Casino Royale's Cast Revealed

Eva Green

Following yesterday’s announcement about Mads Mikkelson cast as Casino Royale‘s Bond villain Le Chiffre, today brings more casting news. This afternoon Eon, MGM and Sony Pictures announced that French actress Eva Green has been cast to play opposite Daniel Craig (James Bond) as the enticing Vesper Lynd. Eva Green starred with Orlando Bloom in 2005’s Kingdom of Heaven and was introduced in 2003’s The Dreamers.

It was also announced that Jeffrey Wright has joined the cast and will play the part of Felix Leiter. Jeffery Wright played Winston opposite Bill Murray in 2005’s Broken Flowers as well as appearing in 2005’s Syriana. Not only do we now know who will be portraying the main characters in Casino Royale, the 21st James Bond film, but along with today’s press release came a list of the rest of the cast as well.

Casino Royale’s Cast List

“We are thrilled that Eva and Mads have joined the cast of CASINO ROYALE completing a first rate international cast. They bring exceptional talent to the characters Ian Fleming described so vividly in his first James Bond novel. After an extensive search we have found the perfect actress. Eva is one of France’s most accomplished young actresses, now receiving international acclaim. She brings to the complex role of Vesper an exciting combination of enigmatic and seductive beauty. Likewise Mads has such a compelling onscreen presence and his riveting performances in “Open Hearts” and “Adam’s Apples” convinced both us and director Martin Campbell that he was ideal for the role of Le Chiffre.”

Micheal Wilson and Barbara Broccoli
Eon Producers

“Vesper is a pivotal role in Casino Royale and it takes much more than beauty to make this role work. When you think about the great James Bond adventures, of course you think about action and espionage, but you need to have palpable sexual tension in the movie and in casting Vesper, we really needed to up the ante, because this character is very much an equal to Bond and central to our story. We believe Eva as Vesper, Mads as Le Chiffre and Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter are perfect additions to our cast and we couldn’t be more excited about the way this project has come together.”

Amy Pascal
Chairman of the Columbia Pictures Motion Picture Group.

Bonding with Bj

Written by Ajay Chowdhury

An excerpt from Kiss Kiss Bang Bang number 2

UK cover

Robert Brownjohn: Sex And Typography

Like a lot of the true artists involved with the Bond films, Robert Brownjohn was a colourful, ex-pat American carving his way through Sixties London like a laser beam through gold. This wonderful, richly illustrated and mounted book charts that life from Chicago, New York and London, via the stylish world of the emerging graphic art movement and the heady days of advertising. A larger-than-life but troubled man, Brownjohn found himself in the UK as a leading advertising/graphic artist, trying to escape his demons. Via Harry Saltzman, he got himself on to the Bonds and his work on From Russia With Love and Goldfinger became legendary.

US cover

This book covers in detail the making of those two effectively short films including the experimentation of projections on clouds, how 3 dancers were used on the From Russia With Love titles and the problems with the original title concept for Goldfinger “The producers were not keen to pay Sean Connery to run around in front of a gold sheet…”. The book is filled with candid and moody shots from the set of the Goldfinger title shoot taken by Herbert Spencer. Brownjohn became a legendary figure in Swinging London, designing Rolling Stones record covers and groundbreaking advertising imagery. A fascinating journey of a visionary maverick and highly recommended to Bond fans, graphic artists and fans of the Beat Generation.

Robert Brownjohn: Sex and Typography
by Emily King (Laurence King),
Hardcover, 240 pages, £25.00
ISBN 1 85669 464 X – October 2005
www.laurenceking.co.uk

Robert Brownjohn Exhibition

The Design Museum
London

Pop art

From Russia With Love production notes

Goldfinger production stills

This book coincided with a wonderful exhibition of Brownjohn’s work at London’s Design Museum. The exhibit includes big screen presentations of his Bond titles for From Russia With Love and Goldfinger and those for the Pirelli short film, The Hare And The Tortoise (directed by Hugh Hudson) as well as his Midland Bank adverts and excerpts from a short film starring Brownjohn, Scorpio Rising. Each is preceded by a short narrated piece explaining the history of each short film. The exhibit features Brownjohn’s British quad design for the Goldfinger poster and various other artefacts including his original notebook for the From Russia With Love expenses and the Herbert Spencer Goldfinger stills. It makes fascinating viewing to see these timeless and still powerful graphic images, the simplest and most powerful being Bj’s (as he liked to be known) peace poster. Inspiring stuff.

