Written by James M. Tate / 3/17/2021 / No comments / blaxploitation , interview , james bond , jane seymour , roger moore , seventies , yaphet kotto
REST IN PEACE BOND VILLAIN & ACTING LEGEND YAPHET KOTTO
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YAPHET KOTTO on his role as the first black Bond villain in LIVE AND LET DIE |
Roger Moore's first James Bond venture LIVE AND LET DIE, the 1973 spy blaxploitation throwing everything into the pot including pimp cars, voodoo, killer crocodiles, serpents, zombies, a boat chase and so much more, wasn't so beloved by actor Yaphet Kotto, who played the drug lord Kananga... a memorable performance as a groundbreaking Bond heavy, being the first black villain in the franchise...
YAPHET KOTTO: There were so many problems with that script… I was too afraid of coming off like Mantan Moreland… I had to dig deep in my soul and brain and come up with a level of reality that would offset the sea of stereotype crap that Tom Mankiewicz wrote that had nothing to do with the Black experience or culture...
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Roger Moore, Jane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto in LIVE AND LET DIE |
YAPHET KOTTO (CONTINUED): It was the first Black Bond villain, I wanted to be original… but there was nothing I could draw on from Tom’s script. It was a trap...
If I had played it the way it was written, every Black Organization in the world would have been on my case. I had to draw on a real life situation I was going through and that saved me…But the way Kananga dies was a joke… and… well… the entire experience was not as rewarding as I wanted it to be. There were a lot of pitfalls that I had to avoid, and I did.
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The famous, or for Kotto, infamous balloon death of Kananga in LIVE AND LET DIE |
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ane Seymour and Yaphet Kotto in LIVE AND LET DIE |
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