Casino Royale is a 2006 spy film, the twenty-first in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel of the same name.

Directed by Martin Campbell from a screenplay by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis, it stars Daniel Craig in his first appearance as Bond, alongside Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, Judi Dench, and Jeffrey Wright.

In the film, Bond is on a mission to bankrupt terrorism financier Le Chiffre (Mikkelsen) in a high-stakes poker game at the Casino Royale in Montenegro.

Following Die Another Day (2002), Eon decided to reboot the franchise,[5][6] attempting to provide a realistic and darker exploration of a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond.

[7] Casting involved a widespread search for a new actor to succeed Pierce Brosnan as Bond; the choice of Craig, announced in October 2005, initially proved controversial.

MI6 operative James Bond earns his "licence to kill" and promotion to 00 agent status by assassinating the traitorous Dryden and his contact in Prague.

In Uganda, Mr. White introduces Steven Obanno, a high-ranking member of the Lord's Resistance Army, to Le Chiffre, an Albanian private banker to terrorists.

MI6 enters Bond—the agency's best poker player—in the tournament, believing a defeat will force Le Chiffre to seek asylum with the British government in exchange for information on his clients.

[13] As the drafts became closer to being finalized, the opening scene in which Bond earns his 00 license was originally going to consist of an adaptation of either the short stories "The Hildebrand Rarity" or "007 in New York."

[21] Eon believed that it had relied too heavily on computer-generated imagery effects in the more recent films, particularly Die Another Day, and was keen to accomplish the stunts in Casino Royale "the old fashioned way".

[43] Campbell and casting directors Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins recalled meeting with Alex O'Loughlin, Julian McMahon, Ewan McGregor, Rupert Friend, and Antony Starr to discuss the role.

"[50] On 14 October 2005, Eon Productions, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and MGM announced at a press conference in London that Craig would be the sixth actor to portray James Bond.

[53] Craig, unlike previous actors, was not considered by the protesters to fit the tall, dark, handsome and charismatic image of Bond to which viewers had been accustomed.

"[57] French actress Audrey Tautou was also considered, but not chosen because of her role in The Da Vinci Code, which was another Columbia Pictures film released in May 2006.

Further shooting in the UK was scheduled for Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, the cricket pavilion at Eton College (although that scene was cut from the completed movie), and the Millbrook Vehicle Proving Ground in Bedfordshire.

[65] The crew returned to the Czech Republic in April, and continued there, filming in Prague, Planá, and Loket, before completing in the town of Karlovy Vary in May.

The exhibition's developer and promoter, German anatomist Gunther von Hagens, also has a cameo appearance in the film,[70] although only his trademark hat is actually visible on screen.

So I took that as inspiration to use playing card graphics in different ways in the titles," like a club representing a puff of gun smoke, and slashed arteries spurting thousands of tiny hearts.

[62] In filming the scene in which the engine thrust of the moving aircraft blows the police car high into the air, second unit director and cinematographer Alexander Witt, with help from second unit first assistant director Terry Madden and special effects floor supervisor Ian Lowe, used a crane with a strong lead cable attached to the rear bumper of the vehicle to move it up and backwards at the moment of full extension away from the plane.

The same computer system also controlled the exterior model, which the effects team had built to one-third scale to film the building eventually collapsing into the Venetian canal.

It marked the 60th Royal Film Performance and benefited the Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF), whose patron, Queen Elizabeth II, was in attendance with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Partners included Ford, Heineken (which Eva Green starred in adverts for), Smirnoff, Omega SA, Virgin Atlantic and Sony Ericsson.

In Britain, by omitting some of Le Chiffre's sadism and James Bond's reactions in the torture scene, the film received the desired BBFC 12A rating.

During production, Craig had been subject to debate by the media and the public, as he did not appear to fit Ian Fleming's original portrait of the character as tall, dark and suave.

[110] The Daily Telegraph compared the quality of Craig's characterization of Bond to Sean Connery's and praised the script as smartly written, noting how the film departed from the series' conventions.

[112] Critics Paul Arendt of BBC Films,[113] Kim Newman of Empire,[114] and Todd McCarthy of Variety[115] all described Craig as the first actor to truly embody Ian Fleming's James Bond from the original novel: ironic, brutal and cold.

[116] The film was described as taking James Bond "back to his roots", similar to From Russia with Love,[117] where the focus was on character and plot rather than the high-tech gadgets and visual effects that were strongly criticized in Die Another Day.

"[123] Time Out New York's Joshua Rothkopf called Craig "the best Bond in the franchise's history," citing the actor's "crisp, hateful, Mamet-worthy snarl ...

"[127] Roger Moore wrote, "Daniel Craig impressed me so greatly in his debut outing, Casino Royale, by introducing a more gritty, unrefined edge to the character that I thought Sean [Connery] might just have to move over.

"[131] American radio personality Michael Medved gave the film three stars out of four, describing it as "intriguing, audacious and very original ... more believable and less cartoonish, than previous 007 extravaganzas"; he commented further that the "sometimes sluggish pacing will frustrate some Bond fanatics.