Becoming Bond for a day

For her 60 Minutes story on the James Bond movies, producer Tanya Simon had an inspired idea for her correspondent Anderson Cooper: "Maybe we should have Anderson try being Bond for a day," she thought. After all, isn't that every male moviegoer's fantasy? To quite literally be James Bond?

So, Tanya began the careful planning that goes into 60 Minutes story elements. Her goal was to film Anderson as he stepped into the world of Bond: wearing a dashing tux, shooting a Walther PPK with style, and taking tight turns at the wheel of 007's famous Aston Martin.

But her hopes for a Becoming Bond sequence were dashed. It started with the idea for Anderson to wear a tux for his on-camera shots. AC didn't pack his tux. (He told Overtime that he didn't forget: he objected on grounds of sheer cheesiness.).

Then, she worked to get approval from the movie studio to put Anderson in Bond's Aston Martin. When she had finally convinced them to allow it and had sorted out the insurance paperwork, Anderson broke the news: He can only drive an automatic.

Tanya did manage to get correspondent Cooper to the shooting range for a lesson with the gun instructor who trains actor Daniel Craig on the proper technique of an assassin. All was going well as Anderson practiced with Bond's Walther PPK-- until she snapped a photo of AC in action and showed it to him.

"In my mind I looked like James Bond and I felt like James Bond," Anderson recalls. "But I looked like this skinny, pale, gray-haired middle-aged guy. I never really got to feel like James Bond, sadly."

Watch the Overtime video above to hear Anderson and Tanya tell the tale. AND you can watch AC take a hands-on, albeit white-gloved, tour of a treasure trove of deadly artifacts (Jaws' teeth, the golden gun, the booby-trapped briefcase) in the Bond archives. Enjoy.