The museum is also running an exhibit about British design and evokes the England of the period Fleming wrote in. In this context, one gets a clear picture of 1950’s Britain and what a splash Bond (book and film) must have made on this then-grey nation. Catch the poster for Summer Shell. Even fanzines have made it to the collection. The museum also overlooks the site of HMS President, where Daniel Craig was announced as the 6th Eon James Bond on 14th October 2005. Coincident with the exhibition is a vote with the BBC to judge the best British design. On this list is the most famous car in the world—the Aston Martin DB5. Get voting!

Highly recommended—catch it if you still can.

The Design Museum
Shad Thames

London

SE1 2YD

UK

Tel: ++44 (0)870 833 9955

10.00am – 17.45pm (last admission 17.15)

£7 adults
£4 students and concessions
Under 12s free

Museum shop: 10.00am – 17.45pm

Robert Brownjohn Exhibition

15 October 2005 to 26 February 2006

www.designmuseum.org

Ajay Chowdhury is the editor of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The new publication of the James Bond International Fan Club

www.007.info

Discuss this story in the CBn Forums.

Text and photographs © Ajay Chowdhury, 2006. All rights reserved.

Official: Mads Mikkelsen IS Le Chiffre

Source: Variety

Eon Productions held a press conference today at Barrandov Studios where director Martin Campbell announced that Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen (King Arthur) will play the main villain Le Chiffre, putting to rest at least one of the Casino Royale casting questions.

Mads Mikkelsen

As for the more burning question of who will play the Bond girl, Campbell revealed the choice is now down to “two or three” but added “you’ll just have to wait to find out.” Eva Green and Olivia Wilde are reported to be the finalists.

New James Bond Daniel Craig, perhaps thinking of the frayed nerves caused by starting the $100 million-plus shoot without a love interest, assured that the shoot is progressing anyway: “We haven’t got there so it’s all fine.”

True to form, one journalist from the Czech magazine Spy asked Craig what he thought of media speculation about his “orientation.” After a moment, Craig responded icily, “I didn’t know they had but thanks for the information.”

Another local reporter got off to an interesting start by asking the assembled group, Craig, Campbell, Judi Dench and producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, if they were aware there was a previous Casino Royale.

Campbell, Dench, & Craig at today’s Press Conference
(click to enlarge)

Judi Dench, who has regularly delivered a cool, scheming M to the superspy franchise, said her work with Craig on the Prague shoot usually begins with a few jokes, “and that seems to be vital. I only started working with Daniel yesterday, but we found common ground.”

Auds will see more insight into M’s back story than they ever have to date in Casino Royale with a scene set in her London apartment, constructed in modernist beige by Barrandov, complete with Asian art and Tanqueray gin cocktail service.

Bond himself will show his more sensitive side, said Campbell, in that the film, based on the first of Ian Fleming’s Bond books, reveals how he became “the Bond we all know and love.”

The cast and crew jet off to the Bahamas shortly to shoot a chase sequence at seaside construction site (see exclusive pics of that location in this CBn report), then will be back to Prague for studio and location work, and Italy and the U.K.’s Pinewood.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums.

Casino Royale: More Pictures From Bahamas Sets

‘Madagascar’

Despite the
news of a
press conference to be held this evening in Prague, CBn is able to deliver
you some more exclusive pictures from the Bahamas sets of Casino Royale!
Harry Wyckoff, our own man at station B, has returned with more detailed
information and more explicit photos.

If you remember CBn’s
last article
on the Bahamas locations, you will surely have memorized the set called "Royal
Bahamas Defence Force" (see map again

here). An abandoned hotel is now heavily fitted out with large cranes, and a
bunch of additional metal frames, about 100ft high. According to Harry, this set is now called Madagascar and will double for the
island nation in the Indian Ocean.

‘Madagascar’

The set will be used in a fairly major sequence that has also been described
in the leaked
script summary a few days ago. The sequence that will be filmed there is a
chase through the ‘town’ (the set), followed by a chase through the jungle,
culminating in a pretty major stunt involving all the large metal frameworks
mentioned previously. These frames are the beginnings of a ‘hotel’ which will be
the basis for a ‘jumping from hotel window’ stunt at the end of the chase scene.

