Casino Royale (2006)

This is the first James Bond movie to feature current actor Daniel Craig

Summary

-Now that he has a 00 status and legitimate license to kill, James Bond is given a new mission. He must investigate a banker who is funding terrorists through a high-stakes poker game at Casino Royale in Montenegro

Cast

-Daniel Craig: James Bond

-Eva Green: Vesper Lynd

-Mads Mikkelsen: Le Chiffre

-Judi Dench: M

-Jeffrey Wright: Felix Leiter

-Giancarlo Giannini: Rene Mathis

-Caterina Murino: Solange

-Simon Akbarian: Alex Dimitrios

-Isaach De Bankole: Steven Obanno

-Jesper Christensen: Mr. White

Did You Know?

-Daniel Craig was hesitant to take the role of James Bond because he felt the series had settled into a standard format. After reading the script, he changed his mind

-When Bond orders his first vodka martini, it's the same way that James Bond ordered them in the Ian Fleming novels

-For the iconic scene where Daniel Craig comes out of the water in Speedos, the film crew were out of camera range in boats fending off the paparazzi, who heard there was a movie being filmed

-To prepare for his role as James Bond, Daniel Craig read all of Ian Fleming's novels and he also talked with British Secret Service agents and Mossad agents who worked as advisers for the 2005 film Munich

-Daniel Craig had gotten a call from producer Barbara Broccoli stating he won the role of James Bond while he was grocery shopping. He left everything behind to celebrate with martinis. She told him "Over to you, kiddo."

-To prepare for this movie, Daniel Craig had managed to gain twenty pounds of muscle by doing cardio on the weekends, training five days a week, eating mostly proteins and limiting intake on carbs

-The character Le Chiffre was said to be based on English occultist Aleister Crowley

-For most of the shooting, Daniel Craig stated he was in pain due to the rigorous stunts he was required to perform

-This is the first film to show James Bond as a rookie MI6 agent. In the previous movies, he was already an established spy

-A lot of news was made about Daniel Craig's incredibly muscular form in this film. Being in good shape is nothing new to him; he was a semi-professional rugby player at one point

-Daniel Craig had quit smoking and hired Simon Waterson to work as a trainer to help him get into shape

-During a fight scene in Prague, Daniel Craig lost two of his front teeth. He had his dentist fly all the way from London to fix them

-Former James Bond actors Sir Sean Connery, Sir Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and George Lazenby were all in high support of Daniel Craig being the new James Bond

-Prior to Daniel Craig being hired for the role of James Bond, actor Henry Cavill was seriously considered for this role. But, according to director Martin Campbell, Henry was only 22 years old and considered too young for the role

-Barbara Broccoli's first choice for James Bond was Daniel Craig after seeing him in 2004's Layer Cake

-Daniel Craig stated he wanted to stay faithful to the book by showing the character's vulnerabilities and showing that he makes mistakes. He also stated that the drama would be there when he gets it right and make the audience think it's all going to go wrong and that when it goes all right, the audience would get more excited

-This was the highest grossing James Bond film until 2012's Skyfall beat it

-The navy-blue three-piece suit worn by Daniel Craig at the end resembles the gray suit worn by Sean Connery in 1964's Goldfinger

-There is a supposed nod to Honey Rider's entrance in 1962's Dr. No in this movie. That is because Daniel Craig hit a sandbar that he didn't know was there, forcing him to stand up and walk to the shore

-Some of the actors considered for the role of James Bond included Henry Cavill, Gerard Butler, Dominic West, Alex O'Loughlin

-When it was announced Daniel Craig would be the new James Bond, controversy erupted everywhere. It was due simply to the fact that Daniel Craig was blonde and didn't have dark hair like the other actors who played this character. Because of this, Craig had earned the nickname "James Blond" because of his blond hair

-The original novel has Le Chiffre as an unattractive, overweight man. The actor who plays him in the film, Mads Mikkelsen, doesn't fit that type

-The poker dealer at The Ocean Club is a woman named Jessica Miller. In real life, she is the Poker Room Manager at the Crystal Palace Casino in Nassau, Bahamas

-At 5'10'', Daniel Craig was the shortest actor to play James Bond, compared to George Lazenby, Sir Roger Moore, Sir Sean Connery, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan, who were all around 6'2''

-On October 14, 2005, the day that Daniel Craig was announced as the new James Bond, former James Bond actor Roger Moore was celebrating his 78th birthday

-The character Steven Obanno was based on terrorist Joseph Kony

-When Le Chiffre explains his bleeding eye, he says "Weeping blood comes merely from a derangement of the tear duct, my dear General. Nothing sinister." In optometry and ophthalmology, the medical term for the left eye is the Latin term Ocular Sinister or OS. The Latin word for left is sinister. Left side or left handedness was always associated, historically, with evil

-When he first got the role of James Bond, Daniel Craig ran to the previous actor who played Bond and he told Craig to take the role because of Craig being hesitant to take the role. Later on, in an interview, Pierce Brosnan stated Daniel Craig is a great James Bond and that he enjoyed watching him a lot

-M's personal assistant is named Villiers. It's a nod to Amherst Villiers, a British automotive engineer best known for creating the supercharged 4.5 liter Bentley that James Bond drove in the novels

-Some of the actresses considered for the role of Vesper Lynd include Jennifer Connelly, Vera Farmiga (who was turned down for being "too American), Kimberly Davies, Rachel McAdams, Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Wilde and Rachel Stirling. Ironically, Rachel Stirling's mother is Diana Rigg, who appeared in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service

-The gambling scene was inspired by the Casino Estoril in Lisbon, Portugal. During WWII, German high command figures would frequent this casino, because of its relatively close distance to Germany. On his visit there, Fleming lost three times, but was unaware that his future novel series starring a British spy names James Bond, would have a title made into three movies

-When Bond is poisoned at the casino, the condition is diagnosed as Ventricular Tachycardia Digitalis. It's an increased heart rate that leads to uncoordinated heart contractions called ventricular fibrillation, which leads to death. The digitalis references digitalis-induced ventricular tachycardia, which is caused by a drug called Digoxin or Lanoxin. This is a medication for cardiac issues that can kill if done in overdose conditions. It's derived from a type of foxglove plant called Digitalis Lanata, better known as either Grecian Foxglove or Woolly Foxglove

-It isn't until 2012's Skyfall that M's real name is revealed as Olivia Mansfield

-When James Bond realizes he's been poisoned in the casino, he grabs a salt shaker and a glass. In medicine, it's known that salt water is an emetic, which means you will throw up if you consume it. He is trying to clear the poison out of his body