James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me include the Bond girl Anya Amasova and her lover Sergei Borzov, as well as Colonel-General Nikitin, a character from Fleming's novel "From Russia, with Love" who has since become head of the KGB. Other differences include the villain, Karl Stromberg, instead being named as Sigmund Stromberg. The change of Stromberg's given name, as well as the existence of SMERSH, may be in some way due to the controversy over "Thunderball", in which Kevin McClory was made aware of certain plot points of the film "The Spy Who Loved Me". At one point the villain of the film was to be
James Bond in film Bloom, although he was later replaced by Roald Dahl, who had little previous screenwriting experience. "You Only Live Twice" was the first Bond film to jettison the plot premise of the Fleming source material, although the film retains the title, the Japanese setting, the use of Blofeld as the main villain and a Bond girl named Kissy Suzuki from the novel. Filming commenced at Pinewood on 4 July 1966 before moving out to Japan on 27 July for six weeks' filming. Local Japanese interest in the filming was high, and the crew had to contend with large crowds throughout the