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Casino Royale - Collector's Edition | |
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Disc One Based on Ian Fleming's first novel, this is the story of how James Bond began. Bond is elevated to "00" status by M (Judi Dench) head of British Secret Service and she sends him on a mission that takes him to Madagascar, the Bahamas and eventually Montenegro to face le Chiffre (a ruthless terrorist financier) in a high stakes poker game at the Casino Royale. Daniel Craig is a no-nonsense, realistic and brutal James Bond. Craig is a best choice to date to play the Secret Agent because of today's political and social climate. He's the real thing and the filmmakers wisely mirror this with a physical production that doesn't rely on CGI to carry the film. Beside
the amazing film, the first disc also includes New Special features which include;
Director & Producer Commentary and also
Crew Commentary. Music Video: Chris Cornell "You Know My Name," the x-Soundgarden, Audioslave lead vocalist goes solo for this movie song. Disc
Three The Road to Casino Royale is an incredible story that tells how it has taken five decades (half century) to bring the Ian Fleming novel to the big screen. The details of how this happened are worthy of a movie. To list all the producers, writers, actors and other people who were involved with this project over the years is insane. How the rights to various Bond projects were juggled and fought for is very fascinating. You must watch this featurette, if nothing else out of all special features on this Collector's Edition. Ian Fleming's Incredible Creation is a educational featurette on the life of the James Bond creator. I learned that Fleming's military experience, personal charming qualities and other aspects of he late Mr. Fleming's life were integrated into the Bond character and his books. In James Bond in the Bahamas, Peter Lamont found a building that had been abandoned for about 40 years, which was the perfect location the movie's opening scene. This building was actually seen in the background in a couple Bond films and used as a camera platform in another Bond film. We also hear from various people who live and work in the Bahamas who have worked on various Bond pictures. These people recount their James Bond experiences and we see footage of where they worked and hear how involved each person was in the film. It was wild seeing how the underwater crew wrangled the tiger sharks for THUNDERBALL. Locals go on to say that James Bond has helped put the Bahamas on the map. Millions of people have visited there because of the Bond movies. Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise tells how Ian Fleming's home on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, serves as the home base for not only CASINO ROYALE but the James Bond series. Residents of the Bahamas speak out about their involvement on THUNDERBALL. We learn about how Paradise Island originated when Huntington Hartford developed the island and the world famous Ocean Club. Friends of Ian Fleming and family members of the Hartford family tell the story of how they made the island prosperous and how the movie was done there. In Death in Venice crew members speak about The Sinking Palazzo and how difficult it was to shoot at one of the biggest tourist areas of the city. This is the dramatic final episode in the film where the structure falls apart and crumbles into the water. We see how the structure was built and controlled at the massive 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in England. The Art of the Freerun documents the involvement of casting Sébastien Foucan, the Founder of Freerunning. Producers, Director Martin Campbell and other key crew speak how Foucan moves like a panther and a ballet dancer. Foucan says he feels very privileged to be a part of a James Bond movie. Foucan describes how he originated Freerunning on the rooftops in France eighteen years ago. He was a firefighter in Paris and this form of exercise become an extension of that work. He says he uses the environment to assist in his running and movement. He says freerunning is not a competition but an art form. Martin Campbell does a lot of planning before doing a movie, especially the action scenes. We learn in Catching a Plane: From Storyboard to Screen how the film team pulled together to film the airport action scene, which is almost dialogue free. This includes footage from the movie, interviews with cast & crew, deleted footage and storyboards. Storyboard Sequence - Freerun Chase you can look at the opening scene with Storyboard-To-Film-Comparison or Storyboards Only. I prefer watching what was used with the storyboards to see how everything matched and ended up working. Filmmaker Profiles; Martin Campbell (Director) started out as a 2nd unit cameraman. Campbell admits his first film was "God Awful." His film NO ESCAPE lead to getting his first James Bond assignment. Chris Corbould (Special Effects) was in school to be a scientist when his uncle, who was already in special effects got him into the industry. He spent eighteen years learning the trade. His first film was THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Phil Meheux (Director of Photography) says since he was ten years old, he has been fascinated by what the guy behind the camera does. He got involved in James Bond series after he shot NO ESCAPE for Martin Campbell. Gary Powell (Stunt Coordinator) says his family has been involved with James Bond since some of the earliest films in the series. The first film he worked on was THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. The favorite stunts he's performed in the series are; driving the tank in GOLDENEYE and the barrel role in THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH. Powell also says two of his all-time favorite stunts are; Rick Sylvester doing the sky jump in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, which he considers the greatest stunt filmed ever and the car doing the barrel role in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Alexander Witt (Second Unit Director) he was always interested in photography, which what got him into the business., David Arnold (Composer) he become aware of Bond music growing up in England. Some of the establishing shots in the CASINO ROYALE got him really excited because they inspired him to compose big romantic cues to go with those wide moving shots. Arnold appreciated how much language and moments with silent character development gave him the chance to underscore those times without having to compete with loud sound effects. Arnold also enjoyed working with Chris Cornell on "You Know My Name." Altogether you've got arguably the best James Bond movie ever made. Certainly the toughest and most realistic with an actor who has been called "...the best Bond in the franchise history." These 3 DVDs exhaustively cover the making of the film (every featurette runs 20 minutes or more) and the history of CASINO ROYALE. As far as 007, what more could you ask for?
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