'Casino Royale' Pushed to 2007?
UPDATE: Variety has revised its article claiming Casino Royale would begin filming in “Summer 2006”; the article now reads “early 2006”. Therefore, the speculation about Bond 21 to be pushed to 2007 now seems meaningless.
Variety reports today that the start of shooting of the 21st James Bond movie,
Casino Royale, has again been delayed. “As word circulates along the Croisette
that the next James Bond pic is set to move from its historic U.K. production
base to Prague’s Barrandov Studios, sources close to the production have told
Variety that Casino Royale will begin its shoot in the summer of 2006, rather
than later this year as has been erroneously reported.”
As a possible result the release date of Casino Royale could be pushed to
summer 2007. Most fans will surely welcome the fact that there will be a 007
film in year 2007, but on the other hand it will be the 2nd longest break in
Bond history between two films, only beat by the 6 year interval between License To Kill (1989) and GoldenEye (1995).
Meanwhile, Pavel Strnad, chairman of Czech producer’s association APAAPA,
confirmed CBn’s
recent
article about the production moving to Prague. He said: "It is great for
such a high profile film to come to Prague. This makes it clear that the Czech
Republic is still great value, despite current currency exchange problems. What
is significant is not only are we successfully competing against countries like
the U.K. and Canada, but we are successfully competing against countries in our
own region which offer cost savings but do not have the quality of services and
facilities to be found in Prague".
Speaking from in front of the British pavilion on the Croisette, veteran U.K. producer Martin Bruce-Clayton deemed the reports “very, very sad. I know the Bond people had scouts in Bulgaria and other places and, let’s face it, this is all about money.”
Eon Productions, in the meantime, stays tight-lipped. "We haven’t confirmed
any of our locations for Casino Royale", said a spokesperson.
Keep watching CBn for all the latest news on Casino Royale.