Casino Royale (2006) is the twenty-first film in the James Bond series and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis and directed by Martin Campbell.
It is the third screen adaptation of the Casino Royale novel, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 satirical film. However, the 2006 film is the only EON Productions adaptation of Fleming’s novel. It is a reboot of the Bond franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to precede any previous film. This not only frees the Bond franchise from more than forty years of continuity, but allows the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond. The film is set at the beginning of James Bond’s career as Agent 007, having earned his licence to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami Airport, Bond falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury agent assigned to provide the money he needs to foil a high-stakes poker tournament organized by Le Chiffre. The 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, will be a direct sequel to Casino Royale and will continue some aspects of the story such as Le Chiffre’s associate, Mr. White.
The casting for the movie involved a widespread search for a new actor to portray James Bond, and significant controversy over Daniel Craig when he was eventually selected. Some Pierce Brosnan fans threatened to boycott the film in protest. Despite this, the film, and Daniel Craig’s performance in particular, earned critical acclaim. Casino Royale was produced by EON Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, marking the first official Bond film to be co-produced by the latter studio, which had produced and originally distributed the 1967 non-canonical film version. Casino Royale is the highest grossing James Bond film to date, the 38th highest-grossing film of all time, and the 6th highest grossing film of all time in the United Kingdom.
Plot
In Prague, James Bond corners and kills corrupt MI6 section chief Dryden and his underworld contact, earning his double-0 status. Meanwhile in Uganda, a Mr. White arranges a meeting between a banker, Le Chiffre, and the leader of a guerrilla group seeking a safe haven for his funds. Le Chiffre assures the leader that there is “no risk in the portfolio”, but his investments actually involve considerable risk: he short sells successful companies and then engineers terrorist attacks to sink their stock values.
In his first mission as Agent 007, Bond pursues an international bomb-maker named Mollaka in Madagascar. After a free running chase across the city to the Nambutu embassy,[9] Bond kills his target and blows up a part of the embassy to enable his escape. He obtains Mollaka’s mobile phone and discovers that it has received an SMS from Alex Dimitrios, an associate of Le Chiffre in the Bahamas. Bond travels there, wins Dimitrios’s Aston Martin DB5, and seduces Dimitrios’s wife, Solange, who reveals that her husband is flying to Miami on business. Bond follows him to Miami, where he kills Dimitrios before noticing Le Chiffre’s henchman, Carlos, leaving for the Miami Airport. There, Bond foils Le Chiffre’s plan to destroy the prototype Skyfleet airliner, leaving the banker with a major financial loss, since he had shorted and bought put options on Skyfleet stock which expired worthless.
Now under pressure to recoup his clients’ money, Le Chiffre sets up a high-stakes Texas hold ‘em tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Hoping that a defeat would force Le Chiffre to aid the British government in exchange for protection from his creditors, MI6 enters Bond into the tournament. He meets up with Mathis, his ally in Montenegro, and Vesper Lynd, a treasury agent, who is assigned to look after his handling of the government’s $10 million buy-in. As the tournament progresses, Bond loses his initial stake and becomes enraged when Vesper refuses to authorize him to buy back in because she considers his play reckless.
Distraught over his failure, Bond prepares to assassinate Le Chiffre when he is intercepted by CIA officer Felix Leiter, also playing in the tournament. Leiter offers to supply Bond with the funds to re-enter the tournament in exchange for allowing the CIA custody of Le Chiffre. Back in the game, Bond rapidly recoups his losses when Le Chiffre and his associates attempt to poison him, an attempt Bond narrowly survives before winning the tournament. Following her celebratory dinner with Bond, Vesper is abducted by Le Chiffre, who uses her to lure Bond into a near-fatal car chase and ultimate capture. Le Chiffre tortures Bond for the access code to the game’s winnings and when it becomes clear that Bond will not yield, Le Chiffre prepares to castrate him. Mr. White enters and executes Le Chiffre and his associates for their failure. However, Bond and Vesper are left alive.
