Max Zorin
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| James Bond character | |
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| Max Zorin | |
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| Gender | Male |
| Affiliation | KGB, Self-employed |
| Portrayed by | Christopher Walken |
Max Zorin is a fictional character in the James Bond film A View to a Kill. He was portrayed by Christopher Walken. The role was initially offered to David Bowie, who turned it down, saying, "I didn't want to spend five months watching my stunt double fall off cliffs."[1]
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[edit] Biography
Born in Dresden, and later moved to France, Zorin became a leading French businessman, operating on the microchip market. However, it is revealed later in the movie that he was the product of Nazi medical experimentation during World War II, in which pregnant women were injected with massive quantities of steroids in an attempt to create "super-children." Most of the pregnancies failed. The few surviving babies grew to become extraordinarily intelligent—but also psychopathic.
After the war, Dr. Hans Glaub (alias Dr. Carl Mortner), the German scientist who conducted the experiments, was spirited away by the Soviet Union, where he continued his experiments with steroids. It is strongly implied that the young Zorin was raised by Mortner, who was one of Zorin's closest confidants in the movie, and explicitly stated that Zorin was trained by and long affiliated with the KGB. Among other activities, Mortner organizes a doping program for Zorin's thoroughbred race horses.
Despite Zorin's longtime KGB affiliation, his outside activities draw attention that the KGB sees as unwelcome, and at a meeting between Zorin and KGB head General Gogol, Gogol rebukes him. Zorin responds by telling Gogol that he no longer considers himself a KGB employee.
Zorin forms a plan to destroy his only competition in Silicon Valley by triggering a massive earthquake in the San Andreas Fault at high tide, causing the valley to flood. Zorin's plan is foiled by Bond and Zorin's former lover and henchman May Day, who joins Bond's side after Zorin attempts to kill her and his men and sacrifices her life to ensure that the bomb set by Zorin could not trigger the quake.
Zorin later is killed in a confrontation with Bond, when he falls into the waters of San Francisco Bay from one of the support cables of the Golden Gate Bridge.
Legal problems arose when producers became aware there was a pre-existing company named the Zoran Corporation which makes microchips. The Zoran Corporation threatened to sue for defamation. Pre-production crew had neglected to do a trademark search prior to filming. The parties came to an agreement and, because of this, A View to a Kill is the only 007 film with a legal disclaimer inserted.
[edit] Henchmen
[edit] Other appearances
Zorin is a playable multiplayer character in the 2002 video game Nightfire.
In the 2004 video game Everything or Nothing, it is revealed that Zorin had an apprentice named Nikolai Diavolo (voiced by Willem Dafoe), who plans to use nanobots to commence the rebirth of the Soviet Union. Diavolo also wishes to kill Bond in order to enact vengenace for Zorin's death.
[edit] References
- ^ Nicholas Pegg (2004). The Complete David Bowie. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, p.561.
| Preceded by Kamal Khan General Orlov |
James Bond Villain A View to a Kill |
Succeeded by Brad Whitaker General Georgi Koskov |
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