Martin Campbell Moves Into 'Casino Royale'
As his second Zorro film edges its way towards its October release date, director Martin Campbell has finally started full-time work on James Bond’s next adventure, Casino Royale.
Martin Campbell
Since agreeing to direct the new 007 movie, Campbell’s involvement has been somewhat limited due to post-production on The Legend of Zorro. However, CBn has learnt that post-production on Zorro is largely complete, and Campbell has now stopped dividing his time between the two productions and is working exclusively on Casino Royale.
For fans, this will come as welcome news, as Casino Royale nears the start of principle photography amidst rumours of a turbulant pre-production period, including the ongoing lack of James Bond #6 (recent reports suggest Campbell would favour an unknown for the role). Campbell has so far brought with him cinematographer Phil Meheux (whom he worked with on his first Bond film, GoldenEye), whilst CBn learnt in July that Stuart Baird was the top candidate to serve as editor.
News of Campbell’s committed involvement with the film comes on the heels of Million Dollar Baby screenwriter Paul Haggis signing on to do a three-week script polish ahead of Casino Royale‘s January start date.
As CBn reported last week, a new series of screentests for the role of James Bond are being conducted this month. Amongst those being tested is Layer Cake star, Daniel Craig.
In related news, Variety reports Craig was recently spotted thumbing through a £25,000 mint first edition of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale in a bookstore in London. Whilst Craig left without purchasing the novel, CBn has learnt Eon is not distributing copies of the script, but rather advising potential Bonds to read the book.
Casino Royale is scheduled for release in late 2006.