Thunderball (film) Thunderball (film) Thunderball is a 1965 British spy film and the fourth in the "James Bond" series produced by Eon Productions, starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham. It was directed by Terence Young, with its screenplay by Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins. The movie would have been the first of the Bond series if not for legal disputes over copyright issues. The film follows Bond's mission to find two NATO
James Bond filmography boring". After a hiatus of one film—"On Her Majesty's Secret Service", in which George Lazenby played Bond—Connery returned to the role for "Diamonds Are Forever" after David Picker, the head of United Artists, made it clear that Connery was to be enticed back to the role and that money was no object. When approached about resuming the role of Bond, Connery demanded—and received—a fee of £1.25 million (£ million in pounds), 12.5% of the gross profits and, as a further enticement, United Artists offered to back two films of his choice. His performance received mixed reviews, with Raymond Benson considering