Eva Green's Casino Royale Casting Stressed Out Everyone Except Daniel Craig
Throughout the 60 years James Bond has been on the big screen, there's been no shortage of casting controversies associated with the franchise. For 1974's "The Man with the Golden Gun," producers cast Christopher Lee in the role of villain Francisco Scaramanga, much to the chagrin of some behind the scenes. Writer Tom Mankiewicz even claimed to have "begged and pleaded" for them to find anyone else, mainly because he'd originally envisioned Jack Palance in the role.
Even Bond himself caused casting issues. When writer Ian Fleming and producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were casting 007 for "Dr. No," they all had a sense that Sean Connery was the man for the job. But before he was offered the part, he would have to screen test, which he ultimately agreed to do despite pushing back initially. As recounted in Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury's 2015 book, "Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films," when Broccoli and Saltzman sent Connery's tape to the United Artists execs in New York, the response came back: "NO, KEEP TRYING."
Of course, Connery would be cast anyway, and define the character of James Bond for an entire generation. But following his departure from the series, each new actor who was chosen to wear the famous tux prompted yet more controversy. Daniel Craig proved a particularly contentious choice when he took over the mantle of Bond with 2006's "Casino Royale." And he wasn't the only casting decision that caused some problems for the production.
Vesper Lynd was crucial to Casino Royale's success
Among James Bond movies, I think "Casino Royale" stands as the finest. Not only did Daniel Craig prove all the naysayers wrong with his troubled, blunt instrument of a spy, but the film managed to successfully reinvigorate the character of Bond following the disaster that was 2002's "Die Another Day." With "Casino Royale," 007 became relevant and interesting again. He was unpredictable and flawed in all the ways Pierce Brosnan's suave spy hadn't been.
It helped that "Casino Royale" also featured the first relationship in the franchise between Bond and a so-called "Bond girl" that felt genuinely real. Eva Green's Vesper Lynd was an agent from Her Majesty's Treasury, sent to accompany Bond on his trip to the titular Casino and ensure he doesn't squander the millions of dollars he's been provided by the UK Government. Rather than being a run-of-the-mill Bond girl who 007 has his way with before moving on, Lynd proves to be the character's intellectual equal. Propelled by some particularly sharp writing, the relationship between the two blossoms in a way that feels natural, before Bond discovers Lynd's shady past and ulterior motives.
But even after he learns the truth about Vesper — that she was a spy for the film's villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) — you still believe there was a real connection between the two. Somehow "Casino Royale" managed to be one of the coolest Bond movies in terms of action also, and one of the most emotionally affecting. It's strange to think, then, that choosing Green to play Vesper was yet another difficult decision in the ongoing saga of Bond casting controversies.
Casting Vesper
In Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman's book chronicling the history of Bond, "Nobody Does it Better," the authors compile interviews with various figures involved in the Bond movies. For "Casino Royale," Eva Green, producer Barbara Broccoli, director Martin Campbell, and Daniel Craig — who'd turned down his first offer to play Bond — all provided their insights on the making of the film. And when it came to Green's casting, the French actor remembered how she was initially hesitant to play just another "beautiful girl for Bond." But after reading the script she agreed to audition. As Broccoli explained:
"We had seen Eva Green in 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'The Dreamers' and we thought that she was fantastic. The thing is that this character of Vesper, the way that it was written in the book and in the screenplay ... I mean, in Bond lore she is the most important character because she affects his life forever. So we had to cast it really well."
Unfortunately, Green was initially unavailable, with her agents telling Broccoli and the other producers that she was "doing a film in France." But as more and more actors came in to audition, the team just became more and more convinced that Green was the ideal choice, despite not yet bringing her in for an audition. Broccoli continued, "I kept saying to the casting director, 'Just ring her agent every week.'" That persistence paid off, and eventually the Paris-born actor took the role after the dates for her other project moved.
But she still hadn't read with Craig. So when she joined the production for "Casino Royale," the director and producers set up a scene for her and her future co-star to perform. And it was during that reading that a problem arose.
A heavy accent
Director Martin Campbell recalled how the initial screen test between Eva Green and Daniel Craig threw up a problem, saying that Green had "quite a heavy accent on her English." According to the director, the actor promised she could lose the accent and project an upper-class English tone once she started work. Still, the issue proved stressful for everyone involved, as the producers thought they'd finally landed their ideal Vesper, only to be taken aback by how thick her native intonation was. As the actor explained:
"There was some mumbling at the screen test, that's not a good sign, then I went to New York, four days after, and my agent called me and said, actually you have to come back straight away to Prague and audition again, because they're not fully satisfied. So, I was crying. It's very stressful, and I didn't know what was wrong, but they eventually said, 'It's just the English, darling; you just have to work on the English.'"
As it turns out, Daniel Craig was instrumental in getting Green the part. The Bond actor claimed that "when [Green] came in, there was no decision for me. She brings something to it that's great." According to Barbara Broccoli, it was Craig who said, "Oh, we've got to have her." Craig also put his foot down during filming, ensuring one of the most important scenes remained true to the characters of Bond and Lynd.
In Green's view, however, her casting delay was about more than her accent. She said, "I'm sure it was not really that; it's always a pretext, they're not sure, they just want to be, you know, certain." After decades of laborious casting, then, it seems the producers were just eager to give Green the authentic James Bond casting experience.