page_title: Live and Let Die (film)
section_title: Writing
hierarchical_section_title: Live and Let Die (film) / Production / Writing
caption_attribution_description: English: Trespassers Will Be Eaten – Gate to Jamaica Safari Village at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, film location of the crocodile farm / drug lab in James Bond film Live and Let Die (photo taken 1974)
context_page_description: Live and Let Die is a 1973 spy film and the eighth film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Guy Hamilton and produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Although the producers had wanted Sean Connery to return after his role in the previous Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, he declined, sparking a search for a new actor to play Bond; Moore was signed for the lead role.
  The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1954 novel of the same name. The storyline involves a Harlem drug lord known as Mr. Big who plans to distribute two tons of heroin for free to put rival drug barons out of business and then become a monopoly supplier. Mr. Big is revealed to be the alter ego of Dr. Kananga, a corrupt Caribbean dictator, who rules San Monique, a fictional island where opium poppies are secretly farmed. Bond is investigating the deaths of three British agents, leading him to Kananga, and he is soon trapped in a world of gangsters and voodoo as he fights to put a stop to the drug baron's scheme.
context_section_description: While filming Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die was chosen as the next Ian Fleming novel to be adapted because screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz thought it would be daring to use black villains, as the Black Panthers and other racial movements were active at this time.
  Guy Hamilton was again chosen to direct and, since he was a jazz fan, Mankiewicz suggested he film in New Orleans. Hamilton did not want to use Mardi Gras since Thunderball featured Junkanoo, a similar festivity, so after more discussions with the writer and location scouting with helicopters, he decided to use two well-known features of the city, the jazz funerals and the canals.
  To develop a better feel of how Voodoo was practised, Saltzman and Broccoli escorted Hamilton, Mankiewicz and production designer Syd Cain to scout New Orleans further and then the islands of the West Indies. Haiti was an important destination of the tour and not only did Fleming connect it with the religion, there were many practitioners available to witness. Despite viewing actual demonstrations, due to political unrest in the country at the time it was decided not to film in Haiti.
  While searching for locations in Jamaica, the crew discovered a crocodile farm owned by Ross Kananga, after passing a sign warning that "trespassers will be eaten". The farm was put into the script and also inspired Mankiewicz to name the film's villain after Kananga.
  Richard Maibaum later claimed he was asked to write the film, but declined, because he was too busy. He disliked the final film, saying, "to process drugs in the middle of the jungle is not a Bond caper."
caption: "Trespassers Will Be Eaten" – Gate to Jamaica Safari Village at Ocho Rios, Jamaica, film location of the crocodile farm / drug lab (photo taken 1974)
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