00:27:55] Well, OK, the last question I have about Bond and you sort of mentioned the legacy

[00:27:59] at the start and how people still write to you about it.

[00:28:01] What does the legacy of Thunderbolt mean to you looking back on it now?

[00:28:07] Well, it's I'm still really good friends with

[00:28:13] Barbara Barocco, who is now using the movies.

[00:28:18] It's like a fraternity kind of a thing.

[00:28:23] The Martin, other Bond girls in other movies.

[00:28:28] I'm unfortunately Ursula is not feeling too good nowadays, but it becomes like a

[00:28:36] little club and we are all we all care for each other.

[00:28:42] And we all stay in touch, not all.

[00:28:45] Obviously, there are too many.

[00:28:47] But with the ones that I met, I have the most wonderful rapport.

[00:28:53] And it's with Barbara, as I said, she came to Hollywood last year

[00:29:00] with her brother to get a prize.

[00:29:03] It was a charity event and she invited me and Michael and

[00:29:09] she didn't invite anybody else except Daniel Craig was here and she invited

[00:29:14] me to the gym and that was it.

[00:29:15] We have a wonderful friendship, so it's like a little bit of a private club.

[00:29:23] And that is like it's nice.

[00:29:26] You know, I made friends that are there forever.

[00:29:30] Mm hmm.

[00:29:31] And just in terms of your spy connections outside of James Bond, you worked on

[00:29:36] The Man for Monk, as well as the Venetian Affair.

[00:29:38] I was just curious if you had any memories quickly of working with Robert Vaughn.

[00:29:42] Well, I erased them all because I hate to say anything.

[00:29:47] I usually say the nicest things about everybody.

[00:29:50] If I mean it, if I don't mean it, I will keep my mouth shut.

[00:29:54] I have erased all my memories of that because I just really

[00:30:00] didn't like to work with him.

[00:30:03] And so I've not to say.

[00:30:07] OK, fair enough.

[00:30:08] That's absolutely fair enough.

[00:30:10] I know one other film we did briefly look at

[00:30:14] Cam and I many moons ago was Muscle Beach Party, which is a film you worked on with

[00:30:19] Frankie Avalon.

[00:30:20] Do you have any memories of that film?

[00:30:23] Well, that was a really fun film to do.

[00:30:26] And

[00:30:28] it was so

[00:30:31] how can I say it was like

[00:30:34] ridiculous, you know, it's the film that was also it was

[00:30:40] a

[00:30:42] very, I can't think of the word, not fashionable.

[00:30:47] It was like

[00:30:49] they did many with Frankie Avalon and they were very successful.

[00:30:55] And I had nothing but laughter and and actually

[00:31:00] I loved

[00:31:03] the one that insults everybody.

[00:31:05] Don Rickles.

[00:31:06] Yes, Don Rickles.

[00:31:07] It was a pleasure.

[00:31:09] It was funny.

[00:31:10] He was adorable.

[00:31:12] It was nice.

[00:31:13] And so that those are my memories of that movie.

[00:31:17] Well, I suppose then I have two final questions for you, Luchiana,

[00:31:21] to wrap us up because I know you've got a busy day ahead of you.

[00:31:24] Looking at your your films, you've worked on aside from things like

[00:31:28] Thunderball, the big films like that, is there a film you worked on?

[00:31:32] You're really passionate about that maybe didn't get the love it deserves

[00:31:35] to all this and there should go and check out.

[00:31:37] Well, I'll tell you one that I really loved was the one I did with Lena

[00:31:42] Vertmuller who recently passed away.

[00:31:45] Do you remember Lena Vertmuller?

[00:31:48] She got an Oscar.

[00:31:50] She was one of the best Italian directors.

[00:31:53] And

[00:31:55] it was called this time.

[00:31:57] Let's talk about men or in Italian.

[00:32:00] Questa volta parliamo di uomini.

[00:32:03] She's one of the biggest best close to like Fellini Antonioni.

[00:32:09] You have to look her up.

