LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

Contributed by: The James Bond Movie Encyclopedia by Steven Jay Rubin

Predominant location in the seventh James Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever. The film actually combines location shooting at some of Las Vegas’s classic 1970s-era landmarks, such as Fremont Street and the colorful Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, with the incredible interior creations of production designer Ken Adam.

Recalled director Guy Hamilton, “I’d been on honeymoon in Vegas having a look around, and I thought it was a very good place to shoot a picture. . . . [But for many years] the powers that be did not allow movies into Vegas. The reason being that the husband that was meant to be in Chicago on a business so-and-so would be seen in the casino by his wife and she would sue. . . . [But eventually] the doors opened and it was absolutely wonderful to shoot in Vegas. . . . Ken Adam burst into tears because we’re looking around for the most awful suite of all the suites. And we went into every presidential suite and on top of . . . Caesar’s Palace, there was a duplex, there were mirrors everywhere, anything that wasn’t moving was painted gold. I mean, it was glorious. And I said, ‘Ken, can you imagine how much it would cost to build this set”? He said, ‘Yes, lots of money.’ I said, ‘It’s absolutely perfect. . . .’ He said, ‘But, Guy, you cannot shoot here.’ I said, ‘Why not? Ken, it’s wonderful.’ He said, ‘But this is terrible taste.’ I said, ‘But that’s the whole point.’ He said, ‘But they will think that I built it!’”[1] Hamilton later gave in and let Adam build the suite at Pinewood Studios.


[1] Guy Hamilton, interview by Michael Apted, Directors Guild of America Visual History, accessed June 4, 2020, https://www.dga.org/Craft/VisualHistory/Interviews/Guy-Hamilton.aspx.

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