Casino Royale director Martin Campbell has quashed a long-held rumor that an extended cut of the first Daniel Craig Bond movie exists. With the first film having been released in 1962, the James Bond franchise has now been entertaining fans for almost fifty years and shows no sign of slowing down (even if Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure is nearing its end). The hotly anticipated 25th Bond film, No Time To Die, is due out this Fall and sees first-time Bond director Cary Joji Fukanaga take the reins.
Martin Campbell’s first outing as a Bond director came in 1995 with the film Goldeneye, also marking Pierce Brosnan’s first time playing the character. Although the film boasted generally positive reviews and fantastic box office numbers, Campbell did not return for Brosnan’s three subsequent outings, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. Campbell made his return to the world of Bond with 2006’s Casino Royale, a film that reinvigorated many fans’ love of the franchise and was a critical and financial success. While Campbell chose once more to step away from the franchise after the success of Casino Royale, many fans had heard rumors that an extended cut of the film existed.
In a recent Reddit AMA promoting his new film, The Protégé, Campbell received hundreds of questions, many from wanting to know about his experiences working on Casino Royale. One fan asked: “is it true there was a substantial amount of footage involving Bond/Vesper that never made the final cut of the film?” With Eva Green’s Vesper Lynn being one of the more memorable love interests for Daniel Craig’s Bond due to their chemistry and Green’s mysterious performance, an extended cut with more interaction between the two could drastically change the nature of their relationship in the film. Campbell, however, was quick to shoot down the rumor. Check out his response below:
Rumors of an extended “Vesper cut” were likely exacerbated last year when HBO Max released an extended, more violent cut of Casino Royale. Although the film ended up being not very different from the theatrical version, save for an extended torture sequence and longer fight scenes, it no doubt added fuel to the fire that there was an additional extended cut that was being hidden away in the Bond archives. Fortunately, there is now a definitive answer from Campbell himself that no such cut exists.
Although it may be disappointing to hear that there is no secret version of Casino Royale out there, fans can take solace in the idea that Casino Royale is largely the movie Campbell set out to make, a director’s vision fulfilled. Even though in Campbell’s own estimation, about 3% of Vesper’s scenes did not make the final film, this is hardly unusual and is on the low end in terms of unused movie footage (Margot Robbie once teased that a twenty-hour cut exists of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood!). With an answer from Campbell now firmly set in stone, Bond fans can rest easy knowing they’re not missing much when watching the theatrical version of Casino Royale.
Source: u/lionsgate/Reddit