Bond awakens in a hospital on Lake Como and orders Mathis, whom Le Chiffre identified as a double agent working for him, arrested. Bond admits his love for Vesper and vows to quit the service before it strips him of his humanity. Accordingly, he posts his resignation to M and goes on a romantic holiday in Venice with Vesper. However, Bond soon learns that his poker winnings were never deposited into the Treasury’s account. Realizing that Vesper has stolen them, he pursues her and members of the organization she is working for into a building under renovation. Bond shoots the floatation devices supporting the structure to gain access to the building, but as he does so, the foundation starts to slowly collapse into the Grand Canal. After killing the henchmen in the building, Bond finds Vesper imprisoned in an elevator. Apologizing to him tearfully, she locks herself inside and the elevator plunges under the rising waters. Bond dives in, breaks into the elevator and pulls Vesper onto the roof of the collapsed building. Despite his efforts to revive her, she has already drowned. Mr. White, watching from a balcony, walks away with the money.
Bond, feeling betrayed, learns that Vesper had a French-Algerian boyfriend who was kidnapped and held for ransom by the organization behind Le Chiffre and Mr. White. Bond learns that she agreed to deliver the ransom money (his winnings) only if they would consent to leave Bond alive as well as her boyfriend. He discovers White’s name and number in Vesper’s mobile phone. White, arriving at a palatial estate near Lake Como, receives a phone call and is shot in the leg. Bond appears, gun in hand, and says, “The name’s Bond, James Bond.”
Cast
- Daniel Craig as James Bond: A British agent who, after being assigned 00-status, is sent on a mission to arrest a bomb maker in Madagascar, where he stumbles upon Le Chiffre’s terrorist cell and is then sent to defeat him in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale.
- Eva Green as Vesper Lynd: An agent for HM Treasury assigned to supervise Bond and finance his poker table exploits. She is actually affiliated to global terrorists and thought to be based on SOE agent Krystyna Skarbek.[10]
- Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: A banker serving the world’s terrorists. He is a mathematical genius and chess expert, and uses these skills when playing poker.
- Judi Dench as M: The strict head of MI6. Though she feels she has promoted Bond too soon and expresses abhorrence of his rash actions, she acts as an important maternal figure in his life.
- Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter: A quiet CIA operative participating in the poker tournament while assisting Bond. This is the first official Bond film in which Leiter is played by a black actor.[11]
- Giancarlo Giannini as Rene Mathis: Bond’s ally in Montenegro.
- Simon Abkarian as Alex Dimitrios: An associate of Le Chiffre, based in the Bahamas.
- Caterina Murino as Solange Dimitrios: Dimitrios’s wife, whom Bond seduces. She is killed by Le Chiffre for unintentionally revealing one of his plans to Bond.
- Isaach De Bankolé as Steven Obanno: A Ugandan warlord introduced to Le Chiffre by Mr. White to account his finances.
- Jesper Christensen as Mr. White: A mysterious liaison among the world’s terrorists.
- Ivana Miličević as Valenka: Le Chiffre’s girlfriend and henchwoman.
- Sébastien Foucan as Mollaka: A bombmaker pursued by Bond through a construction site in Madagascar.
- Ludger Pistor as Mendel: A Swiss banker responsible for all monetary transactions during and after the poker tournament.
- Claudio Santamaria as Carlos: A terrorist employed by Le Chiffre to blow up an aircraft.
Two major exclusions from the film are the characters of Q and Miss Moneypenny. Their exclusion makes Casino Royale the second film in the series without Q (Live and Let Die being the first), and the first without Moneypenny. In October 2005, producer Michael G. Wilson stated that the characters were not in the movie because they were not in the book, though Moneypenny was mentioned by Bond in the novel. The decision to leave Moneypenny’s character out from the film coincided with the announcement by actress Samantha Bond, who had portrayed the character in the previous four films, that she would not be reprising the role.
