It was previously announced on the CBn Forums that Premiere Magazine was featuring an article on Casino Royale for its November 2006 issue (which has been available since 10 October for fans who haven’t obtained a copy yet): ‘Craig. Daniel Craig. Will The New Bond Hit The Jackpot In Casino Royale?’

After the release of 2002’s Die Another Day it was ‘very important to bring [the series] back down to earth,’ says producer Michael G. Wilson. With the decision made on Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale and the ultimate casting of Daniel Craig as the new 007, all Bond fans know what followed after was a media frenzy regarding Craig as Bond. Craig explains that when he was first approached by Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, his answer was ‘No. I’m not interested.’

‘I wasn’t totally convinced about Daniel… it was when Paul Haggis came on to do the rewrite that it all fell into place. It became a more serious Bond, a more realistic Bond. Much more like the books. And then of course Daniel fits perfectly.’ - Martin Campbell

Another meeting followed which led to the script for Casino Royale eventually making its way into Craig’s hands. ‘It read brilliantly,’ he says. ‘…And I got that cold bead of sweat down my forehead, going “Oh, shit.” So we moved along with it.’

‘In character terms, she’s window dressing. It’s nice to show her ass climbing onto the boat.’ - Martin Campbell on Ivana Milicevic’s ‘Valenka’

‘It was a learning curve for him,’ says director Martin Campbell of the injuries Craig sustained while working on the film; in the free-running sequence with Sebastien Foucan specifically. Campbell further explained how the harsh scenes actually worked toward a goal of making Casino Royale: a more realistic Bond film.

And what about the Bond girls? ‘We wanted an actress to take on [the role] and go, “We have to turn this upside-down,”’ says Craig. ‘[Eva Green] is perfect for this … there’s a great friction there.’

‘There are some slight undertones that he might be interested in men. Some will see it, some won’t. - Mads Mikkelsen on ‘Le Chiffre’

Caterina Murino says of her role of ‘Solange’ in the film: ‘I’m very glad. I hope that it can open more doors.’

Campbell promises a ‘harrowing’ finale in Venice for the film as well. ‘We didn’t [previously] equate depth with Bond, and the truth is that whenever we tried to achieve depth, it didn’t fit. If it doesn’t work with in this, I don’t think it can work in a Bond film.

‘What we haven’t done is take the title of the book and completely rewrite the whole thing around some lunatic taking over the world.’ - Martin Campbell

‘I’ve been involved every step of the way,’ says Craig. ‘It made me think, Okay, let’s do the second one now. And let’s make it better. Because I know now we can make it better. And it’s not that [Casino Royale] isn’t fantastic.’

There’s much more in the Premiere Magazine Casino Royale article. Pick up the magazine today and check out http://www.premiere.com/bond.

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

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