Casino Royale

Casino Royale (2006) is the twenty-first film in the James Bond series; it is directed by Martin Campbell and the first to star Daniel Craig as MI6 agent James Bond. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis.

It is the third screen adaptation of the Casino Royale novel. It was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 satirical film. However, the 2006 film is the only EON Productions adaptation of Fleming's novel. It is a reboot of the Bond franchise, establishing a new timeline and narrative framework not meant to be preceded by any previous film.[3] This not only frees the Bond franchise from more than forty years of continuity, but allows the film to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond.[4]
The film is set at the beginning of James Bond's career as Agent 007, just as he is earning his licence to kill. After preventing a terrorist attack at Miami International Airport, Bond falls for Vesper Lynd, the treasury agent assigned to provide the money he needs to foil a high-stakes poker tournament organized by Le Chiffre. The film's story arc continues in the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

Casino Royale was released on 16 November 2006. The casting for the movie involved a widespread search for a new actor to portray James Bond, and significant controversy over Daniel Craig when he was eventually selected. Some Pierce Brosnan fans threatened to boycott the film in protest.[5] Despite this, the film, and Daniel Craig's performance in particular, earned critical acclaim. Casino Royale was produced by EON Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Columbia Pictures, marking the first official Bond film to be co-produced by the latter studio, which had produced and originally distributed the 1967 non-canonical film version.

Cast

• 
  Daniel Craig as James Bond: A British agent who, after being assigned 00-status, is sent on a mission to arrest a bomb maker in Madagascar, where he stumbles upon Le Chiffre's terrorist cell and is then sent to defeat him in a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale.
  
• Eva Green as Vesper Lynd: An agent for HM Treasury assigned to supervise Bond and finance his poker table exploits.
  
• Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre: A banker who services many of the world's terrorists. He is a mathematical genius and chess expert, and uses these skills when playing poker.
  
• Judi Dench as M: The strict head of MI6. Though she feels she has promoted Bond too soon and expresses abhorrence of his rash actions, she acts as an important maternal figure in his life. Dench was the only castmember carried through from the Brosnan films.
  
• Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter: A quiet CIA operative participating in the poker tournament while assisting Bond. This is the first official Bond film in which Leiter is played by a black actor. (The only other black actor to portray Felix Leiter was Bernie Casey in Never Say Never Again, which was not produced by EON.)
  
• Giancarlo Giannini as René Mathis: Bond's contact in Montenegro.
  
• Simon Abkarian as Alex Dimitrios: Another contractor in the international terrorist underworld and associate of Le Chiffre, based in the Bahamas.
  
• Ivana Miličević as Valenka: Le Chiffre's girlfriend and henchwoman.
  
• Caterina Murino as Solange Dimitrios: Dimitrios's wife, whom Bond seduces. She is killed by Le Chiffre for unintentionally revealing one of his plans to Bond.
  
• Isaach De Bankolé as Steven Obanno: A feared leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, introduced to Le Chiffre by Mr. White to account his finances.
  
• Jesper Christensen as Mr. White: A mysterious liaison for an unnamed terrorist organisation.
  
• Sébastien Foucan as Mollaka: A bombmaker pursued by Bond through a construction site in Madagascar.
  
• Ludger Pistor as Mendel: A Swiss banker responsible for all monetary transactions during and after the poker tournament.
  
• Claudio Santamaria as Carlos: A terrorist employed by Le Chiffre to blow up an aircraft.
  
• Joseph Millson as Carter: An MI6 agent who accompanies Bond in Madagascar.

Two major exclusions from the film are the characters of Q and Miss Moneypenny. Their exclusion makes Casino Royale the second film in the series without Q (Live and Let Die being the first), and the first without Moneypenny. In October 2005, producer Michael G. Wilson stated that the characters were not in the movie because they were not in the book, though Moneypenny was mentioned by Bond in the novel. The decision to leave Moneypenny's character out from the film coincided with the announcement by actress Samantha Bond, who had portrayed the character in the previous four films, that she would not reprise the role.[7] Though she does not appear in the film, a reference to Moneypenny arises in a scene between Bond and Vesper Lynd. In the scene, Vesper appears for the first time introducing herself with "I'm the money" (referring to her role as a Treasury accountant), to which Bond replies, while looking her over, "Every penny of it."[8]
Casino Royale includes a cameo by British entrepreneur Richard Branson (seen being frisked at Miami airport). The cameo was cut out of the in-flight version shown on British Airways aircraft, as was a shot of the Virgin Atlantic aircraft Branson supplied.[9]