[00:32:10] Vertmuller, Lena Vertmuller.

[00:32:14] And she was one of the first women directors.

[00:32:21] An absolutely brilliant.

[00:32:23] And I remember making this movie with her

[00:32:27] because everything was you were like a puppet in her hands.

[00:32:33] I never had an experience like that ever where, let's say, there is a scene

[00:32:38] where I have to sit down in the chair, cross my legs and pick up a cigarette

[00:32:44] and light it. Well, she would come and push your leg to the exactly the position

[00:32:51] where it should be and take the cigarette and put it right between

[00:32:55] your fingers, but in a certain way.

[00:32:58] Tilt your head to a certain way so you look there.

[00:33:02] Everything was so calculated and so

[00:33:07] perfect and you felt like you were a robot.

[00:33:12] And then when you see the film, it all comes together.

[00:33:16] And you look really natural and you look like, you know, but before that,

[00:33:21] it was a very unusual, strange experience, which I actually enjoyed.

[00:33:27] That film is like very different from anything else I've done.

[00:33:31] And I loved Lena.

[00:33:33] And again, I just saw her in Hollywood three or four years ago.

[00:33:38] She came in to get her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

[00:33:44] And so there was a big party for her.

[00:33:49] At the home of the Laurenti, Martha de Laurenti.

[00:33:53] And I saw her again then.

[00:33:58] And I just had a friendship any time I went to Rome or through the years.

[00:34:02] I would go to her house and have dinner with Michael and just,

[00:34:08] I don't know, I keep friends, I guess.

[00:34:11] Well, I must apologize because I said that I had two questions.

[00:34:15] I actually have three, so I'll make them quick for you because I know

[00:34:17] you have to go.

[00:34:18] You mentioned earlier that you went into audition for Domino and you ended up

[00:34:24] with the part of Fiona Volpe.

[00:34:27] Looking back on it now, are you happy that that was the role you got in Thunderball

[00:34:31] with the legacy that that character had?

[00:34:33] Absolutely.

[00:34:34] That's I was happy when they told me actually.

[00:34:38] I was happy even before I shot it.

[00:34:40] When I got the call and they said, you are not doing Domino,

[00:34:44] you're doing Fiona.

[00:34:45] I was a static because it's always more fun and it's more interesting to do

[00:34:53] a role that you can really have fun with than to play a nice girl that is in love.

[00:35:00] And that's it.

[00:35:02] So, yeah, I was very happy.

[00:35:04] Well, you almost got to take out James Bond, which is always a fun thing to do.

[00:35:09] You almost got him. Almost.

[00:35:11] Almost doesn't count.

[00:35:14] It's close. It's close.

[00:35:15] OK, my final question for you.

[00:35:18] And this has been asked to everyone that's ever been on the show, you know,

[00:35:22] James Bond stars, Bond directors, everyone.

[00:35:24] We talk about spy movies here every week.

[00:35:27] And the question is, Luchi Avaluchi,

[00:35:29] what is your favorite spy movie of all time?

[00:35:34] Oh,

[00:35:36] The Termine.

[00:35:38] Oh, yeah.

[00:35:40] Excellent choice. I love that.

[00:35:42] It's not one we have very often actually.

[00:35:44] So, yeah, it's a very, very solid choice.

[00:35:45] Well, that's it's not even when we've covered yet.

[00:35:48] What do the others like?

[00:35:50] Oh, we've gone.

[00:35:51] Cam, you know the list.

[00:35:53] North by Northwest is really popular with the Bonds.

[00:35:57] People often cite the early Sean Connery Bonds like the first four.

[00:36:03] Also, the Casino Royale Daniel Craig film gets mentioned a lot.

[00:36:06] Three days of the Condor.

[00:36:08] Yeah.

[00:36:09] Three days of the Condor also.

[00:36:11] Well, all good choices.

[00:36:13] Yes.

[00:36:14] And speaking of good choices, what a good choice it was to talk to you today.

[00:36:19] Once I get off the phone with you,

[00:36:20] I think I'm going to hyperventilate a little bit.

