Trailer
Plot summary
MI6 promotes James Bond to 00 status after he kills a traitorous section chief in Prague. In Madagascar he causes an international incident while capturing a bomb maker. The man's phone points him to Alex Dimitrios, a corrupt Greek official who hired the bomber at Le Chiffre's request to destroy the Skyfleet prototype airliner. The attack fails, and the stock scheme collapses; Le Chiffre, an Albanian private banker who invests terrorists' money, owes his clients over a hundred million dollars. To recover it he stages a high-stakes Texas hold 'em card game in Montenegro. MI6 enters Bond, its best poker player, hoping that a defeat will push Le Chiffre to seek asylum in exchange for information on his clients. Vesper Lynd of the British Treasury oversees his ten million dollar buy-in, and René Mathis is their contact.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Casino Royale (2006)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Stunt driver Adam Kirley performed the Aston Martin DBS roll at Millbrook Proving Ground with an air cannon mounted behind the driver's seat, at over 70 mph. The car rotated seven times on camera, and the Guinness Book of Records confirmed it as a new world record in November 2006.
- Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale were both offered the role of James Bond, and both turned it down: Jackman wanted to focus on other projects, and Bale was not interested in starring in a franchise he felt was "very British".
- Pierce Brosnan, who had played Bond four times, was told by his agent that negotiations with Eon had broken down. When he rang and asked whether he still had the role, Barbara Broccoli began to cry and said "We're so sorry", while Michael G. Wilson said, "You were a great James Bond".
- Daniel Craig's casting as Bond, announced in October 2005, met an immediate backlash from critics and fans who doubted the choice. Internet campaigns such as "danielcraigisnotbond.com" voiced their dissatisfaction throughout production and threatened to boycott the film.
SPOILER
Paul Haggis rewrote the film's climax: rather than the original draft's confession and suicide, he put Vesper Lynd in the sinking Venetian house so Bond would want to kill her and then try to save her.- The 54-foot yacht Spirit, used for the scene of Bond on a sailboat, had to be demasted to fit under Venetian bridges to reach the filming location. According to its builders, Spirit Yachts, it was the first sailing boat to go up the Grand Canal in Venice for 300 years.
- Because no construction cranes were available in the United States due to the reconstruction of New Orleans, two 100 ft cranes and a large mobile crane had to be shipped from the United Kingdom for the building-site chase.
- Chris Cornell composed and performed the title song "You Know My Name", whose main notes run through the film as a substitute for the James Bond Theme, standing in for Bond's youth and inexperience. The classic theme is only played in full during the end credits.
