Bond fans have known since May that Casino Royale, the 21st James Bond film which sees the debut of Daniel Craig as 007, would be filming in the Czech Republic. However, up until now it was reported that filming would be confined largely to studio soundstage work.

The spa town of Karlovy Vary will play a role in Casino Royale

But now Misha Olexova, marketing director of Stillking Films (which has landed the job of local co-producer) reveals that Casino Royale will also shoot on location in the capital city of Prague and its surroundings, as well as the spa town of Karlovy Vary. The Casino Royale team will spend six-months shooting in the Czech Republic starting in January.

This will be the first time that a James Bond movie has filmed inside the Czech Republic. 1987’s The Living Daylights — the Bond film that saw the debut of Timothy Dalton as 007 — featured scenes set in Bratislava (then part of the united country of Czechoslovakia), but that city was doubled by locations in Vienna.

Stillking Film’s managing director, Matthew Stillman, said the co-production deal signed with EON Productions is “an important step for us as well as the local film community.”

Casino Royale was originally scheduled to shoot in South Africa, but problems securing locations forced the producers to look elsewhere. Apart from the Czech Republic, Casino Royale will film in The Bahamas, Italy, and Pinewood Studios in the UK. Club 007 France is reporting today that the Italian location featured in Casino Royale will be Venice, but CBn could not confirm this.

During last Friday’s press conference, producer Michael G. Wilson called Casino Royale “very much a location based film.”

Casino Royale will be released by MGM/Columbia Pictures on November 17, 2006.

Could the spa at Karlovy Vary be THE Casino Royale? Voice your opinion in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

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