[00:36:22] But Luciana, it's it's been an absolute pleasure.

[00:36:25] It's a dream of mine has come true.

[00:36:27] Thank you so much.

[00:36:29] I really appreciate it.

[00:36:30] Thank you on behalf of me and on behalf of Cam, I'm sure too.

[00:36:33] You're a very good interviewer.

[00:36:35] Thank you, Cam, also as well for for being with us.

[00:36:39] Oh, this is my pleasure.

[00:36:40] And yes, I mean, I've loved Thunderball since I was probably about 10 or 11 years old.

[00:36:46] I hear that all the time.

[00:36:48] I went with my dad.

[00:36:50] And so but it's wonderful that people still remember it's fabulous.

[00:36:55] I asked my grandchildren.

[00:36:57] I said, do you know who Grace Kelly is?

[00:37:00] And there is a lost look on their faces.

[00:37:04] They don't know.

[00:37:05] But if you ask them about, you know, actors of in the Bond movies, they all remember.

[00:37:11] So this is an incredible legacy, really, that you you get

[00:37:17] remember for a series of films that were really successful.

[00:37:22] But look at all the other actors that they don't know who they are.

[00:37:26] You mentioned names that were really big and there is a like a lost look in their eyes.

[00:37:34] So anyway, goodbye, guys.

[00:37:36] Bye now. Of course.

[00:37:38] Take care. Thank you so much.

[00:37:39] Bye bye.

[00:37:42] There you go, folks.

[00:37:43] A dream come true.

[00:37:45] Luciana Palluzzi has been on our little spy movie podcast.

[00:37:50] I cannot believe it and I want to send a little thank you to her agent,

[00:37:54] Scott Ray, who helped us put this all together.

[00:37:57] But Cam, as I said, dream come true.

[00:37:59] Absolutely.

[00:38:01] And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, this is the

[00:38:05] earliest Bond guest we've had because we had Bruce Gloveron to talk about diamonds

[00:38:11] are forever. Have we had anyone previous to this?

[00:38:15] We had John Glenn to talk about on a Majesty's.

[00:38:17] That's right. Oh, and he worked.

[00:38:19] Yeah. OK. So that's yeah.

[00:38:20] So this is the earliest, right?

[00:38:21] We haven't had anyone I don't think from Doctor No through Goldfinger yet.

[00:38:26] No, and barely anyone has actually worked with Sean.

[00:38:29] No, that's true.

[00:38:30] Bruce Glover had some stories, but not that many Sean anecdotes.

[00:38:34] I guess well, no, that's not true when we had our never seen ever again coverage.

[00:38:39] We got a fair amount of Sean stories there.

[00:38:41] Sure. I suppose I mean like Sean in the 60s, Spine Prime.

[00:38:46] Yes.

[00:38:47] I mean the Bond mania.

[00:38:48] But you're right.

[00:38:49] There are a few more we have spoken to that have worked with Sean and even

[00:38:52] people like to worked on the Russia House as well.

[00:38:54] But that's segueing off into other things.

[00:38:56] Let's talk about Luke, Gianna, what was a highlight for you from the conversation?

[00:39:00] To me, it was so fun to hear her just talk about like the legacy of this character.

[00:39:05] Yeah. And the way that like she has really embraced

[00:39:09] sort of the fandom and she talks about, you know, she's a fairly modest person,

[00:39:13] fairly private, but that there's so much fun to be had with the enthusiasm

[00:39:17] for Fiona Volpe and I wonder we didn't ask her about this if it's grown

[00:39:21] considerably over time.

[00:39:22] I do feel like Fiona Volpe is a character that people are looking more and more at

[00:39:27] these days, like when you go on to, you know, Bond Twitter, Fiona Volpe is all the

[00:39:31] rage and to hear her talk about not just like playing a character that who still

[00:39:37] results in fan mail coming in on a constant basis.

[00:39:41] But when she talked at the end of our chat about how, you know,

[00:39:44] she talks to like her grandchildren and names actors or actresses from that

[00:39:49] time period, how they get kind of blank stares.

