James Bond in film Deighton together with Sean Connery to work on a script. The script ran into difficulties after accusations from Eon Productions that the project had gone beyond copyright restrictions, which confined McClory to a film based on the "Thunderball" novel only, and once again the project was deferred. Towards the end of the 1970s developments were reported on the project under the name "James Bond of the Secret Service", but then producer Jack Schwartzman became involved and cleared a number of the legal issues that still surrounded the project and licensed the rights from McClory. With Connery still committed to the
James Bond filmography a James Bond capable of vulnerability, a man who can show fear and is not immune to heartbreak. Lazenby is that man, and his performance is superb". Ben Macintyre also observed that of all the Bonds, Lazenby's characterisation was closest to that of Fleming's original character. After "Diamonds Are Forever", Broccoli and Saltzman tried to convince Sean Connery to return as Bond, but he declined. After considering Jeremy Brett, Michael Billington and Julian Glover, the two producers finally turned to Roger Moore, who they had previously discussed for "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", but who had been unavailable, and he