quick Casino Royale question
 

Do we know if this is set in modern times or are they looking at a 50 or 60s look? I know that they were going for a more basic feel ( no more really stupid stunts), I was just wondering what sort of cars, guns and fashions to look for.

This article mentions he is going back to his early days. Also names the bad guy and the Bond babe.

Bond Hot for Eva, Mads About Baddie
By Josh Grossberg Thu Feb 16, 7:44 PM ET

James Bond can finally take down that help wanted ad.

After months of searching, and with filming on Casino Royale already underway in Prague, the 007 brain trust hired a love interest and a nemesis for
Daniel Craig's super spy. French hottie Eva Green will essay the role of vixen Vesper Lynd. The alliteratively named Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen will play the villainous Le Chiffre.

Martin Campbell, who helmed GoldenEye, announced the Mikkelsen news at an impromptu Wednesday night press conference at the Czech Republic's Brandov Studios flanked by Craig, Judi Dench (who's returning as M) and the film's producers, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson.

Green's casting wasn't confirmed until Thursday, when producers released a press release touting her addition to the cast. She'll play the latest in the storied line Bond babes, which includes Ursula Andress' Honey Rider, Honor Blackman's Pussy Galore and, most recently, Halle Berry's Jinx.

"Vesper is a pivotal role in Casino Royale and it takes much more than beauty to make this role work," says Columbia Pictures studio boss Amy Pascal, whose studio is distributing Royale.

"When you think about the great James Bond adventures, of course you think about action and espionage, but you need to have palpable sexual tension in the movie and in casting Vesper, we really needed to up the ante, because this character is very much an equal to Bond and central to our story.

Mikkelsen, 40, is best known for his role as Tristan opposite Clive Owen and
Keira Knightley in the 2004 version of King Arthur. After an eight-year stint as a professional dancer, he became one of Denmark's biggest stars with his breakthrough role as a junkie in 1996's Pusher. Other credits include 2000's Flickering Lights, 2001's Shake Your Heart, the 2003 Dogma film Open Hearts and 2004's Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands.

He will play Le Chiffre, the character Ian Fleming variously called "the Number" and "the Cipher" in his franchise-launching novel, Casino Royale. Le Chiffre is a banker for terrorists and criminals who enjoys torture and gives Bond a run for his money at the baccarat tables.

Despite the difficult search, the casting wasn't entirely unexpected. Green, 25, won out over a short list that reportedly also included The O.C.'s Olivia Wilde and Australian actress Rose Byrne. Green, who made her debut in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers (2004) and most recently costarred in last year's Kingdom of Heaven, had been the rumored front runner once Crash star Thandie Newton and Wedding Crashers'
Rachel McAdams took themselves out of contention.

Meanwhile, reports surfaced this week that the Dane's taxi driver father had told his customers that his son was selected to follow in the footsteps of such seminal Bond baddies as Dr. No, Goldfinger and Blofeld.

Also joining the cast is Emmy-, Tony- and Golden Globe-winning actor Jeffrey Wright (Angels in America, Syriana) as Bond's CIA pal Felix Leiter.

With all the key parts set, the $100 million production can continue on its tight schedule.

After filming is completed in Prague, cast and crew are scheduled to jet to the Bahamas to film a chase sequence, then move on to additional shoots in Italy before wrapping up in the U.K.'s Pinewood Studios, where earlier Bond installments have been shot. The film is slated to be released worldwide on Nov. 17.

Although the script has been for filmmakers' eyes only, Casino Royale is expected to take the iconic character back to his early days, when he first joins Her Majesty's
Secret Service. We'll learn why he prefers his vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred." M's backstory will also be elucidated, with a scene supposedly set in her London apartment.

One thing the film will not feature is a scene in which Bond shoots a man he mistakes for a terrorist. British tabloids have been gnashing their teeth at the supposed plot point, saying it echoes the real-life incident in which London police gunned down Brazilian national Charles de Menezes in the aftermath of last July's subway bombings.

Broccoli and Wilson's Eon Productions released a statement this week saying, "In the script of Casino Royale James Bond does not kill any innocent people."

Meanwhile, in other Bond news this week, Irvin Allen, who played Blofeld henchman Che Che in 1969's On Her Majesty's Secret Service and had a bit part in 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me was acquitted this week in a London court of murdering his estranged wife.

The 71-year-old actor and retired boxer was found not guilty of killing Thai-born Chamlng Allen, 49, in April, 2005 due to insufficient evidence. The murder occurred just days before she was scheduled to contest custody of the couple's three kids in a family court proceeding. Allen says he hopes police will attempt to find the "true killers."

Considering M (or shall I say Dench) is back, I guess that means it will be set in modern times, which I think is probably the right move.

Sounds good. :thumbsup:

Does anybody have pics of the babe and the bad guy?

That's a shame. I was hoping they were going to recast M for this film.

Not that I would kick her out of bed or anything like that, but she doesn't have the look that makes me want to turn around and look at her as she walks by.
A Bond girl should look like a Victoria Secrect model.

I am not happy with the Bond girl. I was hoping for Olivia Wilde or Rachel McAdams.

Some Bond girl roles require more than looks. Sophie Marceau blew Denise Richards off the screen in The World is Not Enough because she can act. I think Eva Green is perfect for the role.

Agreed on both counts.

Very few Bond girls were knockouts of the "Victoria's Secret" variety.

And with that, I'm already disappointed in the movie. Judi Dench is a good actress and all, but not right for the M role. With the recast of Daniel Craig as James Bond, I was really hoping that the rest of the standard roles would also be recast to be truer to Ian Fleming's novels.