The story, such as it is, finds James Bond (David Niven) called out of retirement to deal with the sudden disappearance of secret agents all over the world. The result is one of the most bizarre films imaginable. Unfortunately, Sellers' ego reached critical mass during the production and he was fired mid-way into filming-and suddenly roles that were originally envisioned as cameos had to be expanded to finish the project.
When the property wound up at Columbia Pictures, they decided to create the satire to end all satires with a host of writers, five famous directors, and an all-star cast led by Peter Sellers. NO was a great hit in the early 1960s, and Eon quickly snapped up the rights to the rest of Ian Flemming's novels about super spy James Bond-except for the CASINO ROYALE, which had already been purchased earlier by CBS for a 1950s television adaptation.
