We’ve all got that first Bond. Such is the inherent benefit of launching a multi-decade cinematic franchise for one of the literary world’s most iconic characters. Think about it: we’ve all met James Bond at different stages of our lives, and so too at different stages of the character.
For me, it’s GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as Bond in 1995. For others, it might have been Sean Connery’s smooth-talking 007, or Roger Moore’s more jovial rendition of Fleming’s spy, or perhaps even Timothy Dalton’s harder-edged interpretation.
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So, when EON Productions decided to reset the series with Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale, there was an inordinate amount of pressure resting on Daniel Craig’s rugged shoulders when he made his first big-screen appearance as Britain’s deadliest spy. He was too blonde, too short, too rugged, and, according to a particularly vocal corner of the Bond faithful, not handsome enough to play 007 in a new era of the iconic franchise.
After all, Fleming’s Bond was dark-haired, around six feet tall, and handsome in a distinctly hard-edged way, with a thin, straight nose – he even had a vertical scar running down his right cheek.
It was a description that gave the literary 007 a weathered, vaguely menacing quality, quite different from the polished, impossibly debonair image that Connery, Moore, and Brosnan et al. had delivered across four decades of cinema.
Craig, meanwhile, arrived with blonde hair, blue eyes, and the rougher physicality of a character actor, having made his name playing killers, cads, and crims throughout a mixed career on screen and stage.
When he was cast, the reaction was immediate, with fans even calling for a boycott of the new direction. After the opening credits, however, it was immediately forgotten. Audiences couldn’t get enough of the new “James Blonde,” and the film went on to gross more than US$600 million (~AU$842 million) worldwide, making it the highest-grossing Bond film at the time, before Skyfall surpassed it in 2012. I think it’s fair to say Craig won audiences over in the end.
Which makes it rather fitting that, twenty years later, Amazon MGM has confirmed it’s bringing Casino Royale back to cinemas worldwide in October to celebrate its anniversary.
Whilst details of the theatrical run are yet to be confirmed, Village Cinemas already has several sessions available for October 5 across NSW, VIC, and TAS, giving Australian audiences another chance to see the film that reset James Bond for a new generation – and more importantly, some more crucial time before a decision has to be made on who will don the iconic tux for the Amazon era.