Production
EON Productions gained the rights for Casino Royale in 1999 after Sony Pictures Entertainment exchanged them for MGM’s rights to Spider-Man.[13] In March 2004, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade began writing a screenplay for Pierce Brosnan as Bond, aiming to bring back an Ian Fleming flavour. Paul Haggis’ main contribution was to rewrite the climax of the film. He explained, “the draft that was there was very faithful to the book. And there was a confession. So in the original draft the character confessed and killed herself. And then she sent Bond to chase after the villains. And Bond chased the villains into the house. And I don’t know why but I thought that Vesper had to be in the sinking house and Bond has to want to kill her and then try and save her.”
Director Quentin Tarantino expressed interest in directing an adaptation of the Casino Royale novel,[16] though this was only a personal interest, and he did not follow this up with EON. In the June 2007 issue of GQ (UK) Tarantino confirmed his desire to make Casino Royale after Pulp Fiction. Tarantino claims to have worked behind the scenes with the Fleming family, and believes that this was the reason why filmmakers finally went ahead with Casino Royale.[17] In February 2005, Martin Campbell was announced as the film’s director. Later in 2005, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM, allowing Sony to gain distribution rights starting with this film
EON admitted that they had relied too heavily on CGI effects in the more recent films, particularly Die Another Day, and were keen to accomplish the stunts in Casino Royale “the old fashioned way.” In keeping with this drive for more realism, screenwriters Purvis, Wade, and Haggis wanted the script to follow as closely as possible to the original 1953 novel, keeping Fleming’s darker storyline and characterization of Bond.
Casino Royale became the first Bond film to take its title from a Fleming novel or short story since 1987’s The Living Daylights. It is also the first Bond film since then not to be adapted as a novelization. Instead, a film tie-in edition of Fleming’s original novel was published
Casting
Throughout 2004 and 2005, a whole legion of potential new actors to portray James Bond were speculated on by the media, ranging from established Hollywood actors, such as Eric Bana, Hugh Jackman, Goran Višnjić and Clive Owen, to many unknown actors from a number of different countries. At one point producer Michael G. Wilson claimed there was a list of over 200 names being considered. English actor Colin Salmon, who had played the role of MI6 operative Charles Robinson in earlier Bond films alongside Pierce Brosnan, was also considered for the role and raised speculation that he might become the first black Bond. According to Martin Campbell, Henry Cavill was the only actor in serious contention for the role. But being only 22 years old at the time, he was considered too young.
In May 2005, Daniel Craig announced that MGM and producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli had assured him that he would get the role of Bond, and Matthew Vaughn told reporters that MGM offered him the opportunity to direct, but EON Productions at that point had not approached either of them. Later, Craig stated that the producers had indeed offered him the role, but he had declined until a script was available for him to read.
By August 2005, speculation was high that the 37-year-old Daniel Craig was being seriously considered, although full casting for the role was not actually done until September. Then, on October 14, 2005, EON Productions and Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed to the public at a press conference in London that Daniel Craig would be the sixth actor to portray James Bond. Significant controversy followed the decision, as it was doubted if the producers had made the right choice. Throughout the entire production period Internet campaigns such as “danielcraigisnotbond.com” expressed their dissatisfaction and threatened to boycott the film in protest.[30] Craig, unlike previous actors, was not considered by the protesters to fit the tall, dark, handsome and charismatic image of Bond to which viewers had been accustomed. The Daily Mirror ran a front page news story critical of Craig, with the headline, The Name’s Bland — James Bland, and
The next important casting was that of the lead Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. Casting director Debbie McWilliams acknowledged that Hollywood actresses Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron were strongly considered for the role and that Belgian actress Cécile de France had also auditioned, but her English accent “wasn’t up to scratch.” Audrey Tautou was also considered, but not chosen because of her role in The Da Vinci Code that was released in May 2006. It was announced on February 16, 2006 that French actress Eva Green would play the role of Vesper Lynd.
