Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced by EON Productions and the first to star Daniel Craig as British Secret Service agent James Bond. Based on the 1953 novel Casino Royale by Ian Fleming, it was adapted by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis and directed by Martin Campbell, director of the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye. Despite initial controversy over Craig’s casting, his performance and the film have received rave reviews.
After obtaining his 00-number and his licence to kill, James Bond sets out on his first mission, which takes him to Madagascar to spy on a potential terrorist. Soon after, Bond is pulled into a game of high-stakes poker in Montenegro with Le Chiffre, who provides a global money-laundering service to many terrorist organizations. Bond also falls in love with Vesper Lynd, a situation that will have dangerous consequences.
This film marks the third screen adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and a 1967 film spoof. However, the 2006 release will be the only official EON Productions adaptation of Fleming’s novel. Casino Royale is the first official Bond film to be co-produced by Columbia Pictures, which had produced and originally distributed the 1967 non-canonical film version; this is the result of the 2005 Sony/Comcast consortium’s acquisition of MGM, parent company of Bond film series rights co-owner United Artists.