How Casino Royale Was Shot
How Casino Royale Was Shot
When Casino Royale was announced as the next James Bond film at the end of 2005, James Bond fans were both eager to see what the filmmakers did with Ian Fleming's first story, but worried too that they would mess it up. After all, they had waited years for the film to be made properly and MGM was only awarded filming rights in 1999 after a legal battle with Sony; Fleming had sold the rights separately from the remainder of the books, which is how a comedy version came to be made in 1967.
While the original novel by Ian Fleming took place entirely in northern France, the expectations of audiences to see much more of the world with their favourite secret agent meant that Casino Royale was never going to be set entirely in one place.
While moving the central story moving from France to Montenegro provided some classic elements that have the right look and feel for a modern James Bond film, the plot was considerably expanded too. And to accommodate this expanded plot the writers added many locations new and old to the James Bond films.
Initial filming started at the end of January 2006 in Prague. The majority of the studio shoot took place at Barrandov Studios, located in the city, before the production moved to New Providence and Paradise Island in the Bahamas for location filming. As well as appearing as itself, New Providence also appeared as Madagascar; James Bond is sent after a bomb maker and a spectacular action scene involving him tearing after the bomb maker who is skilled in parqour, or free running, and they are involved in jumping from tower cranes. In fact the stunts were done for real, with cables removed digitally from the stuntmen's safety harnesses.
Cast and crew returned to the Czech Republic in April and filmed on location in Prague, Plana, Loket, and finally Karlovy Vary in May 2006. The town is world famous as a spa town and the spa was used as the exterior of Casino Royale, while "Hotel Splendide" was in fact the Grandhotel Pupp.
Further location filming then took place in Italy in May and June. The main location was Venice, but scenes were also shot at Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como and Villa la Gaeta, near Menaggio.
Back in the UK, the Uganda scenes from the beginning of the film were filmed at Black Park and then returned to Pinewood studios to complete filming. Finally in July 21st 2006 Casino Royale was in the can. However, just days later the 007 Stage burned to the ground and had to be rebuilt from scratch.
When Casino Royale was announced as the next James Bond film at the end of 2005, James Bond fans were both eager to see what the filmmakers did with Ian Fleming's first story, but worried too that they would mess it up. After all, they had waited years for the film to be made properly and MGM was only awarded filming rights in 1999 after a legal battle with Sony; Fleming had sold the rights separately from the remainder of the books, which is how a comedy version came to be made in 1967.
While the original novel by Ian Fleming took place entirely in northern France, the expectations of audiences to see much more of the world with their favourite secret agent meant that Casino Royale was never going to be set entirely in one place.
While moving the central story moving from France to Montenegro provided some classic elements that have the right look and feel for a modern James Bond film, the plot was considerably expanded too. And to accommodate this expanded plot the writers added many locations new and old to the James Bond films.
Initial filming started at the end of January 2006 in Prague. The majority of the studio shoot took place at Barrandov Studios, located in the city, before the production moved to New Providence and Paradise Island in the Bahamas for location filming. As well as appearing as itself, New Providence also appeared as Madagascar; James Bond is sent after a bomb maker and a spectacular action scene involving him tearing after the bomb maker who is skilled in parqour, or free running, and they are involved in jumping from tower cranes. In fact the stunts were done for real, with cables removed digitally from the stuntmen's safety harnesses.
Cast and crew returned to the Czech Republic in April and filmed on location in Prague, Plana, Loket, and finally Karlovy Vary in May 2006. The town is world famous as a spa town and the spa was used as the exterior of Casino Royale, while "Hotel Splendide" was in fact the Grandhotel Pupp.
Further location filming then took place in Italy in May and June. The main location was Venice, but scenes were also shot at Villa del Balbianello, Lake Como and Villa la Gaeta, near Menaggio.
Back in the UK, the Uganda scenes from the beginning of the film were filmed at Black Park and then returned to Pinewood studios to complete filming. Finally in July 21st 2006 Casino Royale was in the can. However, just days later the 007 Stage burned to the ground and had to be rebuilt from scratch.
