Daniel Craig Bonds With Japanese Fans At Casino Royale Pre-screening

Daniel Craig bonded with several Japanese fans along with model Hinano Yoshikawa at a pre-screening event at a Tokyo movie theater on Thursday night–reports the Mainichi Daily News.

Visiting the country for the first time in order to promote Casino Royale, Craig said: ‘It’s always been a dream of mine to come to Japan, to Tokyo, so I hope to see as much as I can over the next four days.’

When I was a boy (I dreamed of becoming Bond), but never as an adult. I’m afraid it was not an acting dream of mine,’ Craig said. ‘But when I was a child, I wanted to fly to the moon as well.’

Craig explained to the fans that the key thing about Casino Royale is ‘a very wonderful love story with me and Eva Green (Vesper Lynd). For me, the two things, having an action story and having a love story were the most fulfilling things.’

Casino Royale opens for general release in Japan on 1 December.

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Casino Royale Becomes Most Successful Bond Film In Spain

The record-breaking performance of Casino Royale shows no sign of stopping.

Typically Spanish reports that Daniel Craig’s first James Bond film has become the most successful ever in the series upon its release in Spain.

Beating the previous record held by Pierce Brosnan’s final 007 film, Die Another Day, Casino Royale took in just under three million €.

Click here to see pictures from the Madrid premiere of Casino Royale – attended by Daniel Craig, Mads Mikkelsen, Caterina Murino, and director Martin Campbell.

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Daniel Craig Nominated For Independent Spirit Award

While Daniel Craig’s debut as James Bond in Casino Royale is breaking box office records around the world, his other recent role as Perry Smith in Infamous has earned him a Best Supporting Male nomination from the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Craig goes up against Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine, Raymond J. Barry for Steel City, Paul Dano for Little Miss Sunshine and Channing Tatum for A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints in the same category.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards will take place on 24 February 2007, live on IFC.

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Discuss this James Bond news in this thread on the CBn Forums. With thanks to CBn forum member ‘JCRendle’

Casino Royale Breaks Box Office Record In Sweden

The record breaking of the newest James Bond film, Casino Royale, continues. Moviezine reports that Casino Royale has broken a record in Sweden for the most successful opening weekend for a ’15’ rated film.

According to the website, the film brought in 155,832 people in the opening weekend alone. In comparison, Pierce Brosnan’s final Bond film, Die Another Day, had roughly 115,000.

Casino Royale opened in Sweden on 24 November.

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Daniel Craig Discusses Casino Royale; 'Looking Forward' To Bond 22

An interview with Daniel Craig has appeared online at STV. This interview, which took place just before the public release of Casino Royale in the UK, features Daniel Craig speaking on the role as well as his future as James Bond…

Craig explains that this Bond film had to take a different path when comparing it with the previous films: ‘I just thought that if we were going to do Casino Royale, we [had] to go somewhere else.’

‘We wanted to first and foremost make a great movie that would appeal to anybody,’ says Craig.’

Regarding film projects outside of the world of 007, Craig said: ‘I’m not going to stop reading scripts and I’m not going to stop looking an interesting stuff. As long as people are interested in me doing these things, I’ll do it.’

When asked if there is any indication on how long Craig will stick around, he said: ‘Until I get kicked out, I suppose [laughs]. At this stage, I’m really looking forward to making another movie. Beyond that I have no idea.’

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Casino Royale Opening #1 Worldwide; Earns $224 Million+

The worldwide box office success for Casino Royale continues, where it has opened #1 in all 50 where it has opened (with the exception of the US) – reports Deadline Hollywood Daily.

The worldwide box office for Casino Royale currently exceeds an estimated $224 million ($128.2 million foreign; $94.2 US) and many box-office gurus are predicting that Daniel Craig’s debut as 007 will become the most successful Bond film yet, with estimates exceeding $575 million worldwide.

‘Casino Royale is on course to pass 2002’s Die Another Day ($161 million US; $432 million worldwide) to become the top-grossing Bond flick,’ said Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony.

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Casino Royale: A 'Fantastic' Finished Result, Says Wilson

A new video from the world premiere of Casino Royale, which took place on 14 November in London, has appeared online at YouTube.