Filming
Principal photography for Casino Royale commenced on 30 January 2006 and concluded on 21 July 2006. The film was primarily shot at Barrandov Studios in Prague, with additional location shooting in the Czech Republic, the Bahamas, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The shooting schedule concluded at Pinewood Studios.
Initially, Michael G. Wilson confirmed that Casino Royale would either be filmed or take place in Prague and South Africa. However, EON Productions encountered problems in securing film locations in South Africa. After no other locations became available, the producers had to reconsider their options. In September 2005, Martin Campbell and director of photography Phil Meheux were scouting Paradise Island in the Bahamas as a possible location for the film. On 6 October 2005, Martin Campbell confirmed that Casino Royale would film in the Bahamas and “maybe Italy.” In addition to the extensive location filming, studio work including choreography and stunt coordination practice was performed at the Barrandov Studios in Prague and at Pinewood Studios where the film used several stages as well as the paddock tank and the historic “Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage”. Further shooting in the UK was scheduled for Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, the cricket pavilion at Eton College (although that particular scene was cut from the completed movie) and the Millbrook Vehicle Proving Ground in Bedfordshire.
After Prague, the production moved to the Bahamas. Several locations around New Providence were used for filming during February and March, particularly on Paradise Island. Footage set in Mbale, Uganda was filmed at Black Park, Country Park in Buckinghamshire concluding on 4 July 2006. Additional scenes took place at Albany House, an estate owned by golfers Ernie Els and Tiger Woods. The crew returned to the Czech Republic in April, and continued there, filming in Prague, Planá and Loket, before completing in the town of Karlovy Vary in May. A famous Czech spa Karlovy Vary, in German known as the Karlsbad, was used as the exterior of the Casino Royale, with the Grandhotel Pupp serving as “Hotel Splendide”. The main Italian location mentioned by Campbell was Venice, where the majority of the film’s ending is set. Other scenes in the later half of the film were shot in late May and early June at the Villa del Balbianello on the shores of Lake Como. Further exterior shooting for the movie took place at properties such as the Villa la Gaeta, near the lakeside town of Menaggio.
On 30 July 2006, a fire broke out at the 007 Stage. The damage was significant, but had no effect on the release of Casino Royale as the incident occurred one week after filming had been completed, and the sets were in the process of being dismantled. On 11 August 2006, Pinewood Studios confirmed that no attempt would be made to salvage the remains of the stage, instead it would be rebuilt from scratch.
Awards
At the 2006 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards, Casino Royale won the Film Award for Best Sound (Chris Munro, Eddy Joseph, Mike Prestwood Smith, Martin Cantwell, Mark Taylor), and the Orange Rising Star Award, which was won by Eva Green. The film was nominated for eight BAFTA awards, including the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film of the Year; Best Screenplay (Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis); the Anthony Asquith Award for Best Film Music (David Arnold); Best Cinematography (Phil Meheux); Best Editing (Stuart Baird); Best Production Design (Peter Lamont, Simon Wakefield); Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects (Steve Begg, Chris Corbould, John Paul Docherty, Ditch Doy); and Best Actor (Daniel Craig). This made Craig the first actor ever to receive a BAFTA nomination for a performance as James Bond. He also received the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actor.
Casino Royale won the Excellence in Production Design Award from the Art Directors Guild, and singer Chris Cornell’s “You Know My Name” won the International Press Academy Satellite Award for Best Original Song. The film was nominated for five Saturn Awards — Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film, Best Actor (Daniel Craig), Best Supporting Actress (Eva Green), Best Writing (Purvis, Wade and Haggis) and Best Music (David Arnold). The 2006 Golden Tomato Awards named Casino Royale the Wide Release Film of the Year. Casino Royale was also nominated for, and has won, many other international awards for its screenplay, film editing, visual effects, and production design. At the 2007 Saturn Awards, the film was declared to be the Best Action/Adventure/Thriller film of 2006. Several members of the crew were also recipients of 2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards, including Gary Powell for Best Stunt Coordination and Ben Cooke, Kai Martin, Marvin Stewart-Campbell, and Adam Kirley for Best High Work.
