Daniel Craig James Bond Casino Royale Opening Scene
Introducing a new 007 in Casino Royale demanded a new kind of action sequence. The solution came with an amazing foot chase through a perilous construction site in Madagascar with Bond pursuing bomb-maker Mollaka up and down scaffolding, including a jaw-dropping jump from the top of a crane.
- James Bond Casino Royale Cast
- Daniel Craig James Bond Casino Royale Opening Scene Youtube
- Daniel Craig James Bond Casino Royale Opening Scenes
James Bond Casino Royale Cast
Screenwriter Neal Purvis explained the origins of the set piece. “We wanted to establish the new Bond is gadget free, raw, slightly crazy, very physical and incredibly brave. We were also aware there had never been a foot chase in a Bond movie before.”
To shoot the sequence, the unit used Nassau as a double for Madagascar. The construction site was created on the site of an old hotel the team had frequented during the making of The Spy Who Loved Me but had now fallen into disrepair. To ensure the hotel looked like it was in a state of construction, the production needed to dress the site with a framework of girders and three cranes. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, all the US and Canadian cranes had been moved to New Orleans so the unit shipped in cranes from the UK. The steel girders were cut to required lengths at Pinewood, shipped to Nassau then erected in just six days.
Inside the classic action sequence Introducing a new 007 in Casino Royale demanded a new kind of action sequence. The solution came with an amazing foot chase through a perilous construction site in Madagascar with Bond pursuing bomb-maker Mollaka up and down scaffolding, including a jaw-dropping jump from the top of a crane.
Finally, the Casino Royale script is here for all you fans of the Daniel Craig James Bond movie. This puppy is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay and/or viewings of the movie to get the dialogue. It’s A Satisfying 007 Origin Story. James Bond didn’t necessarily need an origin story, but it was a.
Following second unit work directed by Alexander Witt during February, the first unit joined them to shoot with Daniel Craig. To make the sequence fresh, the filmmakers tapped into the burgeoning parkour craze. Screenwriters Robert Wade and Neal Purvis had seen Sébastien Foucan demonstrating free running in the 2003 documentary Jump London leading him to be cast as Mollaka. “The way Sébastien does it is like a ballet,” said Witt. “It’s not like running like a stuntman would do, there is a kind of flow in his running and jumping.”
Shooting the scene at 100 feet above the ground, even seasoned action filmmakers felt the jeopardy in capturing the action. “You’re high up in the air, the wind’s whistling through the girders,” recalled stunt co-ordinator Gary Powell. “It is very intimidating to be up that high.” The heart-stopping leap from one crane to another and then onto a roof was achieved in one-shot. Although the jumpers were sporting safety harnesses connected to an even higher crane and a small landing platform was digitally erased from the shot, the leap was performed for real.
For Daniel Craig, shooting the sequence proved to be a daunting but ultimately cathartic experience. “I’m not going to rush up there again in the near future but I definitely put some demons to bed.”
Daniel Craig James Bond Casino Royale Opening Scene Youtube
47-year-old professional trainer Simon Waterson started working with the Bond franchise back in 1999 as Pierce Brosnan’s trainer on The World Is Not Enough (1999) before helping Daniel Craig get into shape for the role of 007 in Casino Royale (2006). Since then he’s worked with him on Quantum Of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015) and most recently No Time To Die (2020). Waterson joined the Royal Naval Commandos when he was 16, serving as a member of the 845 Naval Air Squadron – an elite special forces unit – for seven years before taking on a very different Naval Commander…
When did you first meet Daniel Craig?
It was before Casino Royale started filming. I flew to Washington to meet Daniel who was working on a different film. I knocked on his trailer door and he answered holding a bacon sandwich and smoking a cigarette and he was like, ‘Oh no’ and I said ‘Oh yes, the process is starting my friend’. We came up with a plan of what aesthetic look we wanted for him – his body shape and the way Bond moves – all the things that go along with the character. Daniel is very meticulous and he knew the way he wanted to portray Bond and how he wanted to evolve the character. He wasn’t looking at it as one movie, he was already looking beyond that and how the character would evolve over a series of films.
How do you prepare Daniel for filming?
I normally get the script and spend some time breaking down the different elements especially if they are athletic – sprinting, going through walls – like you see in Casino Royale’s opening sequence, just so I know the movement and speed they are going to require. Then I’ll work on those elements with Daniel. He always says to me that his physique needs to represent the nature of his job, so that he looks capable and he keeps himself in top trim. Then he has the speed, the reaction, the strength and the agility. He shouldn’t look like a body builder, he’s a product of the nature of his job. His athleticism has developed so he is that efficient at the job.
Is he up for training or do you need to give him a push?
The start is always the hardest. The first few months are tough but then when you start to see the fruits of your labour it becomes a lot easier and it becomes more about tweaking and maintaining and having specific movements to represent what’s in the script. For example, if he needs to jump over a balustrade then we practice that stunt so that it gets easier and easier. The fitter you get the easier it gets. When we go into production we go into a maintenance phase. Like any athlete there’s a pre-season which in the film world is pre-production and then you have the season which in our world is filming and then, like any athlete, there will be a post-season which is post-production.
What makes up his routine – presumably a combination of weights and cardio?
It’s a combination of all those things. The key word is relevance. I don’t want to waste time on doing things that aren’t relevant. If there are huge sprint scenes in the film there’s no point Daniel sitting on a bike. Everything is about relevance to the movie.
When filming No Time To Die Daniel injured his ankle, how did you deal with that?
You never want an injury to happen and it’s a setback but it’s manageable and you work around it. In the world of action movies there are always going to be a few niggles, you are working extremely hard and you don’t get an afternoon off, it’s six days a week, six in the morning till ten at night. It’s inevitable that you are going to get some knocks, but it’s how you react to that. If you catastrophise the situation then you’re going to go into a bad place. Mentally you need to keep yourself in a good place. With injuries it’s all about looking at the long term health, so you do the right exercises and the right rehabilitation to get it fixed properly.
How important is diet?
The nutrition side of things is the key. I like to have a good eye across that. I use a lot of anti-inflammatory protocols. The nutrition is tailored towards the script and schedule. For high octane, athletic days, where there’s lots of stunts and running around then the calories and the macros (macronutrients) are different to a sedentary dialogue day. There’s no crazy diets, nothing is eliminated. We’re looking for maximum amount of energy, good hydration and a constant flow of eating throughout the day. During shooting Daniel has six meals a day.
What’s a typical day on set like?
It depends on the day of course, no one day is like another. But he comes in early and if it’s an action day we have half an hour of activation, we’re preparing the body to work at a high level for the day. We will do a mixture of dynamic exercise with a stretch routine to make sure the body is warmed up. Then he will go back to the trailer and get ready for filming while I go off and make sure breakfast is ready. We’ll use lots of things like turmeric root juice which is a natural anti-inflammatory along with probiotic shots. Then it’s really being on-hand for his snacks and meals and then in the evening we’ll do a bigger workout back in the gym and work on some conditioning. But saying that, we’ll judge it on the day. If it looks like he just needs to eat and sleep then we’ll do that rather than training.
Daniel Craig James Bond Casino Royale Opening Scenes
How does working on set and on location differ?
Going on location is great from a fitness point of view. Working in Matera on No Time To Die was exhausting just because getting to the gym there were so many stairs to climb. If you go to a hot climate it’s easier to go swimming or paddle boarding so you can diversify and make it a bit more interesting. Fitness doesn’t have to be prescribed, it should feel like a hobby. You need to have escapism, it’s not work, it’s leisure time, so we just put some music on and enjoy it.