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Whilst reflecting on bringing two new Bond's to
the big screen, Martin
Campbell reveals that they considered making "Casino
Royale"
a period piece...
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Revitalising and Rebooting Bond
27th January 2010
New Zealand-born helmer Martin Campbell (pictured
below) holds
a unique place in the 007 canon, being the only director to introduce
two
new
James
Bond's to the big screen.
First
was Pierce Brosnan in
1995's "GoldenEye",
after the franchise had been on hiatus for six years and
nobody knew if it could return to its past heights, and
secondly with Daniel Craig in
2006's "Casino Royale",
when 40-years of history was thrown out in order to reboot
the series back to Bond's literary roots.
Promoting his new Mel Gibson movie "Edge
of Darkness", which Campbell has reworked his from his
television mini-series, the director has reflected on the
risks and rewards that come with introducing a new 007 to
the world. |
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Speaking to the Guardian newspaper,
Campbell looked back on successfully launching Brosnan and Craig: "Timing
was more important on both movies. With GoldenEye, the franchise
got locked
into
this legal fight. They couldn't make new Bond movies for about
seven years. It was my first huge production. I figured if I
did at least a yeoman-like job, it would be greeted as a complete
revival of the series." It was, and he invited back 10 years
later to welcome Craig in to the franchise.
Above: Martin Campbell with Pierce
Brosnan and Joe Don Baker filming the St. Petersburg
meet (actually at Epsom Race Course in Surrey, England).
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"The producers felt it had gone off the rails a bit after
Die Another Day, with invisible
cars and all that. I told them, we have to go back to the books.
We even discussed doing it as a period piece." He laughs. "We
settled on a more fucked-up character with a dark streak in him
- drinking too much, dodgy liver - all that's in the book.
In Casino, he also had a real relationship with a woman.
He doesn't just have a dozen for king and country."
The key to Campbell's interest in returning to Bond was the
prospect of an origin story. He explained to ReelzChannel: "Casino
Royale of course was an opportunity to go back to the tone of
the books which they never were in the original
movies. They never have been. Even the Sean
Connery movies
are not in the same tone as the book. I was lucky enough to have
an origin story."
Above: Martin Campbell and Daniel
Craig between takes in Venice.
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"Bond really doesn't become Bond until the last frame of
the movie. He's a fucked up guy. He's a guy who smokes too much.
He doesn't smoke in the movie but in the books he certainly smokes
too much, he drinks too much, he abhors a certain kind of violence
when it's very messy and ugly. It's something he hates. He finally
shoots someone in the forehead with a bullet, but the bathroom
scene is very distasteful and ugly and clumsy and messy."
"So there are elements to Bond, and of course a great relationship
with the girl which allowed you the one meaningful relationship
in his life apart from On Her
Majesty's Secret Service where
he marries the girl. So that was a really great opportunity to
get into the tone of the books and make him a much darker, more
fucked up character which was way more interesting in my opinion."
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