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  1. Video Interview With Casino Royale's Martin Campbell

    By Devin Zydel on 2006-10-27

    A new video interview has appeared online with Martin Campbell, director of GoldenEye and Casino Royale. Focusing on the new film and his involvement, the interview (which runs for about 15 minutes) can be listened to online here.

    ‘We have a new Bond, Daniel Craig, in this case,’ says Campbell. ‘We’ve gone back to a book… how the public will take it is going to be very interesting.’

    When asked about what he thought of Daniel Craig as the newest 007, Campbell said: ‘Daniel absolutely fits the template of Bond in Casino Royale… he has a dark quality about him, Connery had that.’

    On comparing him to Pierce Brosnan: ‘You can’t compare them, in the sense that they’re so different. I think Pierce was absolutely fantastic in the movies that he did, which was very much the old template of Bond. You know, they were very broad, they were kind of fantastic, there was always some nutcase taking over the world… Casino Royale very much has its feet on the ground.’

    ‘Gone is the fantastical element. The story itself is based much more in a reality, much more so than the previous Bonds.’

    ‘At the beginning of the movie he thinks much more with his heart instead of his head, so at the end of the movie he becomes the Bond we all know and love.’

    When asked with the absense of such characters of Q and the fantastical elements, will Casino Royale miss out on the iconic action sequences of the latest Bond films, Campbell said: ‘Oh, I don’t think you’ll be missing it. There is humour in the film, no doubt about it, there’s wit. Believe it or not, there’s one or two of the old Bond lines that we all know and love.’

    ‘There’s no difference,’ Campbell said when asked how directing Casino Royale compared to GoldenEye. ‘These films are meticulously planned… and all over the place.

    ‘The most important thing [in directing the action sequences] is to make sure the action is character-based… the character should keep in character. What you can’t do is just have a huge action scene for the sake of an action scene.’

    What is the secret of the success of 007 series? ‘Two things. One is the character. He’s who every man wants to be and who every woman wants to be with. The other [is that] Bond films have always delivered something new, something people hadn’t seen before, and its very exciting.

    And finally, will Campbell be returning for Bond 22 and beyond? ‘After GoldenEye I said I’d never direct another Bond and its rather like Sean Connery saying he’ll never do another Bond… well, you know, never say never again.’

    Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest news on Casino Royale.

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