If you had directed Casino Royale

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Kristatos
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If you had directed Casino Royale

Post by Kristatos »

Imagine you are the writer/director of CR, given a completely free hand by EON (which would never happen in real life, of course - EON keeps its directors on a pretty tight leash from what I understand). What would you have done differently? This question isn't aimed at the Craigian contingent, obviously - we all know you think CR is the greatest movie ever made and couldn't possibly be improved upon.

Anyway, here's my wish list.

1) Cast someone who actually looks like James Bond in the role. If they actually wanted the part, instead of having to be talked into it by Steven Spielberg, that would be the icing on the cake.

2) Make the setting as timeless as possible, so that it is left deliberately ambiguous whether this is a prequel or a reboot. No references to 9/11 or the cold war. If you want to believe that this film occurs before the events of Dr. No, then that's fine. If you want to believe that the previous 20 films never happened, then that's fine too.

3) On a related note, someone else, anyone else, as M. Sorry, Dame Judi. You can't be Bernard Lee's predecessor and his successor.

4) Villiers being introduced as "Mr. Villiers from Q division" and a cameo appearance from Moneypenny, just to get a sense that we are being introduced to all the elements of the Bond mythos.

5) Er....

6) That's it.
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Post by Skywalker »

Here goes.

I think initially I would have to decide whether CR should be a reboot. Let's say I did and I went with the same format.

1) If it were to be based on a Rookie Bond, I would not choose Craig. His weathered looks and age discount him from playing that role. I would go for a younger looking actor early 30's late 20's.

2) If CR was to be more akin to the previous films then Craig could well have been cast. With the prospect of refinement, poise and logical thinking, Craig could excel using his vast range of acting skills.

3) The Dame would be despatched as M as you already pointed out K.

4) I would have included gadgets as it is customary in Bond films and this is a Bond film.

5) Other changes to the cast would be a replacement for Mathis and Le Cheriffe. Mads never convinced me in the role and I found it hard to believe his character.

6) I enjoyed the PTS, but the Crane crap has to go. Totally unbelievable. I never felt this scene had any edge to it.

I will continue to think about this post and add to it.

I also think the input from the Pro-Craigers would be good.
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Post by James »

1) Cast someone who actually looks like James Bond in the role.
The biggest one for me. I'd have taken the plunge with one of the younger contenders.
I enjoyed the PTS, but the Crane crap has to go. Totally unbelievable. I never felt this scene had any edge to it.
A really silly scene. I do believe it should have been stripped down and edited.
The Dame would be despatched as M as you already pointed out K.
A new M should have been cast for CR.


My other changes:

Introduce Vesper earlier.

Have a new Moneypenny in the film.

Use the James Bond music.

Less of the portentious 'if only my little finger was left' style lines.
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Post by paco chaos »

had I directed this film, i would have cast Gerard Butler as Bond.
found a really smokin' hot woman to play Vesper, since Bond actually falls in love with this one. someone sophisticated, sexy, not awkward, and not wearing really harsh makeup.
recast M, since this is a reboot. definitely a male in the part.
found a decent singer for the opening credits, since the song was good, but Chris Cornell was not appropriate for the vocals. it would have been so much better with a sexy female voice for it.
I would have had naked chicks doing acrobatics during the opening credits. it's a James Bond film for chrissake!
i would have not had the crane scene, or the collapsing building at the end.
and i might have had Bond win a Bentley instead of an Aston Martin during the poker game. if you are rebooting a franchise, it's kinda wise not to keep reminding the audience of what already has been, since we all know Sean Connery is the real James Bond, and all the other guys are the dudes who are playing James Bond.
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Post by Kristatos »

paco chaos wrote:and i might have had Bond win a Bentley instead of an Aston Martin during the poker game. if you are rebooting a franchise, it's kinda wise not to keep reminding the audience of what already has been, since we all know Sean Connery is the real James Bond, and all the other guys are the dudes who are playing James Bond.
I think that had more to do with the fact that Ford owns Aston Martin, and gave shedloads of money for product placement, than with Connery.
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Post by Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry »

I would have cast an actor who looks and acts like James Bond.

I would have not included the origin story bit. An origin story could be good with a Henry Cavill type - but it should not have been tacked onto Casino Royale in a desperate attempt to copy Batman, Superman etc.

They had the spine of the novel to adapt and clumsily added action sequences to it, which did not work for me.

Eva should have had more to do.

A clear-out with Purvis and Wade/Dench/Arnold should have ensued.

I would have included some Ipcress File type scenes of Bond at work.

