Development Casino Royale had been produced as a
1954 television episode starring
Barry Nelson as Bond and
Peter Lorre as the villain Le Chiffre, as well as a
1967 ensemble satirical film starring
David Niven,
Peter Sellers and
Woody Allen. Eon Productions gained the rights to
Casino Royale in 1999 after
Sony Pictures exchanged them for
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's rights to
Spider-Man. In March 2004, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade began writing a screenplay for Pierce Brosnan as Bond, aiming to bring back the flavour of
Ian Fleming's original
Bond novels. An early draft featured Bond backpacking in
Madagascar and playing
chess with
Lord Lucan. As the drafts became closer to being finalised, the opening scene in which Bond earns his 00 licence was originally going to consist of an adaptation of either the short stories "
The Hildebrand Rarity" or "
007 in New York". Rather than bombing the Skyfleet jet, there would have been a hijacking of a
cruise ship in
Cape Town. The director
Quentin Tarantino expressed interest in directing an adaptation of
Casino Royale, but Eon was not interested. He claims to have worked behind the scenes with the Fleming family, and believed this was the reason why filmmakers finally went ahead with
Casino Royale. Tarantino also said he would have set it in the 1960s and would only have made it with Brosnan as Bond. In February 2005
Martin Campbell, who previously directed
GoldenEye (1995), was announced as the film's director. Campbell felt
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade's draft needed a rewrite, and suggested hiring
Paul Haggis, whose main contribution was to rewrite the climax of the film. Haggis 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. She then sent Bond to chase after the villains; Bond chased the villains into the house. 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." Haggis also said they wanted "to do for Bond what
Batman Begins did for Batman". Broccoli and Wilson thought that "
Die Another Day had become too fantastical", feeling the next film should be more realistic. Later that same year, Sony led a consortium that purchased MGM, allowing Sony to gain distribution rights starting with the film. Broccoli also felt that the "frivolity" of the preceding films was not appropriate after the
9/11 attacks. Eon believed that it had relied too heavily on
computer-generated imagery effects in the more recent films, particularly
Die Another Day, and was 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 the original 1953 novel, keeping Fleming's darker storyline and characterisation of Bond. Due to copyright issues related to the ownership of
Thunderball, the organisation of which Mr White is a part is not initially established as SPECTRE. (This would later be retconned in the titular
2015 film.)
Casting Pierce Brosnan fulfilled his original contract for four Bond films with
Die Another Day (2002), and the producers invited him to return for a fifth film and was in negotiations to star in
Casino Royale. (Screenwriters Purvis and Wade confirmed that their
Casino Royale script was written with Brosnan in mind.) Brosnan described how he found out that he had lost the role. He stated that he was working on
After the Sunset in
The Bahamas when his agent informed him that negotiations had broken down with the producers
Barbara Broccoli and
Michael G. Wilson. The producers were not quite sure what they wanted to do, and would contact Brosnan the following week. During their phone conversation, Brosnan asked if he still had the role. Broccoli began to cry and responded, "We're so sorry", while Wilson was stoic and said, "You were a great James Bond". Later reports cited Brosnan's salary request as the reason he lost the role. Wilson stated that over 200 actors were being considered for Brosnan's replacement.
Hugh Jackman and
Christian Bale were offered the role, but both turned it down. Jackman wanted to focus on other projects and Bale wasn't interested in starring in a franchise that he felt was "very British". The actor
Goran Višnjić auditioned for the role the same day as Craig, but was reportedly unable to master an English accent. According to Martin Campbell,
Henry Cavill was the only other actor in serious contention for the role and had a "tremendous" audition, but at 22 years old, he was considered too young. (Cavill would later say that Campbell turned him down because he thought Cavill was out of shape.) The actors
Karl Urban,
Sam Worthington and
Dougray Scott were also considered. Actors
Sam Heughan,
Matthew Rhys and
Michael Fassbender also auditioned. Fassbender suggested Daniel Craig for the role. Campbell and the casting directors Janet Hirshenson and
Jane Jenkins recalled meeting with
Alex O'Loughlin,
Julian McMahon,
Ewan McGregor,
Rupert Friend and
Antony Starr to discuss the role.
Clive Owen was approached for the role multiple times, but turned it down as he did not know what he would have done with the character. The producers also met with
Ralph Fiennes for the role, but declined as he did not want to commit to a franchise. Casting director Debbie McWilliams felt that the candidates for Bond in their 20s lacked charisma and maturity. In May 2005 Craig stated that MGM, Wilson and Broccoli had assured him he would get the role.
