'Casino Royale' a One Location Bond?
“I’ve always fancied a trip to South Africa.”
-James Bond
Diamonds Are Forever
CBn has received word that Casino Royale‘s shooting schedule in Prague will be confined to studio soundstage work with no exterior filming in the city. All exteriors and location shooting will take place in South Africa.
Will Casino Royale be set entirely in South Africa?
Is this an indication that Prague doesn’t feature in the storyline? Is it possible Casino Royale will be a “one location” James Bond film in the spirit of Dr. No (Jamaica) and You Only Live Twice (Japan)?
Further circumstantial evidence supports this. It’s been reported that Eon considered Budapest before settling on Barrandov studios in Prague, indicating that economical studio space is the reason for the Czech Republic location and not any of Prague’s historic sites. This is reminiscent of Eon’s move to France in 1978 for the filming of Moonraker (also for tax reasons). All of Moonraker‘s interiors were shot on soundstage in Paris, yet the French capital was not featured in the storyline.
A one location Bond film would be a refreshing change and would be in keeping with the spirit of the original Ian Fleming novel, which is set entirely in France. Prague has also been a bit “done to death” in recent films (Mission Impossible, xXx, The Bourne Identity, Blade 2) so avoiding it as a major locale might be advisable.
Of course, no Bond film is strictly a one location story as 007’s home base of England usually receives at least a cameo. Despite reports that the filmmakers have “abandoned” the UK, CBn has learned that Casino Royale will shoot for at least a week in England, presumably establishing shots of MI6 or some other essential UK-based Bond locale (Bond’s flat in Chelsea?). Post-production work will also be done in the UK.
While a one locale Bond film is still speculation at this point (but, hey, news has been slow, what else are we going to do?), with details of the Prague filming revealed, there now seems at least a possibility that in late 2006 we will see a South African James Bond adventure instead of a globetrotter.
Back to basics indeed…