I don't know why they decided to get rid of the Bond music/Moneypenney etc from Casino Royale. I believe they may have not had any ideas on how to radically change the series and excised some staples as a result.
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Post by paco chaos »

Kristatos wrote:
paco chaos wrote:and i might have had Bond win a Bentley instead of an Aston Martin during the poker game. if you are rebooting a franchise, it's kinda wise not to keep reminding the audience of what already has been, since we all know Sean Connery is the real James Bond, and all the other guys are the dudes who are playing James Bond.
I think that had more to do with the fact that Ford owns Aston Martin, and gave shedloads of money for product placement, than with Connery.
yeah, that's fine, but I would have had the new Aston Martin the way they did in the film, with M giving it to Bond for his mission. But the car he won in the poker game would have been a Bentley, as a nod to Ian Fleming's books. But that's another gripe I had with Casino Royale, was all of the darn product placement. It was overkill, Omega watches, Sony Ericson cellphones, Sony Vaio laptops, Ford automobiles, ect...
guess what I can't afford most of these items, so it doesn't matter how much they promote them.
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Post by Dr. No »

If it was reboot I'd've gone with a young actor to Play a young Bond.

Stayed with the Bond theme music, it got ahead of it self skirting around the theme and pretending Bond dosnt "become" Bond til the end.

Start with a strong mission showing Bond being Bond, maybe use a very young actor to shock the audience with how young and there for green Bond is. But not incompetent. He can make mistakes but we see Bond there.

New M, probable a male to recreate early Bond M relationship.

Bond would rent a high end car, one he couldn't afford to own, because he savors the finer things and is pretensions about social standing. Also would the car bond wrecks chasing Vesper would be his own.

Vesper would have been different actress and introduced earlier.

Moneypenny and Q would be in the movie they were in the book after all. If there had to be no gadgets then Q or q division would have been introduced injecting the tracking device.

The crane chase would be gone, the car chase would be longer.

oh Baccarat and not poker.
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Post by Skywalker »

Dr. No wrote:If it was reboot I'd've gone with a young actor to Play a young Bond.

Stayed with the Bond theme music, it got ahead of it self skirting around the theme and pretending Bond dosnt "become" Bond til the end.

Start with a strong mission showing Bond being Bond, maybe use a very young actor to shock the audience with how young and there for green Bond is. But not incompetent. He can make mistakes but we see Bond there.

New M, probable a male to recreate early Bond M relationship.

Bond would rent a high end car, one he couldn't afford to own, because he savors the finer things and is pretensions about social standing. Also would the car bond wrecks chasing Vesper would be his own.

Vesper would have been different actress and introduced earlier.

Moneypenny and Q would be in the movie they were in the book after all. If there had to be no gadgets then Q or q division would have been introduced injecting the tracking device.

The crane chase would be gone, the car chase would be longer.

oh Baccarat and not poker.
Some very good points there Dr.
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Post by The Sweeney »

If I had directed it, I would have -

1) Scrapped or changed some of the dialogue between Vesper and Bond on the train, and the scene with the `little finger' line.

2) Chose another actress instead of Green

3) Chosen a different ending to the Venice scene, and have her act of suicide a tad more obvious to the audience - more in line with the novel.

4) The Miami and Madagascar scenes - I understand why they are in, as a Bond film wouldn't be a Bond film without the big action set-pieces and stunts, so I would leave them in. It kept audiences happy with plenty of action, as the second half had considerably less (its ironic when I speak to some people who think the first half is better, then there are others who think the second half is better).

5) The whole `Mathis needs me' bit is confusing. I know this happens in the novel, but Mathis was not a traitor in the book. I would have reverted this back to Mathis being the good guy (he still may well be by Bond 22) and made the `Mathis needs me' bit more clearer. I'm still not sure why Bond suddenly runs out during this moment either during the film.

6) Used more of the Vesper love theme earlier, rather than just using it mainly at the end.

Other than that, I think the film is excellent as it is.
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Post by paco chaos »

The Sweeney wrote:If I had directed it, I would have -

1) Scrapped or changed some of the dialogue between Vesper and Bond on the train, and the scene with the `little finger' line.

2) Chose another actress instead of Green

3) Chosen a different ending to the Venice scene, and have her act of suicide a tad more obvious to the audience - more in line with the novel.

4) The Miami and Madagascar scenes - I understand why they are in, as a Bond film wouldn't be a Bond film without the big action set-pieces and stunts, so I would leave them in. It kept audiences happy with plenty of action, as the second half had considerably less (its ironic when I speak to some people who think the first half is better, then there are others who think the second half is better).

5) The whole `Mathis needs me' bit is confusing. I know this happens in the novel, but Mathis was not a traitor in the book. I would have reverted this back to Mathis being the good guy (he still may well be by Bond 22) and made the `Mathis needs me' bit more clearer. I'm still not sure why Bond suddenly runs out during this moment either during the film.

6) Used more of the Vesper love theme earlier, rather than just using it mainly at the end.

Other than that, I think the film is excellent as it is.
shockingly enough, I agree with all of these points. but I still think there needs to be naked girls in the opening credits as well.
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