Casino Royale
Everyone has a past. Every legend has a beginning.
Casino Royale (2006)
Production
Budget
$150 000 000
Revenue
$616 502 912
Director
Scenario
Ian Fleming
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Daniel Craig
James Bond
Eva Green
Vesper Lynd
Mads Mikkelsen
Le Chiffre
Jeffrey Wright
Felix Leiter
Giancarlo Giannini
Mathis
Caterina Murino
Solange
Simon Abkarian
Alex Dimitrios
Short description
Casino Royale follows James Bond on his first assignment after earning 00 status. British intelligence learns that Le Chiffre, a private banker who handles money for terrorist organisations around the world, has organised a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro, where he hopes to recover funds and secure his position. M sends Bond to take part in the game and ruin Le Chiffre financially. A Treasury official, Vesper Lynd, accompanies him to look after the government's money, and CIA agent Felix Leiter also becomes involved.
The film was directed by Martin Campbell, the tenth of the eighteen features he has directed in chronological order, between The Legend of Zorro and Edge of Darkness. Paul Haggis, Robert Wade and Neal Purvis wrote the screenplay, and Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson produced. Daniel Craig plays Bond, with Eva Green as Vesper Lynd, Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre, Judi Dench as M, Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter and Giancarlo Giannini as Mathis.
Released in November 2006, the film runs 144 minutes. Against a budget of about 150 million dollars, it took roughly 599 million dollars worldwide. It holds 8 out of 10 on IMDb from around 741,000 votes and 7.6 out of 10 on TMDB from about 12,000 votes, while critics gave it 8 out of 10 across 265 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is based on Ian Fleming's novel "Casino Royale" (1953).
- In early 2003, BSkyB reported that Sean Connery's candidacy was being considered for the position of director.
- "Casino Royale" was the only James Bond book whose film rights were not acquired by Harry Saltzman. Therefore, he had to conclude a partnership agreement with Albert R. Broccoli.
- The recipe for the legendary spy's famous drink—vodka with martini, shaken, not stirred—is first mentioned in the seventh chapter of the book "Casino Royale".
- A week after filming wrapped, on July 30, 2006, the pavilion for the James Bond films at Pinewood Studios burned down. Before that day, the 'Bond' pavilion had only caught fire once: shortly before the start of filming for 'A View to a Kill' (1985).
- In 1999, Sony paid MGM $5 million to settle a $40 million lawsuit filed by MGM for copyright infringement related to the creation of the Bond films. Sony agreed to transfer all rights to Bond and 'Casino Royale' that it owned to MGM. Ironically, six years later, in 2005, Sony bought MGM, and 'Casino Royale' was filmed without any obstacles.
- In 1999, MGM paid Sony $10 million for the film rights.
- According to Ian Fleming, the character of Le Chiffre is based on the British occultist Aleister Crowley.
- 'Casino Royale' was the first James Bond film to be co-produced by MGM and Columbia Pictures, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, as a result of Sony's purchase of MGM and its subsidiary United Artists. An unofficial Bond film, 'Casino Royale' (1967), was filmed at Columbia Pictures in 1967.
- The novel "Casino Royale" has been adapted for the screen twice: in 1954 (as part of the show "Climax!") and in 1967.
- "Casino Royale" is the first book written by Ian Fleming about James Bond.
- The film's producers announced Daniel Craig as the new James Bond on October 14, 2005. On the same day, Roger Moore celebrated his seventy-eighth birthday.
- Ulrich Matthes could have played the role of Le Chiffre.
- The mobile phone used by James Bond is a Sony Ericsson K790I.
- The film is listed in the Guinness Book of Records in the category of “Most car rolls”. Stuntman Adam Kirley performed 7 explosion-induced rolls with an “Aston Martin DBS” during filming at Millbrook Proving Ground (UK) in July 2006.
- Since the film was shot in various locations around the globe, all the footage also traveled from country to country – between Prague, the Bahamas, London, and the offices of the American producers. It wasn't film that was moving, but digital files – as footage shot during the day was almost immediately converted into a digital format.
- Richard Branson – a British entrepreneur, millionaire, and founder of the Virgin Group – made a cameo appearance in the film (in the scene with the metal detector).
- According to the script, Eva Green (who played Vesper Lynd) was supposed to be sitting on the floor in the shower stall in her underwear only. Daniel Craig, the actor playing agent 007, argued with the screenwriters, claiming that Green's character had not reached her room in an emotional state where she would think about undressing. His point of view ultimately prevailed.
- During the filming of the famous scene at the beginning of the film, in which Daniel Craig emerges from the water in only his swimming trunks, many members of the film crew were in boats, staying out of camera range and fending off numerous paparazzi.
- Preparing for the role of James Bond, actor Daniel Craig gained over 9 kg of muscle mass. He mainly ate protein-rich foods, minimized carbohydrate intake, worked out at the gym 5 days a week, and only did cardio on weekends.
- The opening chase scene was filmed over several weeks.
- During the filming of the fight scene in Prague (this was the first action scene they filmed), Daniel Craig had two front teeth knocked out, and he summoned his personal dentist from London to fit him with artificial ones.
- According to Daniel Craig, computer technology was only used during the film's creation when it was necessary to remove safety wires attached to the actors during stunts, and when it was required to insert an image of a palace sinking underwater into scenes of Venice.
- One scene was supposed to show Daniel Craig as James Bond simply swimming towards the shore and spotting Katerina Murino (who appeared on screen in an episodic role as the wife of one of the villains). According to the actor, he encountered a sandbar underwater, which caused him to stand up and walk out of the water. The shot of the actor emerging from the sea immediately appeared in all of the film's promotional materials, and many fans of the franchise believed it was a reference to the scene with Ursula Andress, who played Honey Ryder in Terence Young's "Dr. No" (1962), where she also emerged from the sea when first seen by Agent 007 (played by Sean Connery in Young's film).
- An error was made in the Russian dub of the film: the winning card combination assembled by Bond in the final game is called a royal flush (five high cards of the same suit, from ten to ace), when in reality it is a straight flush (five consecutive cards of the same suit – in this case, spades from four to eight), a weaker combination. This error does not exist in the original.
- According to Michael J. Wilson, over 200 candidates were considered for the role of James Bond, including Julian McMahon, Hrithik Roshan, Dominic West, Gerard Butler, Goran Višnjić, Sam Worthington, Rupert Friend, and Henry Cavill.
- Daniel Craig's tuxedo, which he wore in "Casino Royale," was sold at a charity auction for 12,000 British pounds.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