[00:39:51] But if you mentioned someone who is in a Bond movie, people light up and go, oh,

[00:39:55] of course. And how she kind of feels very proud to be part of that lineage.

[00:39:59] Well, it's it's a badge of honor for any actor to be part of

[00:40:04] the Bond films.

[00:40:05] But I think it's a particular badge of honor to be part of the original decade

[00:40:09] that they started and perhaps to many the height of its power and their

[00:40:14] height of its allure, which was the 1960s, and to work with the OG being

[00:40:19] Sean Connery or Sir Sean Connery, put some respect on that.

[00:40:22] And, you know, it's nice to see that she is so proud

[00:40:26] of that accomplishment.

[00:40:28] She's proud of her work.

[00:40:29] I mean, you know, we spent most of the time talking about Thunderball and a

[00:40:33] bit of time talking about some other things.

[00:40:35] But she has a ton of credits to her name.

[00:40:39] I mean, she worked on 82 projects throughout her film and TV career.

[00:40:43] There's a lot more to Luciano Balutzi than Thunderball.

[00:40:46] And so a lot of actors could could really lean on that and be like, no,

[00:40:50] no, I've done other things.

[00:40:51] So Thunderball was something I just did.

[00:40:53] But no, she is, you know, a flag waving Bond fan herself.

[00:40:58] She's proud of the work she did.

[00:40:59] And that just endears her even more to Bond fans worldwide.

[00:41:03] Definitely.

[00:41:04] And I mean, to hear her talk about, you know, because we had some little

[00:41:08] bits there, for example, she talked about a movie she did called Let's Talk

[00:41:12] About Men and working with that director, Lena Vertmuller.

[00:41:17] And there's so much passion that comes forth when she's talking about that

[00:41:20] experience. Yeah.

[00:41:21] And that's a movie that people don't remember.

[00:41:23] So it's not uncommon when we have people on the show that they really light

[00:41:27] up when you ask them about something that maybe isn't as widely reported on.

[00:41:31] But her enthusiasm for Thunderball was as equal to that.

[00:41:36] So even though she's asked about Thunderball all the time,

[00:41:38] that enthusiasm is still there.

[00:41:40] And just to hear her talk about that kind of place and time in her life,

[00:41:45] you know, we like to think of like the swing in 60s and the,

[00:41:48] you know, sexy good times going on all over the place.

[00:41:51] And she's like, you know what?

[00:41:53] As a work environment, it was pretty, you know, it was luxurious.

[00:41:57] We got the best of the best.

[00:41:58] But you know, at the end of the day, I went back, you know,

[00:42:01] I had my first born, you know, I had a quiet time.

[00:42:04] Connery was out with the crew and the boys basically.

[00:42:06] But it was a very professional working environment.

[00:42:09] It wasn't like, oh, this was the party time of my life.

[00:42:12] She's just very appreciative of how wonderful that experience was and

[00:42:16] really celebrates the overall vision of what Thunderball was and became.

[00:42:21] And obviously it's pop culture phenomenon is you can't argue against it.

[00:42:26] And also a lot, a lot of love towards Terence Young and how important he was

[00:42:31] to her and how he was basically like a kind of like a second father figure in her life.

[00:42:35] No, and that passion comes through.

[00:42:37] You know, she's talking about Terence Young and he's clearly had an influence

[00:42:40] on her life as well.

[00:42:43] And when you're being led by someone like that, it helps to add sort of a dynamism

[00:42:48] to the workplace and sort of a, you know, we've all done jobs in our lives

[00:42:53] where we don't necessarily want to go to work.

[00:42:54] And I get the feeling that the Luciano woke up in the morning

[00:42:57] and was sprinting to the set of Thunderball.

[00:43:00] Yeah, you get the sense that like this is someone who realizes and appreciates

[00:43:05] the just the high kind of standards of a bond set, the gravity of it.

[00:43:11] Oh, yeah.

