HIGH STANDARDS OF 007 STAR MADE HIM HARD TO PLEASE

Director says Scots film icon could break plaster with his famous facial expression as he brings back sci-fi classic

- BY RICK FULTON

LEADING film director has told how working with Sir Sean Connery left him terrified - because the 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 view what they'd filmed 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 c**p.

“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 Hyams 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.”

At the start of the 80s, Connery was trying to shed his image as 007 after making his name as the suave spy in six movies starting in 1962 with Dr No.