Horrifying video reveals the truth behind James Bond’s famous crocodile scene: “I have questions”

By Bethan Sexton for Dailymail.Com

13:21 06 July 2024, updated 13:36 06 July 2024

A terrifying video has emerged showing stunt performers filming the famous James Bond crocodile scene.

Fans were stunned to learn that real reptiles were used in the iconic Live and Let Die sequence.

Although the filmmakers previously stated that no puppets or models were used during filming, the footage shows how dangerous the stunt was.

In the final cut, Bond is seen escaping across a body of water by stepping on the backs of three snapping crocodiles.

But in the outtakes you can see how close stuntman Ross Heilman alias Ross Kananga, who stood in for Roger Moore’s Bond, came into contact with the wild beasts.

This feat is all the more impressive considering that Kananga’s own father was supposedly eaten by a crocodile.

It took five takes to secure the scene, in which Kananga fell into the water several times and was even bitten.

In the first shot, Kananga manages to pass the first two animals at high speed before the third tries to snap at him.

He throws himself into the water and has to pull himself up while the crocodile behind him continues to thrash around wildly.

In the second and third shots, the beasts are ready and immediately start snapping at him as he falls again, at one point trying to hold one of them down.

On his final failure, Kananga manages to make it across before his shoe gets caught on the tooth of the last crocodile and he is forced to try to wriggle out.

During this last attempt, Kananga was bitten on the foot and had to be stitched up.

The animals were secured to the bottom of the water with weights, but as the film errors show, their powerful jaws and tails were unprotected, which increased the danger.

About a dozen crocodiles were used during filming, which came from a farm in Jamaica owned by Kananga.

The stuntman inherited the farm from his father, a crocodile wrestler who, according to Moore, who spoke about it in the documentary “Inside Live and Let Die,” was eaten by one of the animals.

The breathtaking video left many fans stunned.

“I never thought they were real, just some kind of machine. I have to watch the movie again now,” someone wrote on Reddit.

“This could have gone totally wrong,” added another.

“The guy almost got eaten by crocodiles on the third take and then did a fourth? Legendary,” said a third.

Another added: “I have questions!”

Many expressed hope that Kananga would be well paid given the danger of the stunt.

He received $60,000 for his work in 1973, which is equivalent to more than $450,000 today.

He took his stage name from the villain from “Let Die”, Dr. Kananga, who is played by American actor Yaphet Kotto.