[00:43:12] Well, she talks about like just the beautiful accommodation,

[00:43:15] the food that they were being given every day.

[00:43:17] Like it was a top first rate production that treated its actors very well.

[00:43:22] And you know, she says there's other ones where it's basically like you're

[00:43:25] eating on the floor and that was not the case here.

[00:43:28] And really kind of like regards that experience with this real sense of

[00:43:31] like almost like I was there.

[00:43:33] How unbelievable is that?

[00:43:34] Yeah, kind of enthusiasm.

[00:43:36] And that's just really fun to hear because, you know, Scott, you and I

[00:43:41] have gone to a couple of Star Trek cons in our time.

[00:43:43] Oh, and we talked to actors and meat actors who appeared on iconic episodes

[00:43:50] or films during the, you know, their time on track,

[00:43:54] who don't necessarily talk about those experiences in glowing terms anymore.

[00:43:58] Yeah.

[00:43:58] And don't seem that enthusiastic after talking about them for decades.

[00:44:03] Whereas Luciana Paluzzi, not only in this interview, does that enthusiasm

[00:44:06] and just joy for the franchise and for the fans come across.

[00:44:10] But we talked to David Zuretsky on our roundtable.

[00:44:12] He's talking about his own experiences with her.

[00:44:14] And we've heard from other people as well who have met her at various

[00:44:17] bond events and just fawn over how delightful she is.

[00:44:20] Well, I think there's a there's a warmth, of course, that comes through.

[00:44:24] And I hope that comes through to you all

[00:44:26] in audio essence and you can sort of hear it in the episode you just

[00:44:29] listened to.

[00:44:30] But also, I think there's sort of a sense, you know, we can smell a fake.

[00:44:36] And I know for a fact I've heard from people that she has a genuine love

[00:44:41] for all the fans and I think that comes through in the fact that, you know,

[00:44:45] the fact that in this conversation it comes through.

[00:44:46] But the fact that she said yes to doing this, she doesn't need to do this.

[00:44:49] She wasn't paid to do this.

[00:44:51] She wanted to talk to us because she loves the film that she worked on

[00:44:54] and she wants to talk more about it with some fans who also want to talk

[00:44:57] about it, that is probably the biggest sense of how much she cares about it.

[00:45:03] You get that she did this for free and also feels a bit of a responsibility

[00:45:09] in a fun way, but like of carrying kind of the flag for Thunderball because as

[00:45:13] she notes, it's only her and Martine Bezwick that are really around from

[00:45:16] this movie now.

[00:45:17] And so it's kind of like they're the ambassadors of Thunderball to the world.

[00:45:21] Yeah.

[00:45:21] And I've spoken to Martina and a couple of bond events as well.

[00:45:23] And she's nothing but warm and open and speaks.

[00:45:26] You know, she's got a lot of stories as well.

[00:45:27] Maybe you will have her on the show one day down the line as well.

[00:45:31] We can go further back to from Russia.

[00:45:32] We've loved that way.

[00:45:33] And I suppose if I'll just throw in sort of a moment I wanted to mention

[00:45:37] from the interview, something that jumped out to me and a weird parallel.

[00:45:40] Right.

[00:45:41] So Luciano was talking about

[00:45:45] writing the motorcycle and not having much experience and being sort of shown

[00:45:48] how to use it and ended up causing some destruction

[00:45:51] on the Thunderball set as one is wants to do when they don't know how to ride

[00:45:56] heavy equipment like a motorcycle happened to me.

[00:45:58] Hey, she. Yeah, I did it.

[00:46:00] I didn't know that.

[00:46:01] Yeah, I was on a bike and it was a really rickety bike and my buddy

[00:46:04] and he was a private eye at the time.

[00:46:06] Sure.

[00:46:06] So we had to go up a mountain on these things and he put me on the bike

[00:46:10] and I'm going and the actual brake handle fell off.

[00:46:13] Oh, OK.

[00:46:14] Like literally was like ding, ding, ding, ding, ding as I'm like whipping past

[00:46:18] and I'm like, uh-oh.