All 10 set pictures can be found in the
CBn image gallery.
Thanks again to Harry Wyckoff.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

Casino Royale Press Conference Scheduled Today

The long awaited day for James Bond fans has finally arrived. A press conference has been scheduled today for Casino Royale at Prague’s Barrandov Studios – reports Variety.

According to the report, Sony executives and other talent representatives claim that the long-awaited supporting cast (villain Le Chiffre and Bond girl Vesper Lynd especially) will not be announced, but it is still possible that Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli could unveil one of the stars. Mads Mikkelsen is the most recent name associated with a villain role in the film as Eva Green and Olivia Wilde are supposedly being considered for Vesper Lynd (all three names are mentioned in the report by Variety).

While scrutiny of Bond productions is always high, “Casino Royale” has been a particular object of curiosity in Hollywood because of how long it’s taken to cast. Going into the third week of lensing, key roles were still up for grabs.

Variety

Whatever the case turns out to be, Bond fans will be closely following the events. Read the full report on Variety.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK. Stay tuned to CBn for coverage on Casino Royale.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

A Kick in the Aston

On January 20th RM Auctions presented their 8th annual collector’s car show auction in Scottsdale, Arizona at the prestigious Biltmore hotel and resort.

The Star of the Auction:
The 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Coupe
(with modifications)

The auction was announced late in 2005 and Bond fans beamed at the star of the show. One of the promotional Aston Martin DB5’s which, while never appearing in any of the films, had toured the world throughout the 60’s was going up on the block. Complete with all the gadgets, most still functional, the original “Silver Beast” of Bond’s cars attracted the attention of collectors, Aston Martin aficionados and of course… James Bond fans. Myself included.

The controls for the “optional extras”.

Upon hearing of this event, I decided to attend. Granted, the prices were such that I had no chance in walking away with the keys, but it didn’t stop me from registering as a bidder. Besides, I just wanted to see this automotive icon of 007.

The night before was a grand event held in the main auction hall and the James Bond theme was strongly prevalent regardless of the other classics on display. Tuxedoed waiters, martini glass ice sculptures–through which any ordered martini was poured to be “properly chilled”, gourmet trays of food and snacks, and an elegant Jazz quintet set the mood.

Up close… well… She’s not the youngest girl at the dance, but she had everyone’s attention. The interior has been neglected, but the original engineering of all the devices is still sound. A glimpse in the boot revealed what the great John Stears referred to as the “plumbers nightmare”. Hook ups for three tanks (oil, smoke, CO₂ for the ejector seat), the motor and relays for the rear license plates and of course the same for the rear armour screen.

The DB5 shows off its bulletproof windscreen
and front machine guns.

It’s all still good to go apparently but the ejector mechanism has been removed and a normal seat replaced. Also, the CO₂ fed to the unused caltrop dispenser on the back right tail cluster. A few “non-featured” items also were included. The weapons tray, designed under the driver’s seat, but now under the passenger seat, came complete with a prop grenade, knife and non-firing replica Mauser. Additionally, in the driver’s door, the “radio telephone” was intact along with the ram bumpers front and rear which telescoped out and then retracted smoothly.

As to the tire slashers, the extension was simply as they did on the film cars, a screw on, knock on hub. Yes, we all remember the device slowly sliding out of the DB5’s axle, but that’s movie magic. Not enough movie magic to change the fact that both cars are seemingly driving in reverse, but I digress. Check your DVDs.

The plates flipped on cue and everyone cheered. The machine guns extended and much to all’s delight, fired. A small propane tank, complete with a metered sparker, created the effect much as they did in the movie, but with a rather loud report. These days, the sound of machine gun fire in a crowded hall should send everyone off in a panic. Applause and laughter filled the air instead.

Two views of the DB5’s interior.

I have to say, that the appeal of this car is not only the automotive legacy that is Aston Martin but what made it memorable were the great lengths that the effects crew put into making sure that while being the rolling armoured arsenal it was made up to be, it had all the devices concealed. OK, yes, the roof panel is obvious but the rear bullet proof screen is framed such, that were you not a James Bond fan or familiar with a DB5, you might notice, but wouldn’t give it a second thought.

The DB5 on display.

Friday the 20th began at 10am and with my pass I was in to the show which was already crowded and being televised on several automotive networks. Shortly after 2pm, lot number 155, DB5 2018/R “the Bond car” was rolled out to the main lot and people flocked before she was to go up for auction.

