Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale has been regarded as one of the best James Bond films to have come out of the franchise. This is quite interesting, considering how a majority of the decisions it took when it came to its story and characters went completely against everything the series had done beforehand. Rather than the villain being an unfeeling rock, Le Chiffre was turned into an impulsive, bloodthirsty man who was willing to do anything to make ends meet.
On the other hand, Craig’s character was also very untraditional, still being rough around the edges rather than his usual posh demeanor. These decisions were explained away by the fact that the movie acted as a completely new introduction to the series and showed Bond in the early stages of his career as a spy.
While the plan was excellent, it would seem that the executives behind the film were going back and forth about certain decisions. This was especially the case for one of the most iconic scenes between Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd and Bond.
The Perfect Show of Power in Casino Royale
Before the iconic poker game with Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, there is a scene with James Bond and Vesper Lynd in their room. While she is getting ready, Bond walks in and hangs a dress on her door.
When asked what it is for, he explains that he wants her to look her very best so that she can play the role of a distraction and make it easier for him to win the game. She agrees with a smile; however, as soon as he leaves, the expression disappears.
If the scene ended right there, it would have been classic Bond in every way. However, since times had drastically changed since the release of the last film, some changes were made, and rather than only making Eva Green’s character a love interest, they made her Bond’s equal.
As director Martin Campbell said in the book, Nobody Does It Better: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of James Bond, the story had to change with the times.
Barbara Broccoli Objected
After the order, Daniel Craig’s character leaves and enters the room, only to find a suit laid out on the bed. When he asks Lynd about its origins, he is met with a simple reply. The table will be full of very high-profile people, and he needs to fit in. At his objections and questions about how she got it tailor-made for him, she shuts him down, showing exactly what their dynamic is.
Bond, full of attitude, comes in hangs up her dress, and says, ‘I want you to wear this because I want the players looking at you and not at their cards. A distracting technique.’ It was chauvinist as hell. Then he goes back in and, my God, he sees this beautiful suit laid out.
Two equally skilled and powerful people in a partnership. While the approach was excellent in many ways, producer Barbara Broccoli had an issue with one detail about the interaction.
I remember Barbara saying, ‘You can’t have that. You can’t have that. Bond has his own suit.’ I said, ‘But he’s not Bond yet.
She had an issue with the fact that James Bond was getting a suit that was not his own. To this objection, Martin Campbell told Broccoli that he was yet to become the sophisticated Bond that audiences were used to. This is what made the scene stay and become one of the most iconic in the film.
