Casino Royale: Film – Trivia- A published report by BSkyB in early 2003 indicated that Sean Connery was among those being considered to direct the film.
- Before Daniel Craig was officially announced to play James Bond there were several other actors considered for the part. Producer Michael G. Wilson said that they looked over 200 actors searching for the right one. Some of them were Julian McMahon, Hrithik Roshan, Dominic West and Gerard Butler. Most of them were deemed not appropriate to fit the role, while some others were nothing but media speculation. Goran Visnjic, Sam Worthington, ‘Alex O’Loughlin’ (aka Alex O’Lachlan) and Rupert Friend were also considered, while Henry Cavill almost got the part but was considered too young to play it.
- The amount of money owed by Le Chiffre was $101, 206, 000.
- The license plate number of the Rover that James Bond crashes in the car park was 161138.
- Although the password that James Bond enters on the alpha-numeric keypad at the Casino Royale was supposed to be VESPER (837737), the password Bond enters is 836547.
- During 2004, Quentin Tarantino had suggested making a version of “Casino Royale” with Pierce Brosnan. Reportedly, Tarantino and Brosnan spoke publicly about this proposed project. When Brosnan was not rehired as Bond, Tarantino very publicly berated the producers and refused to have anything more to do with the project even though he was never attached to the picture at any time.
- Director Cameo: [Martin Campbell] the airport worker whose neck is broken by the terrorist
- This film replaces the high-stakes casino game of Baccarat / Chemin de Fer from the novel “Casino Royale” with the modern high-stakes card game of Texas Hold ‘Em (also spelled Texas Hold’em or Texas Holdem). Interestingly, in this game, a hand with a pair of eights is called an “Octopussy”, the name of both a James Bond short story and film (See: Octopussy (1983)). A hand with a pair of eights is actually seen in the film.
- A promotional leaflet used to promote the film in Japan headlined the “Seven rules to receive 00 status”. The Mi6 Fansite had them translated as: “1) You don’t fear death, and won’t give into torture 2) You have Olympic level shooting skills 3) Even if you double-cross your own parents, you will never double-cross the organisation 4) You have knowledge that would surprise even a scholar, and a sense of humour that would make even a bad girl grin 5) You have the sociability of a lamb, but remain a lone wolf 6) You have the highest level of experience with alcohol, gambling, cars and food 7) You can fall in love but you can never love.”
- The license plate number of James Bond’s silver birch 1964 Aston Martin DB5 is 56526. This is the same model car that featured in Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965).
- The license plate number of Mr. White’s car was 784 3BB.
- James Bond’s hotel room number at the Hotel Splendide, Montenegro was Room 378.
- Vehicles featured in the film include the new DBR9 Aston Le Mans racer based casino ice 2007 Aston Martin DBS; the original silver birch Aston Martin DB5 model from Goldfinger (1964) and Thunderball (1965); a 2007 Mk IV Ford Mondeo car; a Fiat Ferroviaria / Alstom Pendolino CD 680 tilting train; a seaplane; the Spirit Yachts “Spirit 54” Yacht; a bendy articulated bus; an oil tanker; police cars; cranes; a Fiat W190 bulldozer; jeeps and an a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600
- The perfume bottle in Vesper’s bag is Melograno by Santa Maria Novella.
- The three-piece suit worn by James Bond at the end of the film is a navy version of the gray suit worn by Sean Connery in Goldfinger.
- The wine that Vesper Lynd and Bond drink on the train to Montenegro is a bottle of Château Angélus, Premier Grand Cru Classé Saint-Émilion.
- The film was delivered to some theatres under the codename: “Rough Skins”.
- First James Bond film approved by Chinese censors. All other films in the series were available in China only as illegal bootlegs.
- The license plate number of James Bond’s 2007 Aston Martin DBS is TT-378-20.
- In one afternoon’s shooting, three Aston Martin DBS cars valued at $300,000 each were destroyed for the car roll sequence.
- The interiors of the Venetian sinking house were a rig built at the Paddock Tank at Pinewood Studios and it could be immersed in nineteen feet of water. It weighed 90 tons and used a mixture of hydraulics and electronics. A computer controlled the hydraulic valves as well as a third scale model of the building which was used for shooting exteriors. Water was pushed upwards by banks of compressors controlled by technicians. It was not actors but crew who for once were the ones responsible for bringing the house down.
