Casino Royale
20th Anniversary 2006-2026

Principal photography for Casino Royale commenced on January 27, 2006 in Prague with the scenes of Bond storming an African Embassy in pursuit of a bomber played by French freerunner Sebastien Foucan. Daniel Craig threw himself into the role of James Bond performing much of the action himself, resulting in minor injuries, and which the press were quick to report in their on-going crusade against his casting. The next important casting was the female lead, with French actress Eva Green securing the key role of Vesper Lynd on February 16, 2006. Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen was cast as the villain Le Chiffre, with Italian actor Giancarlo Giannini coming on board to play Bond’s French secret service ally René Mathis. As Casino Royale was effectively a clean start with a new Bond earning his Double-O status, Judi Dench had not been expected to return as M, given her MI6 associates Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) and Robinson (Colin Salmon) were dropped. Director Martin Campbell agreed that Dench was now so well-established and still the best person for the role that she happily agreed to return as M and travelled to The Bahamas for location shooting in the early stages of filming.

The second week of principal photography was the pre-credit sequence (moodily shot in black-and-white by Martin Campbell’s long time cinematographer Phil Meheux) showing how Bond earned his Double-O status. In the finished film we first see Bond as he confronts and shoots Dryden, the corrupt MI6 section chief (played by Malcolm Sinclair), followed by the flashback to a brutal fight with Dryden’s accomplice, Fisher (Daud Shah), which was significantly altered for the US release due to the violence. Several shots were replaced with alternate versions to tone down the graphic violence depicted in the scene. A later fight sequence with Obanno (Isaach de Bankolé) and his bodyguard was similarly re-edited for the original US release. On February 17, 2006, the first unit travelled to The Bahamas where they filmed the meeting with gambler Alex Dimitrios (played by Simon Abkarian) and his glamorous wife Solange (Caterina Murino).

Eva Green joined the production in Nassau and on March 13, 2006, shot Bond and Vesper’s romantic beach interlude which takes place towards the end of the film. The Bahamas also stood in for Madagascar, and the location of a now derelict hotel at Coral Harbour Beach was dressed to resemble a construction site, and used by the first and second unit for the spectacular opening freerunning chase. The hotel had actually been frequented by the cast and crew during filming of The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977, with its roof serving as a high camera position to capture scenes of Stromberg’s supertanker Liparus at sea.

40-years after appearing in Thunderball (1965) as the girl in the ‘Kiss Kiss Club’, who James Bond (Sean Connery) dances with before Fiona Volpe (played by Luciana Paluzzi) cuts in, is Diane Hartford, who has a small role in Casino Royale, this time credited as ‘Card Player’ at the ‘One And Only Ocean Club’, where Bond (Daniel Craig) wins his Aston Martin DB5 from Alex Dimitrios. Diane Hartford was the former wife of George Huntington Hartford II (1911-2008), the American businessman, philanthropist, stage and film producer, and art collector who owned Paradise Island in The Bahamas, which served as a major filming location in both Thunderball and Casino Royale.

Also returning on Casino Royale was veteran Production Designer Peter Lamont, whose final film this would be after a 42-year association with the James Bond franchise. Lamont had begun as a draftsman on Goldfinger (1964), and risen through the ranks to art director, then going on to design nine films in the series. After several over-the-top designs for Die Another Day (2002), Lamont created 40 realistic sets for Casino Royale, including the fictional African Embassy and the opulent private gaming salons, to the meticulously detailed Venetian Villas and courtyards erected at Pinewood Studios.

The first unit then returned to Prague where they shot Bond and Vesper’s first meeting on board a train set filmed at Modřany Studios on March 27, 2006, before moving on to a hotel room set where they filmed the emotionally charged shower scene over two days from March 29th. Following the filming of the brutal stairwell fight, the crew moved to Barrandov Studios where the interior of the ‘Casino Royale’ private gaming salon had been built. The Grandhotel Pupp in Karlovy Vary was used as the exterior of the Hotel Splendide. Filming began on April 5, 2006 with the filmmakers choosing to replace the game of baccarat (which featured in Ian Fleming's 1953 novel) with No Limit Texas Hold 'em to capitalize on the massive global popularity of poker during the mid-2000s. American actor Jeffrey Wright joined the cast for the casino scenes becoming the first black actor to play Felix Leiter in an EON Productions James Bond film, a role he would reprise in Quantum of Solace (2008) and No Time To Die (2021). Following the casino scenes, production moved to an abandoned barge on April 24th where over two days Daniel Craig and Mads Mikkelsen filmed the sadistic torture scene that was lifted directly from Ian Fleming’s novel. The scene proved problematic for the British Board of Film Classification who demanded cuts, and the original UK release had one shot removed, a knotted rope draped over Bond’s shoulder, and a line of dialogue from Le Chiffre. Clever editing by Stuart Baird kept much of the eye-watering action off screen, but the sequence is nonetheless very effective and all cuts were later waived by the BBFC when Casino Royale was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

On May 8, 2006, the first teaser trailer and moody poster artwork were released online and audiences got their first glimpse of Daniel Craig in action as James Bond. Running just one minute and fifteen seconds, with the first half in black-and-white, it was clear that we were in for something special and that the producers gamble may actually have paid off.

Production then moved to Lake Como in Italy on May 29, 2006, to film the scenes where Bond convalesces after his encounter with Le Chiffre, and then on to Venice where the crew shot in St. Mark’s Square, previously the location for more comedic scenes with Roger Moore and a modified gondola in Moonraker (1979). The climactic scenes of collapsing buildings on the Grand Canal were a combination of several components, including practical effects filmed on location, computer generated effects and large miniatures constructed by Chris Corbould at Pinewood Studios on the Paddock Tank. The scenes set at Miami airport were filmed at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey and began with the second unit in late May with the first unit then filming with Daniel Craig for four days from June 13, 2006. Again, many sequences were enhanced with CGI, such as the establishing shot of the Skyfleet prototype aircraft, and various vehicles being blown over by the jet engines of a Boeing 747. The technology had advanced significantly since its use in Die Another Day (2002), resulting in a much better blend of digital and practical effects. With the first unit filming at Dunsfold, second unit director Alexander Witt and his crew worked at Millbrook Proving Ground (a vehicle testing centre in Bedfordshire) where they filmed James Bond’s Aston Martin DBS flipping over as he swerves to avoid the captive and bound Vesper Lynd lying in the road. After several failed attempts using a ramp, stunt driver Adam Kirley eventually drove a car fitted with an air cannon, which when triggered caused the car to barrel roll seven times, which was confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records in November 2006 as a new world record.

CONTINUED >>

FACT FILES