The machine guns rattled and all the devices were again displayed and many of those gathered about traded cameras. Everyone wanted a picture with 007’s car. At just ten past 3pm, they dimmed the lights, the Bond theme played and with the screen up, the guns blazing and the oh so distinctive exhaust rumbling the DB5 rolled up and onto the turn table.

Then it began with an opening of 900K(USD). In just under seven minutes (appropriate no?) it closed for 1.9 million(USD). The buyer was actually a second party to the new owner who is rumoured to be a collector in Switzerland. CBn is following up on this. We’ll let you what we find.

Elapsed time – 007 minutes.

We can only hope the new owner shares it in some manner with the rest of the world.

All in all, a cool experience to witness and, to a point, be a part of.

Lastly, the question begs of any Bond fan.

If you had the cash, would you have paid 1.9 million?

I think we all know the answer.

Discuss this article in the CBn Forums.

### Related Articles

* [Aston Martin DB5 Going Once… Going Twice…](https://commanderbond.net/cw.cgi?action=Story&SID=3057)
* [‘Diamonds Are Forever’ Mustang Mach 1 Showcased at L.A. Auction](https://commanderbond.net/cw.cgi?action=Story&SID=2438)
* [Aston Martin DB5](https://commanderbond.net/index.php?action=Story&SID=1699)

Carlos Leal Cast in Casino Royale

Carlos Leal

Swiss actor and rapper Carlos Leal told Swiss news agency

SDA (Schweizerische Depeschenagentur) that he has landed a role in Casino Royale: he will play a croupier "It will be a long and important scene with Mr.
Bond himself" he said. 12 days of shooting in Prague are scheduled for him.

Carlos Leal was born in 1969 in Geneva as a son of Spanish immigrants. He is one
of Switzerland’s most popular rappers, singing in French with his band "Sens
Unik",with which he won several gold records in Switzerland and France. Based on
his experiences with music videos, he started taking acting lessons and pursued
an acting career, which is now his main focus. In January 2006, he was awarded
"Best Swiss actor" for playing the lead role in the Swiss drama Snow White.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet.

Casino Royale: Exclusive First Look on Bahamas Locations

Thanks to Harry Wickoff, our new man at Station B, CommanderBond.net
is able to bring you some detailed information on the shooting locations of
Casino Royale on New Providence, Bahamas. Additionally, we’re the first one to
break you actual pictures from the Bahamas set!

Shooting is about to start in a week, after completing shooting
in Prague. The Art & Stage Team Headquarters for the Bahamas crew are located in a little place called Coral Harbour (see ‘C’ on Overview Map).
Around this area, three other locations can be found: an area that has just been
cleared for the production trucks (‘D’), an abandoned resort that currently is
being transformed into a film set (‘E’) and the ‘Royal Bahamas Defence Force’.
In addition, the film crew has taken over a few undeveloped beachfront lots in
the neighbourhood.

EON sign

So here are the detailed descriptions from our man at Station B:

B – Royal Bahamas Defence Force: These guys have a
disused hotel for training on their grounds. This is now heavily fitted out with
large cranes, and a bunch of additional metal frames, about 100ft high. I am
presuming this is for backdrops or stunt stuff, but no real idea yet

C – Art & Stage Team Headquarters: This plot of land is now a production
centre for props, and houses the art and creative teams in trailers. Lots of
construction going on, lots of plants, trees, all sorts!

D – Film Crew Lot:  This lot has just been levelled (it was empty, but
heavily wooded) and will be the base location point for the film crew trailers
for the duration of the Bahamas stuff (approx. 1 month)

Royal Bahamas Defence Force

E – Unused Resort: This appears to have been dressed to resemble a shanty
town type thing, lots of tin roof buildings and a large three story facade of a
building looking out to the ocean

What exactly is going to be filmed in the described spots we yet
have to find out. CBn, however, can provide you with three pictures taken near
the sets: two shots of the little ‘direction’ signs put up by EON Productions,
one which identifies Coral Harbour, and one of the sign on the gate of the mini
resort they are using as a set.

If you have a second look at the overview map, you’ll notice
location ‘A’ – Albany House. According to
Bahamas News,
Albany House is going to feature in Casino Royale. "We are excited to showcase
the property in the upcoming movie, and participate in an event which will again
bring international acclaim to islands of the Bahamas," Jason Callender,
director of the development company said.

