I'm re-publishing an interview with Rudy Obrero, the artist responsible for the US poster artwork of "Never Say Never Again".
A: I was commissioned to do some comps for "Never Say Never Again" By an Ad agency in Los Angeles called New York West.
Q: What kind of briefing or input did you receive? Photos, source material etc? A: I had some photo stills from the film to work from. Q: Were there any restrictions in regards to the movie not being an "official" Bond movie?
A: Yes, originally I included an underwater fight scene with divers and and a big shark attacking. But I was asked to remove all of the underwater scenes because it might conflict with previous Bond posters. I also had to remove a helicopter and a jumping motorcycle as well as a whole yacht. Here is a previous version of the art to compare to the final poster that was released.
Q: How much time did you have to create the artwork?
A: about 30 days total
Q: Can you describe the creative process in terms of composition, choice of colours etc?
A: Well, The layout is certainly symetrical with all elements leading the eye to Sean Connery. It was always about Bond and his beautiful women.
Q: What materials do you use? (Acrylics, Gouache, mixed media etc…)
A: At the time I used acrylics, applied with an airbrush and traditional brushes. Now all my work is done digitally.
Q: What was the most fun part of creating this artwork?
A: I thoroughly enjoyed painting the first version of the poster. All the elements of the montage were fun to render. I really like working on action adventure images, so this was a real treat for me to do. So, sad to say most of the fun parts of the painting had to be removed by the time it went to the printers.
Q: Any special anecdote associated with this artwork?
A: When I was asked to start removing the action elements because of legal conflicts, the poster did not have it's original impact. It became static and a little boring. This became a poster ultimately ruined by the lawyers involved.
Thank you for this interview! Check out Rudy's website here
Also thanks to Thomas from "The Nixdorf Collection" for the photos.