James Bond in film primary filming moved to San Francisco. Filming finished in January 1985 at the 007 Stage, with the filming of the interior of Zorin's mine, designed by Peter Lamont. With the retirement of Roger Moore following "A View to a Kill", the producers searched for a new Bond and eventually cast Timothy Dalton in the lead role in August 1986. Much of the senior production crew from the previous film worked on "The Living Daylights", with John Glen directing, John Barry providing the score and Peter Lamont acting as production designer. Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum again provided the script
Timothy Dalton the approach occurred when he was either 24 or 25 and had already done the film "Mary, Queen of Scots" (1971). Dalton told the producers that he was too young for the role. In a 1987 interview, Dalton said, "Originally I did not want to take over from Sean Connery. He was far too good, he was wonderful. I was about 24 or 25, which is too young. But when you've seen Bond from the beginning, you don't take over from Sean Connery." In either 1979 or 1980, he was approached again, but did not favour the direction the films