Jon Hamm and Matthew Weiner were in attendance for “LACMA: A Tribute To Mad Men” and Björk of all people came up in conversation. The topic being discussed was the season five finale episode “The Phantom” where Nancy Sinatra’s “You Only Live Twice” was beautifully featured in the episode’s final tracking shot. According to Weiner, Björk’s cover version of the classic tune was almost used in the pilot episode for the series.
Of course, the audience laughed when they heard this. According to Vulture, the two were quick to rebut that reaction:
“You can laugh. It’s amazing.” Jon Hamm quickly jumped in: “Björk was originally going to be Peggy. You laugh — she’s amazing.”
Matthew Weiner went on to explain why he waited five seasons to use the song:
We were listening to this all the time, and I thought I could use this at the end of the show. And then I had this idea that I should save this and the whole James Bond aesthetic to when it started happening (1967). James Bond was pretty deep in the culture. One of the things they attribute to the success of James Bond – movie people anyway — Dr. No [came out] right around the time of the Cuban missile crisis. There were so many great things about James Bond, but this song, “You Only Live Twice”… I wanted to wait for it to be in that period.
Here’s the scene he’s referring to:
The concept of a Björk song featured in a TV series taking place in the ’60s is almost as ludicrous sounding as a David Bowie song showing up in a show taking place in the ’50s.
Take that, American Horror Story: Freak Show!
(Source: Vulture)
