Battle of the James Bonds: Ex-007 Slams New Film for Choosing Heineken Over Martinis

George Lazenby disses producers of the upcoming Bond movie for making like SPECTRE and selling out Ian Fleming's famous character for the sake of the almighty pound

By Josh Grossberg May 23, 2012 4:23 PMTags
George LazenbyJamie McCarthy/WireImage

According to George Lazenby, some James Bond rites should remain sacred—like 007's love for vodka martinis.

The actor who played the suave secret agent in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service has lashed out at the reported $45 million product placement deal producers inked with Heineken that will find Bond swilling the Dutch beer instead of his signature drink in the forthcoming Skyfall.

You might say he was shaken, not stirred, by the announcement.

Talking to TMZ, Lazenby slammed the filmmakers' decision, saying it was regrettable to see them "go where the money is."

Just about every Bond movie in the franchise's 50-year history has the superspy downing vodka martinis.

Which is why the 72-year-old thespian lamented the break with longstanding tradition—but the worst part of it, he added, was the fact that Heineken is "not the best beer out there, either."

Ouch.

MORE: Daniel Craig sounds off on Heineken deal

Shortly after the switch to Heineken was announced, current Bond Daniel Craig defended the sponsorship among others, saying it was done out of financial necessity to help defray a sky-high budget.

"We have relationships with a number of companies so we can make this movie. The simple fact is that, without them, we couldn't do it. It's unfortunate, but that's how it is," he told Moviefone last month, adding that "having a beer is no bad thing, in the movie it just happens to be Heineken."

Bond alums Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have to yet to weigh in on the controversy.

Skyfall unspools Nov. 9.