Connery and the old evil eyebrow

Director says film legend could 'break plaster' with famous facial expression

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A LEADING film director has told how working with Sean Connery left him terrified - because the late James Bond star had a temper that “could go through plaster”.

Peter Hyams, 82, is best known for directing End Of Days with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Timecop with Jean-Claude Van Damme and his breakthrough film Capricorn One in 1977.

But it was working with Connery on Outland in 1981 and The Presidio in 1988 that left him quaking because the Edinburgh-born star did not suffer fools gladly or otherwise.

Connery, who died in 2020, aged 90, was known for his tough approach to unprofessionalism on movie sets.

When they worked on Outland, Hyams was 37 and Connery 49 but the grouchy Scot would call him "boy" and demand to see rushes of what they'd done straight away to check on his competence after he discovered the American director doubled as the cinematographer.

In an interview for a new restoration of Outland, Hyams said: "Sean never took any crap.

"When he raises that eyebrow, it could go through plaster.

"He never argued about anything other than the film and how to make the film better.

"Michael Douglas (who Hymas directed in 1983's The Star Chamber and Beyond A Reasonable Doubt in 2009) and Gene Hackman (in 1990's Narrow Margin) were the same.

"When you have Sean Connery, it's magic. They can read the phone book and it's interesting."