The iconic artist Salvador Dalí was commissioned to create a tarot deck for Roger Moore’s first outing as 007, 1973's Live and Let Die, so why did the James Bond movie end up cutting the artwork from the finished film? Soon to be seen on-screen in Layer Cake star Daniel Craig's final film in the role, the (endlessly delayed) No Time To Die, the suave super-spy James Bond is one of cinema’s most beloved action heroes. Despite his changing face, Ian Fleming's creation has remained well-loved as the spy appeared in twenty-five movies, played by seven different actors so far in the series.

New Bond actors often bring with them a new tone for the movies, and the second replacement Bond was no exception. Live and Let Die (1973) was something of a reinvention for the Bond franchise, with Roger Moore replacing Sean Connery’s James Bond and bringing with him a lighter, more over-the-top tone for the franchise. Although well-received at the time, Live and Let Die has in the decades since its release been criticized for its problematic attempts to fuse 007’s traditional spy movie antics with the then-booming blaxploitation sub-genre.

Related: Why Live And Let Die Wasn't Roger Moore's Debut As James Bond

For example, the late Yaphet Kotto hated his James Bond villain Kananga from Live and Let Die as he felt the movie made a mockery of Voodoo and New Orleans culture more broadly. Live and Let Die does feature some unfortunate stereotypes, and a lot of the Bond outing’s illustrations of Haitian culture feel outdated for contemporary viewers. However, there is no denying that the producers spared no expense when it came to the production design of Live and Let Die, with famous surrealist Salvador Dalí being commissioned to create a (stunning) tarot deck for use in the movie. However, Live and Let Die’s producers balked at the high price tag that the high-profile artist demanded for his work and, as a result, ended up opting to use a more affordable Fergus Hall-designed deck instead.

Reportedly, Dalí’s sizable asking price for the piece was in excess of $7 million, which for context, was more than the entire budget of the movie the tarot deck was intended to appear in. While they may be a prominent prop, the tarot cards were not pivotal enough to Live and Let Die's plot for the Bond franchise producers to part with the entire production budget. And indeed it may have been a blessing in disguise that the creators did not buy Dalí’s work for the film, as the artist’s deck ended up not being completed and displayed until 1984, a full eleven years after the release of Live and Let Die.

However, a missing Tarot deck designed by Salvador Dalí was not the only potentially impressive element of Live and Let Die’s original plan that viewers unfortunately missed out on. Jane Seymour’s Live and Let Die character Solitaire was originally intended to be played by iconic singer Diana Ross in the Bond installment, who would have been the first Black James Bond love interest if the franchise producers had not changed their minds. Not only that, but the movie's theme song almost went to Shirley Bassey before Wings were recruited to record the track.

More: How A View To A Kill’s Max Zorin Parodied Bond Villains

Key Release Dates