James Bond fans may find it amazing to consider just how influential Casino Royale was not only to the franchise, but to the action genre, in general. It successfully veered the Bond franchise away from outrageous goofiness, as seen in Die Another Day, and with the help of other movies (like the Bourne series), helped launch a more grounded and brutal direction for the spy action genre.
Even to this day - 15 years after its release - its influential effects are still being felt. And a lot can happen in 15 years, both professionally and personally. Here is what the cast and crew of Casino Royale have been up to in recent years.
Daniel Craig
The casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond drew some controversy, but audiences ended up loving the choice, and Craig quickly shot to the upper echelons of Bond actors. In fact, some people called him the best James Bond since Sean Connery abandoned the role in 1971 with Diamonds Are Forever (not counting the non-Eon Bond film, Never Say Never Again).
Craig remains a superstar, earning high praise for his performance as Detective Benoit Blanc in Knives Out. He is also returning as Bond for a fifth time in the upcoming No Time to Die.
Eva Green
Following a major role in Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven, Eva Green starred as Vesper Lynd and earned widespread praise for her performance. To this day, Vesper is often regarded as one of the best Bond girls, and her death is arguably the most heartbreaking.
Between 2014 and 2016, Green starred as Vanessa Ives in the Showtime period horror drama Penny Dreadful. In May of 2020, she starred in the BBC One miniseries The Luminaries, which is based on Eleanor Catton's Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name.
Mads Mikkelsen
This Danish actor has burst into the mainstream since starring as primary antagonist Le Chiffre. It was Mikkelsen's role as Le Chiffre that brought him worldwide renown and recognition - prior to that, he was mostly only known in his native Denmark.
In 2020, Mikkelsen starred in the Oscar-winning Another Round, which took home the award for Best International Feature Film. He is currently filming both the third Fantastic Beasts film (replacing Johnny Depp as Grindelwald) and the fifth Indiana Jones movie.
Jeffrey Wright
Although his screen time was limited, Jeffrey Wright proved a great Felix Leiter - so much so that he was brought back for the immediate sequel, Quantum of Solace. After sitting out both Skyfall and Spectre, Wright will be making his third appearance as Leiter in the upcoming No Time to Die.
In the meantime, he has starred in The Laundromat, The Goldfinch, and Space Jam: A New Legacy (providing the voice of McWinkle). He has also starred in HBO's Westworld since 2016, playing both Bernard Lowe and Arnold Weber.
Judi Dench
Judi Dench portrayed the first female M, inhabiting the role from 1995 (with GoldenEye) to 2012 (Skyfall). For many modern Bond viewers, Judi Dench remains the quintessential M, and her death in Skyfall proved one of the most shocking and unexpected moments in the Bond canon.
Dench will turn 87 in December 2021 but is still going strong. In 2020, she starred in three movies alone - Artemis Fowl, Six Minutes to Midnight, and Blithe Spirit. She recently finished filming the Kenneth Branagh-directed Belfast, which will debut at TIFF in September.
Martin Campbell
Hailing from New Zealand, Martin Campbell is the BAFTA-winning director who oversaw Casino Royale. It wasn't the first time Campbell controlled Bond, as he also directed 1995's GoldenEye (itself a reboot of sorts of the Bond franchise).
Following a stumble in 2011 with the critically-maligned Green Lantern, Campbell returned with The Foreigner in 2017. His new movie, The Protégé, is scheduled for release on August 20, 2021, starring Robert Patrick, Samuel L. Jackson, and Michael Keaton.
Neal Purvis & Robert Wade
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are a writing team that has worked together since 1991, debuting with the British drama Let Him Have It. They have written for the Bond franchise since 1999, with The World Is Not Enough serving as the first foray into the series.
They have written every Bond movie since, including the upcoming No Time to Die. In that time, they also created the British war drama SS-GB, which aired for five episodes on BBC One in 2017.
Paul Haggis
Canadian screenwriter Paul Haggis joined Neal Purvis and Robert Wade on Casino Royale. Haggis worked extensively on the movie's climax, reworking the draft that Purvis and Wade had submitted. Haggis was very hot at the time, having just won an Academy Award for writing Crash.
In 2015, Haggis directed the miniseries Show Me a Hero, earning a Directors Guild of America nomination for Outstanding Directing. In 2018, he co-directed the documentary 5B, which told the story of the world's first dedicated AIDS ward.
David Arnold
David Arnold has been composing movies since 1993. He quickly earned a reputation for his action movie scores, which included the likes of Independence Day and Godzilla.
Like Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, he made his Bond debut with 1999's The World Is Not Enough and composed every subsequent Bond film until Quantum of Solace in 2008. Arnold has since transferred over to television, having worked on 2019's Good Omens and 2020's Dracula.
Stuart Baird
Stuart Baird is a two-time Oscar-nominated editor, having earned nominations for Superman and Gorillas in the Mist. Casino Royale proved his first Bond film, and his editing earned both a BAFTA and an American Cinema Editors award (Eddie Award) nomination.
After sitting out Quantum of Solace, he returned to edit Skyfall, taking over from Quantum's editors Matt Chesse and Richard Pearson. Baird's latest film was 2018's Tomb Raider, which he co-edited with Michael Tronick.