Producer Michael G. Wilson was interviewed on the finished result of Casino Royale, to which he said: ‘I think the finished result is fantastic. I think we’ve got a Bond [in Daniel Craig] for the next decade and maybe beyond. It’s certainly a rebooting of the franchise and Barbara and I are absolutely delighted the way it turned out. It couldn’t have turned out better.’

‘I think we’d gotten a little too fantastical with the last film, Die Another Day,’ says Wilson when asked why they decided to shake up the 007 formula. ‘It was necessary to bring it back down to earth and we got a chance to make Casino Royale. We’d gotten the rights after 40 years and here’s the chance to do it the proper way.’

When questioned about what exactly the formula will be for Bond 22 and beyond, Wilson said: ‘I think so… so far it looks like the public loves it.’

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Two Minutes Of Casino Royale Cut For India Release

The Telegraph reports with a new article on the cuts that Casino Royale received for its release in India.

The cuts consisted of two love scenes as well as the torture sequence between Daniel Craig’s James Bond and Le Chiffre played by Mads Mikkelsen. The former two scenes were reduced to quick flashes, while the latter was edited down by approximately 60%–a total of two minutes cut from the finished film.

What is interesting to note is that the censor did not demand such cuts be made, but rather that distributor Sony Pictures Releasing India (SPRI) suggested them in order to earn the U/A certificate (thus bringing in a larger audience). Vinayak Azaad, regional officer for the censor board in Mumbai, said: ‘We are not into moral policing. The cuts were suggested by Columbia Pictures. As a purely adult movie, we had cleared it earlier without any cuts.’

Lalit Chetnani, chief finance officer for Sony Pictures, the distributors for Columbia, confirms: ‘We volunteered the cutting of the scenes as we wanted a U/A certificate for the film to open it to a larger audience. The censor board suggested that we reduce the intimate scenes to flashes and the torture scene by 60 percent. The censor board, satisfied with what we had cut, gave us the U/A certificate.’

‘We are a layered society, so what may be taken easily by an urban audience may not go down well with those watching the same film in suburban areas. Films such as James Bond are dubbed in several regional languages, and dubbed versions have a far greater reach in India than their English versions, and that often calls for constant vigilance,’ said Sharmila Tagore, chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

CBn previously reported that Casino Royale set a record opening in India, where it had the best opening weekend for any foreign film in the country.

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International Attention For Casino Royale's Mads Mikkelsen

Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the villainous Le Chiffre in Casino Royale is now receiving international attention, reports Variety.

‘Nobody knows who I am here, so it’s definitely starting over in the sense of being known. But I’ve been doing this for a while now, so that’s fine,’ he says. In addition to his role in Casino Royale, Mikkelsen made his American film debut in King Arthur and was considered for co-starring roles in both North Country and The Da Vinci Code.

However, it was his role in the film Open Hearts that brought him to the attention of producer Barbara Broccoli. ‘We had to be sure that he could be a worthy opponent to James Bond,’ she says. ‘I saw Mads in Open Hearts and was impressed with his power and strength onscreen.’

‘It definitely put him on the radar with people who didn’t already know him,’ says his L.A. rep, Sandra Chang of Industry Entertainment. ‘The way this town works, everything is by list, and suddenly you wind up higher on the list.’

Mikkelsen, who has currently not chosen his next American film project, says: ‘I still have Denmark, and I’m definitely going to live and work there for the rest of my life. Whatever happens outside of Denmark is just icing on the cake for me.’

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Casino Royale Pushes Bond Franchise Past $4 Billion Milestone

Daniel Craig’s debut film as 007, Casino Royale, has helped the James Bond series to attain a new milestone: breaking the $4,000,000,000 barrier according to The Numbers.

Counting the official 21 Bond films plus 1983’s Never Say Never Again, the website reports that the series has grossed $4,007,292,099 worldwide as of 23 November 2006 (as the daily box office take for Casino Royale is changing daily).

This number puts the Bond series at the #2 spot behind the Star Wars series, which has grossed over $4.3 billion worldwide.

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