Matthew Vaughn told reporters MGM had offered him the opportunity to direct the new film, but at that point Eon Productions had not approached either Craig or Vaughn. A year earlier, Craig rejected the idea of starring, as he felt the series had descended into
formula; only when he read the script did he become interested. Craig read all of Fleming's novels to prepare for the part, and cited
Mossad and
British Secret Service agents who served as advisers on the set of
Munich as inspiring because, "Bond has just come out of the service and he's a killer. ... You can see it in their eyes, you know immediately: oh, hello, he's a killer. There's a look. These guys walk into a room and very subtly they check the perimeters for an exit. That's the sort of thing I wanted." On 14 October 2005 Eon Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment and MGM announced that Craig would be the sixth actor to portray James Bond. Taking time off from reshoots for
The Invasion, a business-suit clad, rather shag-haired Craig boarded a
Royal Marines Rigid Raider from before travelling to
HMS President, where he was introduced to the world's press. Controversy followed the decision, with some critics and fans expressing doubt 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. 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''. Craig was also asked to dye his hair brown for the role but he refused calling it "out of the question"; he instead suggested to cut his hair short for more a "brutal appearance". The next important casting was that of the lead
Bond girl, Vesper Lynd. McWilliams acknowledged actors
Angelina Jolie and
Charlize Theron were "strongly considered" for the role. The actor
Cécile de France had also auditioned, but her English accent "wasn't up to scratch". The actress
Audrey Tautou was also considered, but not chosen because of her role in
The Da Vinci Code, which was another
Columbia Pictures film released in May 2006.
Rachel McAdams turned down a role in the film to focus on raising her own family.
Olivia Wilde and
Eva Green were the two finalists for the part. On 16 February 2006, Green was announced to play the part.
Filming Principal photography for
Casino Royale commenced on 3 January 2006 and concluded on 20 July 2006. The film was primarily shot at
Barrandov Studios in Prague, with additional location shooting in the Bahamas, Italy and the United Kingdom. The shoot concluded at Pinewood Studios. Michael G. Wilson had stated
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 the
director of photography Phil Méheux were scouting
Paradise Island in the Bahamas as a possible location for the film. On 6 October 2005 Martin Campbell confirmed
Casino Royale would film in the Bahamas and "maybe Italy". In addition to the extensive location filming, studio work including choreography and stunt co-ordination practice was performed at the Barrandov Studios and at
Pinewood Studios, where the film used several stages, the paddock tank and the
007 Stage. Further shooting in the UK was scheduled for
Dunsfold Aerodrome in
Surrey, the cricket pavilion at
Eton College (although that scene was cut from the completed film) and the Millbrook Vehicle Proving Ground in
Bedfordshire. 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. Karlovy Vary was used as the exterior of the Casino Royale, with the
Grandhotel Pupp serving as "Hotel Splendide". The main Italian location was
Venice, where the majority of the film's ending is set. The scene with Bond on a sailboat was filmed aboard a yacht named
Spirit. She was constructed by Spirit Yachts in
Suffolk, England, and had to be demasted to fit under various Venetian bridges to reach the filming location. For this reason, SV
Spirit "was the first sailing boat to go up the
Grand Canal in Venice for 300 years". Other scenes in the latter 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 film took place at properties such as the
Villa La Gaeta, near the lakeside town of
Menaggio. although only his trademark hat is visible on screen.
Effects In designing the credit sequence for the film, the graphic designer
Daniel Kleinman was inspired by the cover of the 1953 British first edition of
Casino Royale, which featured Ian Fleming's original design of a playing card bordered by eight red hearts dripping with blood. Kleinman said, "The hearts not only represent cards but the tribulations of Bond's love story. So I took that as inspiration to use playing card graphics in different ways in the titles", like a club representing a puff of gun smoke, and slashed arteries spurting thousands of tiny hearts. In creating the shadow images of the sequence, Kleinman digitised the footage of Craig and the film's stuntmen on the
Inferno visual effects system at
Framestore CFC in London; the actors' silhouettes were incorporated into more than 20 digitally animated scenes depicting intricate and innovative card patterns. Kleinman decided not to use the female silhouettes commonly seen throughout the Bond title sequences, considering that the women did not fit with both the film's spirit and the storyline following Bond falling in love. For the rest of the film, special effects and miniature effects supervisor
Chris Corbould returned to a more realistic style of film making and significantly reduced digital effects. According to Corbould, "CGI is a great tool and can be very useful, but I will fight to the tooth and nail to do something for real. It's the best way to go". The sinking of the Venetian house at the climax of the film featured the largest rig ever built for a Bond film, Owing to the low centre of gravity of the vehicle, an 18-inch (450 mm) ramp had to be implemented on the road tarmac at
Millbrook Proving Grounds and Adam Kirley, the stunt driver who performed the stunt, had to use an
air cannon located behind the driver's seat to propel the car into a roll at the precise moment of impact. At a speed exceeding , the car rotated seven times while being filmed, and was confirmed by the
Guinness Book of Records in November 2006 as a new
world record. The song's main notes are played throughout the film as a substitute for the
James Bond Theme, to represent Bond's youth and inexperience. The classic theme only plays in full during the end credits to signal the climax of his character arc.
Promotional marketers In a reported £14million deal between the film's production and car manufacturer
Ford, Ford's 2007 model
Mondeo appeared in the film, driven by Bond. Both
Sony and
Sony Ericsson also made deals, making prominent appearances of tech products in the film including a
Blu-ray player,
Vaio laptop,
Cyber-shot camera,
Walkman NW-HD5 digital music player and a
Sony Ericsson K800i handset. ==Release==