[00:46:19] And yeah, I was OK.

[00:46:21] But I got a couple of scratches.

[00:46:24] He's he's still here, folks.

[00:46:25] Don't worry.

[00:46:26] But why did notice?

[00:46:28] I mean, I loved hearing that story and I hope you all did too.

[00:46:30] But I also noticed a bit of a

[00:46:32] coincidence in the sense of we've spoken to another version of Fiona Volpe,

[00:46:38] as it were, Fatima Blush, Barbara Carrera from 1983.

[00:46:42] Never Say Never Again.

[00:46:43] And in that film, instead of a motorcycle, she's driving a very nice car.

[00:46:47] Now, it turned out in that conversation with Barbara that she'd never driven

[00:46:51] a stick shift before as they call it in North America or gears, as we call it here

[00:46:56] in the United Kingdom.

[00:46:57] And she ended up wrecking the car she was driving in that too.

[00:47:03] So it just goes to show that these girls will give us all a run for our money.

[00:47:07] Very true.

[00:47:08] And I mean, like that's just like so speaks to that just era two of like,

[00:47:14] can you imagine nowadays if they had an actor,

[00:47:16] they need to put on a bike and they're like, we'll give you like one day of training.

[00:47:19] No way.

[00:47:21] Could you see Anna DeArmas jumping on a motorcycle after one day of training?

[00:47:26] No, it would never happen.

[00:47:28] I mean, she's she's up for, you know, a roll around.

[00:47:31] She gets very physical with her stunt training.

[00:47:32] But even then this is more is less to do with the actor, I think,

[00:47:36] and more to do with just the sort of procedures and protocols in place

[00:47:39] to stop this stuff from happening and stop shutdowns in films.

[00:47:42] Yeah, it's not only the safety protocols of just stunt teams now

[00:47:46] being much higher, but also the insurance because they don't want to risk an actor

[00:47:52] getting hurt or worse and what that can do to a production.

[00:47:56] Yeah. So yeah, I just I just found that quite funny that both of the

[00:48:01] femme fatales in both the versions are thunderbolt on the big screen ended up

[00:48:04] wrecking the vehicles they were driving.

[00:48:06] One wonders what would have happened on the set of Warhead 2000?

[00:48:11] We can only wonder.

[00:48:13] I won't think too hard about that one.

[00:48:15] Wait, OK, so we had a motorcycle for Fiona Volpe.

[00:48:19] We had the it was a convertible, wasn't it?

[00:48:21] For Fatima Blush?

[00:48:22] It was a it was a it was a drop top car.

[00:48:25] Yeah. What does the hypothetical femme fatale in Warhead drive?

[00:48:32] If it's a vehicle they're driving, I'd say a helicopter.

[00:48:35] OK, oh my god, they're sending this actor up in a helicopter with one day of training.

[00:48:40] Maybe maybe they shouldn't be doing that.

[00:48:42] But if you think about what they're meant to be doing is delivering something.

[00:48:46] So like Barbara Carrera, Fatima Blush delivers a snake.

[00:48:49] OK, what were those flying vehicles called?

[00:48:52] They were very small and people they were like a one person thing.

[00:48:57] People would fly around in them.

[00:48:58] I feel like that was kind of a craze in the 80s and 90s.

[00:49:01] Is it ultra light?

[00:49:03] Something like that?

[00:49:04] We don't have flying cars.

[00:49:05] Where are you living?

[00:49:06] Not a car. It's like a small flying vehicle.

[00:49:09] Maybe it's like what is it?

[00:49:12] Is it like a little scooter?

[00:49:14] I think people are using now.

[00:49:15] There's a little like electric scooters.

[00:49:17] It's an ultra light.

[00:49:18] I looked it up. OK.

[00:49:21] I mean, it would have been made in the mid 90s, so I don't think they would have

[00:49:24] been on ultra lights.

[00:49:25] It would look a bit dated by that point.

[00:49:26] Well, that's true.