Abandoned Resort

Affectionately known as the "house with the long pink wall",
Albany House has attracted a great deal of attention over the past few months as
the new owners Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and the Tavistock Group (owned by Lyford
Cay resident Joe Lewis) gear up to develop an ultra-luxurious and exclusive
residential community. Although representatives of the property would not
comment on their guests, it is rumoured that the estate has been host to
celebrities such as Bono of U2, John Travolta and Celine Dion.

The Albany House was built in the spirit of the Bahamian Great
Houses of the last century. It is situated in the southwestern quarter of New
Providence – the capital island – and lies to the west of 77 acres of land with
3000 feet of beautiful and exclusive sand beach. Looking out over a shallow sea
which varies in colour from transparent blue to turquoise, with its own tranquil
and private beach.

Albany House

According to our own Harry Wickoff, it is not sure
whether the house will be used as accomodation or shooting location – "its
certainly large enough to accommodate both."

More pictures of the locations can be found in the
CBn Image Gallery!

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet. Many thanks to Harry Wickoff. Set Pictures taken by Harry Wickoff. Map screenshots taken from Google Earth.

CASINO ROYALE: SCRIPT REVIEW ONLINE

It seems ‘LatinoReview’ have acquired a copy of the script of the latest James Bond film Casino Royale. Claiming to hold a copy of the 112 page second set of revisions by Paul Haggis dated December 13, 2005.

At the demands of MGM/Eon, we cannot link to LatinoReview’s review.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet. Many thanks to forum user “Shrublands” for the tip!

Casino Royale: Details On Shooting in Plana/Czech Republic

As CBn

reported earlier, not only the city of Prague will be a film location for
the latest James Bond movie, Casino Royale, but also surrounding towns and
villages. Today, while driving home from a friend in my car, a song I don’t like
was played in the radio. So I changed the station and switched over to
SWR1. There, some chat was
going on, when I finally realized that they were talking about Casino Royale!

I am not sure how long the programme was already going on, but I caught some
details on shooting in the village of Plana. Back in December, the
"Mitteldeutsche Zeitung" was the first one to report that an abandoned hospital
in Plana is going to be a film location. Talking to the building manager of that
hospital, the radio reporter confirmed the shooting. It seems that the Bond
crew, including Daniel Craig and some other of the cast members, are heading to
Plana later this year, to shoot for at least two days. For these two days of
shooting, 60 (!) vans are going to carry equipment to the village near the
German border ("We have no idea yet where these vans could park…").

They also revealed that the 21st James Bond film is going to have a very
similar opening to the last one, with Bond waking up in that hospital "after
being tortured heavily". Interestingly, the hospital itself will be located in
Croatia, which is close to Montenegro. So it seems that Casino Royale will
mostly be set in the Balkan area in Southeast Europe. The radio report also
featured a rough description of the hospital, which is said to have gigantic
halls and big doorways. "The Bond producers especially liked that", the manager
was quoted.

Until the 1980s, the hospital was used by the Soviets as a military hospital.
The management will only be paid 1200 ? (~ 1450 US$) by the producers, but they
hope that a new investor will put some money into the old hospital.

Loket Castle

In related news, Czech newspaper

Novinky has posted an article about the Czech locations. Thanks to the folks
over at
BondMovies.com, who did a rough translation of the article, another location
can be revealed: The castle of Loket. The old bulding is described as "a
massive Gothic castle ruling over a town closed on a promontory over a river,
surrounded by woods – it is a picture from a fairy tale. And if the fairy tale
includes imprisoning people – and not only subjects – then the impression
emanating from the castle Loket is quite perfect. Today, it serves to more
fragile purposes – it houses a historical collection of china. However, the
castle tour will take you to dungeons, to a visit to local ghosts and the
necessary relaxing view from the tower." (webmapy.cz)

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced
by franchise holders Eon Productions. The MGM/Columbia Pictures production
began shooting in January and is due for release worldwide on 17 November 2006.
Starring Daniel Craig as James Bond, it is currently being filmed in the Czech Republic,
the Bahamas, Italy and the UK.

Discuss this news in this thread on the CBn Forums, the largest James Bond forum on the internet. Many thanks to forum user “Shrublands” for the tip!