Becoming Bond (2017) - Hulu

[imsounoriginal]

The stranger-than-fiction true story of George Lazenby, a poor Australian car mechanic who, through an unbelievable set of circumstances, landed the role of James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), despite having never acted a day in his life. Then after being offered the next seven Bond films and a $1 million signing bonus, he turned it all down...

Becoming Bond Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Documentary - YouTube

[Rodney-2187]

This doc was funny, heartfelt, entertaining and most of all inspiring. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was already my favorite Bond movie and this has made me like it even more. Not sure how much of it is true, but I loved it anyway.

[Rodney-2187]

I've seen a few interviews from Diana Rigg where she says Lazenby wasn't asked to do more movies because he was difficult to work with. So did he turn down more movies or not?

Diana Rigg 2011 interview on ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, Garlic and George Lazenby - YouTube

Diana Rigg talks The Avengers, James Bond - YouTube

[SethRex]

I've heard he was an egotist and hard to work with.

[Agent Bond]

I got around to checking this out. George is a funny guy which keeps your interest and while the movie is low budget, Josh Lawson does a great job playing off the storytelling.

When George revealed how he got the role of a lifetime over experienced actors, I was blown away by how he was able to bullsh** his way into replacing Sean Connery.

With that said, its also hard to tell what parts of his story are true since he's such a good BS artist. I found the part of him leaving Belinda, the love of his life at the time, all by herself in Paris questionable.

He did well as 007 for a guy who had large shoes to fill. Its a shame he didn't do another.

Living that kind of lifestyle can overwhelming. Having to do all those interviews and tours, the vices involved, being controlled by the studio. I get why he walked away to some extent, but I think if he had been cooler headed, a compromise with Broccoli could've been reached for Diamonds Are Forever and maybe another sequel.

For people who wanted to bash him and consider him an afterthought, he does deserve it. It was like winning a multi-million dollar lottery then setting all the money on fire.

So did he turn down more movies or not?

He said he quit as he refused to sign a 7 picture deal contract which got him blackballed. (I'm assuming Broccoli made a few calls as payback to an ungrateful bloke that he made a star.)

What really surprised me is George took the blame solely instead of his agent, Maggie (played by Jane Seymour which was freaking awesome!) or Ronan O'Rahilly (who is nowhere to be found in this).

I've heard he was an egotist and hard to work with.

Two sides to every story and in this case, I think its both. Broccolli came off as an overbearing ass and Lazenby was stubborn even when he was a nobody. George thinking he could use the 007 franchise as a stepping stone to his acting career was a big mistake and he found out the hard way.