- Daniel Craig quit smoking and had Simon Waterson as a personal trainer to get into shape.
- In the Shower scene, Vesper was originally scripted to be wearing nothing but her underwear. Daniel Craig argued that Vesper would not have stopped to take her clothes off, and the scene was changed.
- The style of free-running/movement Mollaka the Bomb-Maker uses in the Madagascar Chase near the beginning of the film is called Parkour. Sebastien Foucan, who plays Mollaka is one of the main publicists of Parkour and has appeared in many other media events.
- “Casino Royale” was the first James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming and is the last of the original Fleming novels to be filmed by EON Productions. The shooting of this film now means EON Productions have filmed the entire canon of Fleming James Bond novels, although some just in title (that is: films titled like Ian Fleming novels whose plots have little or nothing to do with Fleming’s novels, for example The Spy Who Loved Me (1977))
- The location used in the Bahamas as the Madagascar Construction site was an abandoned hotel site at Coral Harbour that was under construction 30 years ago. It was used to film hotel rooms for the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball (1965) and it was also used for the 1977 Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) as a camera platform with models and workshops. It is now part of a military base.
- South Africa was originally scheduled as a filming location for the film. A James Bond film had never lensed in this country before. Scheduling difficulties and the inability to secure shooting locations in the southern hemisphere country meant that the location had to be scrapped.
- The barrel roll stunt in the Aston Martin DBS broke the world record for the most barrel rolls assisted by a cannon. Originally, the racing specifications of the DBS meant that a standard ramp would not be sufficient to get the car to roll, so the special effects team were called in to install a air-powered cannon behind the drivers seat. This allowed the car to complete seven full rolls.
- Marks the first time since The Living Daylights (1987) that a James Bond film has used an original Ian Fleming short story or novel title.
- The film prints were delivered to theatres under the codename “Change At Midnight”.
- The longest running time for a James Bond film. The film’s 144 minute and 7 seconds running time now surpasses On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)’s 140 minute run time. That film held the record for 37 years.
- Diane Hartford who features as Card Player #3 in the credits has the longest ever gap between appearances in Bond films. She had three lines playing a girl in the Kiss Kiss Club in Thunderball (1965) forty one years before. Tsai Chin who plays Madame Wu in this film has the second longest ever gap between appearances in Bond films. She played Ling in You Only Live Twice (1967) thirty nine years earlier.
- First James Bond film since Licence to Kill (1989) to be based on a story or have story elements written by Ian Fleming.
- The Bond girl character name of Solange in the film has previously appeared in two Ian Fleming stories. She was the name of the girl in the short story “007 In New York” and a girl named Solange was referenced in the short story, “From A View To A Kill”. These stories are included in the “Octopussy” and “For Your Eyes Only” collections respectively.
- First James Bond film since The Living Daylights (1987) not to be novelized into a book. The original Ian Fleming novel is to go into reprint as a tie-in for the release of the film instead.
- President John F. Kennedy became an avid James Bond fan after reading Ian Fleming’s novel “Casino Royale”.
- Cameo: [Michael G. Wilson] [As a Montenegro Police Chief.]
- Authorities in Venice granted producers permission to sail James Bond’s yacht, called Spirit 54, along the Grand Canal between the Accademia and Rialto bridges. No-one can remember exactly the last time a pleasure yacht sailed in the Grand Canal, but it’s believed to have been several centuries ago.
- The Casino Estoril of Lisbon, Portugal was the inspiration for the casino gambling scene and title for the Ian Fleming novel of “Casino Royale”. This was a location where German agents would frequent during World War II. On his visit, Fleming bancoed three times and lost three times, yet little did he know that his future James Bond novel title would be made as a film three times.
- The 2007 Ford Mondeo sport model used in the beginning of the film is a special, one-off hand-built prototype vehicle, constructed by hand at Ford of Europe’s Design Studio in Cologne, Germany, in January, 2006 and shipped to the Bahamas in secrecy for shooting. Actual production is not due to start until the second quarter of 2007.
