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Spoilers: Four actresses to screentest for Bond Girl role this week, plus rumours on the supporting characters in Casino Royale...

Casino Royale Casting Rumours
11th January 2006

Wanted: Bond Girl
New James Bond 007 Daniel Craig will be reading with four candidate Bond Girls this week. Despite the start of principal photography being only weeks away, the role of Vesper Lynd is still to be cast - reports Variety.

The trade paper claims four actresses will be screentesting over the next week in London, with Daniel Craig joining the production after wrapping "The Visiting" with co-star Nicole Kidman. Variety reports that a final decision will be made by next week.

British actress Rachael Stirling is the latest name to be strongly linked with the production. The daughter of former Bond girl Diana Rigg (Teresa di Vicenzo in 1969's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service) is one of the actresses up for the role of Vesper Lynd - Agent 3030.

As MI6 exclusively reported last year, Variety confirms that the production start date for Casino Royale has slipped two weeks to January 30th 2006.

Above: British actress Rachael Stirling

Character Spoilers
In other casting news, IGN claims that no actors have been signed up for Royale duty other than Daniel Craig (007) and Judi Dench (M). IGN reports that reliable sources have revealed the characters that will appear in the forthcoming film:

Vesper Lynd - will be 20 to 30 years old. The role is being hyped as the most dramatic Bond girl role yet, which is not surprising if the cinematic character stays true to Fleming's text.
The villain (not named as Le Chiffre by IGN's sources) - will be in his late 20's to mid 30's, and Martin Campbell has previously said he was keen on casting European actors. French actors Romain Duris and Michaël Youn are reported to have screentested recently.
Villain's girlfriend - producers are looking to sign a high profile actress or pop singer in the role, which will be "sexy and dangerous".
American CIA agent - will be between 30 and 40 years old and will be cast to a well known actor according to sources. There is no information whether this character will be Felix Leiter who last appeared - cinematically - in Licence To Kill (1989).
Solari - is a commander in the Sudanese rebel army and is 40 to 50 years old. Pop singer Seal was recently rumoured to be up for this part.
Demetrius - a supporting Mediterranean character in his 40s. He is described as a sleazy gambler and money launderer who lives the high life.
Demetrius' wife - a woman in her 30s who shares her husband's love of the high life.
Massus - is of Mediterranean heritage and is in his 60s. He was once an undercover agent for Her Majesty's Secret Service, and according to IGN, is wrongly suspected by Bond of being a double agent. According to the report, this is an adaptation of Fleming's character Rene Mathis.

Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli (Eon Productions) and directed by Martin Campbell, CASINO ROYALE is scheduled for release November 17, 2006. Principal photography will start on January 30th 2006, with locations in the UK, Czech Republic (Prague), Italy, and the Bahamas. It will be British actor Daniel Craig’s first outing as James Bond. He is the sixth actor to play the 007 role in the franchise.