Sony Shakes The Bond Formula With Casino Royale
The LA Times reports how Sony shook both the dice and the James Bond formula when it came to the 21st official 007 film, Casino Royale.
‘The whole goal was to go beyond what is just a great James Bond movie,’ said Sony Pictures chief Amy Pascal. ‘The goal was to make it a great standalone movie with a compelling story, realistic relationships and dialogue.’
Pascal was pleasently surprised when she learned of the goal in moving from Die Another Day‘s fantasy to the grittiness of the new film. ‘We backed their [producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli] play totally… you always get the best movie when plot and character are indistinguishable.’
With a $120 million worldwide marketing campaign and Sony backing 75% of Casino Royale‘s production cost (MGM with the other 25%), they are definitely pushing all the limits for one of the most successful Bond films ever.
Sony Chairman Howard Stringer told Fortune magazine that Casino Royale ‘will carry so many Sony products that he won’t be able to stand up.’
‘Everybody loves Bond and thinks they know how to do it better,” said Wilson of studio executives. ‘On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d have to say these guys at Sony were in the 9’s. We did not have much of a conflict at all and after our discussions, they mostly came to see things our way.’
‘They are the Bond experts and we had a lot to learn from them,’ Pascal said. ‘It would have been silly to have ego wars with them.’
Click here to read the entire LA Times article.
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