- The set interior of the sinking house in Venice measured 45 ft by 40 ft and was 45 ft high. It was built around the existing indoor tank at Pinewood Studios which was increased to 20 ft so the whole set could sink 16 ft.
- “Casino Royale” is also the name of the casino where James Bond and Maximilian Largo face-off in a video game battle in the film Never Say Never Again (1983).
- Virgin Atlantic Airways and CSA Czech Airlines are the only actual airlines in the film. There are several shots of CSA planes on the ground since the sequence was filmed at the Prague Airport and a Virgin plane is seen taking off in the background. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, is seen in the metal detector in the airport. All of the other airlines are fake.
- Virgin Airlines is one of the actual airlines that appear in the film. It is seen taking off in the background. Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, is seen in the metal detector in the airport. Other airlines include: the national carrier Czech Airlines (CSA), and Travel Service, a Czech charter airline.
- This is the first film in the 44 years of the James Bond series where it rains.
- This is the first official James Bond film to be co-produced by Columbia Pictures, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment; this is a result of Sony’s acquisition of MGM along with Bond rights co-owner United Artists. Columbia Pictures had originally co-produced and distributed the 1967 unofficial film, Casino Royale (1967).
- Poker playing was a common pastime amongst cast and crew on the set, even after production had wrapped. This however is not new for a James Bond film. Roger Moore and Albert R. Broccoli during breaks in filming played and bet on backgammon. Many of the James Bond films have been known to have cast and crew participate in some high-stakes gambling.
- Daniel Craig is the first actor to be under the age of forty and play James Bond since George Lazenby in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969).
- “Casino Royale” was the only James Bond novel not obtained by Harry Saltzman when he purchased the rights in 1961. He then went into partnership with Albert R. Broccoli.
- A video podcast with shooting updates was available during production making it the first James Bond film to do this.
- One week after filming was completed, the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios burnt down on 30 July 2006. This was the second time this had happened, the first being before filming on A View to a Kill (1985). The filmmakers had just finished using the stage for filming interiors set in Venice for the film.
- In 1999 Sony paid MGM $5 million to settle the $40 million lawsuit that MGM had brought against Sony over the Bond rights. The lawsuit was filed because of Sony’s intentions to remake Casino Royale. In the settlement Sony agreed to hand over all of its rights to the Bond character and Casino Royale. In an ironic twist of fate, Sony bought MGM in 2005, and in 2006, released a new serious adaptation of Casino Royale.
- In 1999 MGM paid Sony $10 million for the rights to this film.
- Ian Fleming is said to have based the character of the villain Le Chiffre in the novel “Casino Royale” on English occultist Aleister Crowley.
- This is the first time that the character “Felix Leiter” returns to the James Bond franchise since 1989’s Licence to Kill (1989).
- “Casino Royale” is the most often filmed of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels totaling three times: in 1954, 1967 and 2006. Thunderball (1965) is second with being filmed twice.
- The announcement of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond was made on October 14th, 2005, aboard the HMS President, in London. In that same day, former James Bond Roger Moore was celebrating his 78th birthday.
- The rights to Fleming’s first 007 novel “Casino Royale”, sold by him separately very early on, now reside with Eon Productions. The book was filmed for television and later as a big-screen spoof.
- Many of the other actors in the running for Bond didn’t even know they didn’t get the job until they saw the TV broadcast of Daniel Craig accepting the offer.
- Ulrich Matthes was offered the role of ‘Le Chiffre’ but had to decline due to his commitment to a theatrical production of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”.
- Among the actresses considered for the role of Vesper Lynd were Aishwarya Rai, Naomi Watts, Charlize Theron, Thandie Newton, Angelina Jolie, Rachel McAdams, Caterina Murino, Sienna Miller, Rose Byrne, Rachael Stirling, Natasha Henstridge, Jessica Simpson, Scarlett Johansson and Vera Farmiga.
- Daniel Craig gained 20 pounds of muscle for the role.
- Cameo: [Phil Meheux] The film’s director of photography appears as a bureaucrat from H.M. Treasury in M’s office.
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- Entry created: December 28, 2006; 11:42; Last modified: August 14, 2009; 23:10
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