[00:49:28] Let us know what vehicle do you think the femme fatale of Warhead 2000

[00:49:32] will be driving? What a specific question that's probably never been asked before.

[00:49:37] And that's why you tune in to Spy Hards podcast.

[00:49:40] That and, of course, Luciana Palluzzi.

[00:49:43] Once again, it's been a genuine pleasure speaking with Luciana.

[00:49:47] A dream come true.

[00:49:48] I don't say that lightly and I, you know, have to constantly pinch myself.

[00:49:54] And I think Cam feels the same that just under four years ago,

[00:49:58] we started this show in lockdown with no clue how to make a podcast.

[00:50:02] And here we are talking to our idols and people we spent our lives

[00:50:07] staring at on the big screen.

[00:50:08] So it's fulfilling for me that people still say yes to us.

[00:50:12] And also covering on the Patreon with Muscle Beach Party.

[00:50:15] Yeah, nice Patreon plug there.

[00:50:17] Everyone hear more about Luciana and Muscle Beach Party.

[00:50:20] That's a different story all its own.

[00:50:23] But apparently Don Rickles, wonderful.

[00:50:26] Apparently.

[00:50:27] And just as wonderful as this chat was, thanks again, folks,

[00:50:30] for tuning in to hear from Luciana.

[00:50:33] Thanks again for tuning in last week to hear our Sean Connery roundtable.

[00:50:36] It was a big episode, but I think it was worth it.

[00:50:39] But Cam, the question goes to you.

[00:50:41] Let's perhaps move away from 007 for a little while.

[00:50:45] What have we got coming up next week?

[00:50:47] Well, we talked about from Russia with love a lot during the roundtable.

[00:50:50] And I think that one is very much kind of the down and dirty,

[00:50:53] kind of closest to real world espionage we see Bond get to do in the franchise.

[00:50:58] Sure.

[00:50:59] But let's get to some actual real world espionage.

[00:51:01] We're going to talk about 2021's The Courier with Benedict Cumberbatch,

[00:51:05] which is based on a true story from the 1960s.

[00:51:08] We covered this one previously on our declassified series,

[00:51:13] but that was kind of a shorter episode where we just did kind of brief thoughts

[00:51:17] on the movie and we talked to the director, Dominic Cook.

[00:51:20] We're going to do a full bore review of this movie.

[00:51:23] We have a great guest on this one.

[00:51:24] I think it's gonna be great.

[00:51:25] Yeah, it'll be interesting.

[00:51:26] I want to go back to I'm actually a big fan of the film,

[00:51:29] but we'll get into that further.

[00:51:30] We've actually got a great guest coming back to the show for the first time

[00:51:33] in a few years as well.

[00:51:35] Ian from the Cold War Conversations podcast, something to look forward to there

[00:51:38] and two spy master interviews, some more from the director.

[00:51:42] And also we've got the screenwriter joining us as well.

[00:51:45] So if you're a fan of Cold War spy movies, Spy Hearts is the place to be next week.

[00:51:50] Your mission, folks, should you choose to accept it is to join us next week

[00:51:54] as we take a look at The Courier.

[00:51:56] If you like what you heard on the episode, you heard can mention it before.

[00:52:00] We have a Patreon page.

[00:52:01] We would love you all to check it out.

[00:52:04] Join us over on there.

[00:52:05] You've dropped a little bit of dough, but you get a lot for your money.

[00:52:08] And you're also keeping the lights on here at Spy Hearts HQ.

[00:52:12] There's a link in the show notes below.

[00:52:14] I won't go into it any further.

[00:52:16] But if you love us, that's where you'll find more.

[00:52:19] And speaking of more, you can find us on social media at spy hearts.

[00:52:22] That's SPYHADS on Facebook,

[00:52:26] X Instagram, TikTok, basically anywhere that there's a social media threads,

[00:52:31] Blue Sky, we're there.

[00:52:32] There'll be links in the show notes below.

[00:52:34] But until next time, folks, since you're here,

[00:52:39] would you might give me something to put on?