CASINO
ROYALE marks the second Bond film in which Martin Campbell
returns to work his magic once again.
Having previously collaborated with and broken in Pierce
Brosnan in his first Bond film GOLDENEYE in 1995,

Campbell

has the pleasure of breaking in yet another new Bond, Daniel Craig.

Campbell

showcases his
talents in CASINO ROYALE by incorporating black and white
contrasting scenes, and using cool angle shots to draw the viewer
directly into the action. However,
according to

Campbell

, amongst all the excitement, the biggest challenge of all was to
direct the intense Poker scene. The
film keeps you intrigued and at the edge of your seat.

Having
directed other blockbuster hits such as THE MASK OF ZORRO and THE
LEGEND OF ZORRO, I have no doubt that CASINO ROYALE like GOLDENEYE
will be another big box office hit. I
recently had the pleasure of sitting down with

Campbell

to talk about his return to 007. Check
out what he had to say.

—
This interview includes SPOILERS so be aware!!! —

Martin
Campbell

How
did it feel to go back to a Bond film?

Because
it was a book, it felt good. They
did offer me another one after GoldenEye but I just didn’t want to
repeat myself. It was
just another submarine pen but because this was a book, I thought
this character was much more interesting perhaps in the book than it
becomes in the movie. His
liver is in bad shape and he smokes, which Fleming smoked by the way
and it finally killed him.

The
opening scene is sort of a departure from previous Bond films.
How did you decide to go with that?

In
the book there are actually two killings but they are all different
in the movie. He has to
do these two killings ion order to become a 007 agent.
It was sort of a precourse. I
did a grainier black and white shot for the bathroom killing and it
was a very ugly killing. Anyone
who has read the book knows that Bond has trouble dealing with ugly
violence.

Did the black
and white make it through the sensors as well?

For
the British sensors I had to take one cut out in the torture scene,
where he puts the rope over his shoulders. They thought it was a
little too sexual but the violence they didn’t cut.
Now in

America

, no problem with the torture scene which I was amazed about and I
had to reduce the violence and strangling and get to the death
quicker. I found that
very ironic and I think it proves that nobody really knows anything.

Can
you talk a little about Bond’s interaction with the women in the
movie because it is quite different from the past?

The
first girl represents the way in which Bond sees women, which is to
use them. He’s got to
seduce them, have sex with them to get the information that he
needs. I think in the
beginning when he’s looking at the dead girl’s body someone says
to Bond, it’s a good thing you didn’t get more involved but I
don’t think you have that problem, and Bond says no.
After that when he meets Vesper Lynd, which is virtually like
in the book, she is very much his intellectual equal and he falls in
love with her. And
it’s a very serious relationship.
When she finally commits suicide the emotional shutters slam
back down. So Vesper
Lynd became the most important relationship in his life.

Was it a
conscious decision to make Bond so sexist?

Well
it’s not because of that. To be honest it’s just purely
following the book.

With Vesper
Lynd it’s very serious. He
falls in love with her and she falls in love with him.
She dies a little differently in the book.
She overdoses.

What were your
first impressions of Daniel when you first met him?

Like
with Pierce, what happens in the casting process, you probably get
fifty names which you all consider and talk about.
None of the names stood out and what you do is test and we
tested eight and I can’t tell you who those eight were but we did
test them. Daniel flew
over from I think doing The Visiting, a remake of Bodysnatchers.
And he literally got off the plane and ran over to the
studio. I did his test
and he was excellent on the test.
Then the script came in and we had bits and pieces on the
script and of course it just seemed to me that he was absolutely
perfect for this part. It’s
very much as Fleming describes Bond.
We all had to be unanimous and Daniel Craig got the part.
And that’s what happened.

Did any actors
turn you down?

I
don’t think so. There were
no offers made to actors at all. There
was speculation about Clive Owen and sorts but to be honest it was
never talked about.

You’re
the first director that broke in 2 new Bonds, it must be unique
dealing with the anxiety.

With both Pierce and Daniel, you never know until you
actually start putting scenes together but I’ve been lucky twice.

Were
you going for the more physical, rugged, muscular type?

Yes, very much so.

Talk
about some of the technical challenges of the

Madagascar

scene.

Sebastien is best free runner in the world.
I extended the sequence and we storyboarded it.
We had to storyboard it very carefully.
I think I did the section until he almost comes out of the
jungle. Then there’s
all stuff when they are running on the roads and then the close ups.
Safety wise it was a pretty precarious exercise.
Everybody’s on wires of course.

What
was the biggest challenge in shooting overall?

The roughest scenes were the poker scenes. They were very
difficult because of the ten people all looking at each other across
the table. You have to
cover everything from the chips going down to close up of cards, to
everyone’s reaction. Every
time you yell cut, every chip has to go back to square one and mark
where you have to pick the game up from.

Why
poker?

It’s the most popular game going at the moment.
Poker has been very popular with all these tournaments going
on now. A lot more people are
up to speed with poker than any other game.

How
much homage to do you have to pay to certain iconic Bond things like
Martinis and car chases?

Well we thought it would be nice to do the scene where he
talks about the recipe for the Vesper Martini.
But there are certain things when coming back to bond basics
that just don’t fit. No
man taking over the world, no laser guns.

Being
part of a franchise, do have you have to do follow certain rules?

No, I don’t. The
producers are not controlling. They
never interfere. They
encourage you

.

Can
you talk about Daniel Craig as an actor?

He is clearly the best actor ever in our Bond films.
He’s done a lot of stuff and he’s always good.
In Road to Perdition, I thought he did a wonderful job.
Whatever he does, he’s got this chameleon like quality.
Very committed actor and whether he’s playing Hamlet or
Bond he puts the same energy into the part.
He had quite a hill to climb of course for predecessors that
played bond before him. He
is very realistic. He’s
a Bond that bleeds I guess.

How
would you compare GoldenEye to this Bond?

There are more stakes on this movie than GoldenEye. This was
a tougher job because the last film was a huge hit, the biggest
financially so there is a bigger risk.
Don’t break what’s not broken.
Also Daniel’s not your conventional pretty boy blonde.
He’s a good-looking guy but he’s tougher and darker then
perhaps the Bond we’ve established in previous movies.
So all of that has a risk to it.
Fortunately I think, it’s paid off.

How
do you decide how far to push the violence and go against the grain?

First of all, you are restricted to a PG-13 rating but
toning the violence I wanted it much quicker and tougher because I
wanted to show that Bond, when the violence becomes ugly, it really
affects him. There is a side
to him, which is absolutely repulsed by the violence.
I sort of do that in the bathroom scene in the beginning when
he’s just staring down and at the bottom of the stairs it’s the
same thing. The girl says how
can you just forget killing those guys and he says, I couldn’t do
my job if I didn’t. Well of
course he’s lying. The
truth is it does affect him and it’s certainly an issue in the
book. It was very important for me to make Bond bleed, to make
mistakes and make him vulnerable.

What
would you say would be the one thing that people will be most
surprised about when seeing this film?

That he is human. I
think that all the previous Bond’s, he’s iconic, you can predict
what he’s going to do, you know there are going to be action
scenes, you know the puns that are going to come in, you know he’s
going to get the women, you know that you’re not going to take it
more seriously. I think
the character is a much more developed character.

Do
you think Eva [Green] is a Bond girl?

I don’t think she’s a Bond girl.
She isn’t a Bond girl in the traditional sense, not your
basic window dressing. I think
she’s beautiful and all of that but I think her role is a very
serious role and I think her relationship with Bond is very touching

.