Where to watch Casino Royale (2006)

Trivia & production notes

• Eon Productions obtained the rights to Casino Royale in 1999 when Sony Pictures traded them in exchange for MGM's Spider-Man film rights.
• An early screenplay draft included Bond backpacking in Madagascar and playing chess with Lord Lucan before the story was revised.
• Paul Haggis rewrote the film's climax so that Vesper Lynd would be present in the sinking house, forcing Bond to choose between killing her and saving her, rather than simply confessing and taking her own life as in the original draft.
• The producers deliberately avoided computer-generated imagery for stunts, opting instead to film Casino Royale with practical effects after feeling that Die Another Day had relied too heavily on CGI.
• Martin Campbell was the third director choice for the film, after Matthew Vaughn was deemed inexperienced and Roger Michell declined the offer.
• Pierce Brosnan was initially written as Bond for Casino Royale, but producers realized the story worked better with a younger actor and chose to restart Bond's character arc.
• Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale were both offered the role of Bond but declined; Jackman wanted to focus on other projects while Bale felt uncomfortable with a heavily British franchise.
• Henry Cavill was the only other actor in serious contention for Bond alongside Daniel Craig, having delivered a strong audition at age 22, but was considered too young for the part.
• Daniel Craig was initially suggested for a villain role after impressing producer Chris McGurk, but Barbara Broccoli recognized him as the better choice for Bond himself after watching Layer Cake.
• Craig was exhausted during his audition, having just been flown to London from filming The Invasion in Baltimore, and initially thought his test performance was poor, though Broccoli advocated for him.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article Casino Royale (2006 film), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.