James bond casino royale book

The first James Bondto feature Daniel Craig as the titular secret agent has often been considered one of his greatest outings. It is the third time Ian Fleming’s novel had been adapted for the big screen, but only the first one to achieve a positive response. Its general premise is that Bond, early on in his career, is to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre.

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We’ve collected ten of the biggest differences between the film and Fleming’s original novel.

The Setting

The first thing to note about the titular Casino is that it exists in a totally different place in the film. The book showed it in France, and therefore Bond winning French francs instead of US dollars. In the book, it’s in Montenegro, and we get to explore this landscape instead of France.

There also various excursions to London, Madagascar, and Uganda, which turn the film into a feast of geographical visuals.

The Time Period

Alongside this location change comes a massive time change. Bond is training to be a secret agent in the s, with access to cool modern technology and cars that far outweigh that which was available in the book, which was set in the s.

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This change in time period also changes the dynamic between various characters the language used by Bond and his associates, and just the general way the world works. It doesn’t impact the story much, but it does change the characters themselves quite a bit.

Le Chiffre’s Motivation

Along with the change in setting and time period came a change in the motivation behind Le Chiffre’s crimes. The book, set in the 50s, plays on the very real Soviet threat and makes Le Chiffre into a funder of various Soviet activities.

By the s, this threat has passed and has been overtaken by the threat of terrorism. As such, Le Chiffre is funding terrorist organizations instead. Through this, Vesper is shown to be one of Le Chiffre’s agents, rather than a Soviet agent as she is in the book.

Vesper’s Death

Speaking of Vesper, the agent is employed against her will by Le Chiffre in the film. She allows Bond to fall in love with her, then ends up betraying him. When the building begins to fall in Venice, she is stuck in an elevator and drowns before Bond can save her.

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In the book, she meets a far less dramatic, but much more emotional end when she commits suicide in a hotel room.

The Portrayal Of M

M is one of the most famous characters in the entire James Bond franchise. Judi Dench is the most well-known face of the character, with her stony, cold and amusing version of the character existing throughout each of Daniel Craig’s appearances.

The two are known for, effectively, disliking each other but getting on with it. This makes their relationship rather interesting and puts M somewhat in a position of power. In the book, M is male and has a much more simple relationship with Bond, effectively treating him as his boss.

Bond’s Martini

James Bond’s ‘shaken not stirred’ martini is one of his most well-known nuances. In Casino Royale, he is shown to order the drink while in the middle of his poker game, with particular emphasis on the importance of the drinking being played up for the camera.

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In the book, it isn’t quite as dramatic, with him simply ordering it while with Felix Leiter at the bar. Also, it seems strange that such an important operative is allowed to drink on the job, right?

Le Chiffre Poisoning The Martini

One of the most memorable scenes from Casino Royale comes when Bond is poisoned while inside the casino. He drinks his martini, laced with digitalis, a poisonous foxglove, and proceeds to get to his car while trying not to quite literally die.

He manages to find an antidote in his car (who carries that around in their car?) and a defibrillator but ends up passing out until Vesper rescues him anyway.

Saving Bond From Torture

After Bond wins the card game, he is captured by le Chiffre and tortured. It’s a pretty brutal scene and comes to a pretty dramatic climax with Bond about to be castrated in front of Vesper.

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Luckily for both of them, Mr. White is able to infiltrate and rescue them. It seems like a good rescue, but Mr. White steals the money for himself. In the book, White has no involvement and instead Bond is saved by agents who don’t have an order to kill him. Despite letting him go unharmed, they do carve into his hand proof that he is a spy.

Bond Earning His License To Kill

With Casino Royale both acting as an introduction to Daniel Craig’s version of James Bond and a way to bring audiences back to a franchise that was somewhat losing steam, they decided to make this film a reboot. It threw Bond back a few steps into his first days as a trainee operative and made the opening of the film an explanation of how he first acquired his status as an agent.

He does so by assassinating Dryden, which doesn’t happen in the book because Bond is already a trained agent.

Rene Mathis’ Betrayal

In the book, Rene Mathis is a French intelligence operative who works with Bond throughout the events of Casino Royale. He actually ends up returning to the franchise in a few other books, also assisting the agent.

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However, the film paints the character in a very different light. It is revealed that he has been working with Le Chiffre all along, and therefore doesn’t return to the franchise on team-Bond as he does in the books.

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