Episode 71

Bond in a stairwell fight casino royale

Casino Royale EON Productions 2006

Minutes 81 & 82 of Casino Royale

We see James Bond on the staircase with Vesper, Steven Obanno’s henchman has come a cropper he’s been kicked over the edge of the railings. And now Bond is in a the midst of a real battle with the machete wielding Steven. According to Mark Ashby, this scene was cut in the American release. The bit where Obanno crashes into the glass is missing and there is an overhead shot at the end that substitutes a close-up in the British release. Annoyingly the last few times l have seen this on the big screen they have shown the American censored release. Both at The Prince Charles Theatre, The Regent’s Street Cinema and Pinewood.

According to the stunt c0-ordinator Gary Powell, from the EW Article,

“With the stair fight we wanted something that was real. If he was in a fight with someone who had a machete, it’s erratic, it’s not stylish,” says Powell. “You’re literally fighting for your life, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t overly long. It turned out really well and I’ll give credit to production, when we designed the stairwell, originally we were going to put rubber on the walls and I said, ‘Look, the best thing to do is just do the whole stairwell.’ So the whole stairwell, all the walls and all the steps had half-inch neoprene put all over them so that way the actors or stunt guys could bash into everything and be safe. They still got bruises, trust me, but it helps you get a much better performance.”

Bond eventually gets Obanno into a choke hold at the bottom of the stairs and kills him. According to Alex Lamas on our YouTube comments,

Most of the techniques used in Casino Royal are from the martial arts Krav Maga. Daniel Craig worked with Darren Levine, the founder of Krav Maga Worldwide to prepare for the fight scenes. However, the final choke is a basic It’s a rear naked choke hold from Judo and Jiujitsu.

Bond drinking in casino royale cumbria crystal

Casino Royale EON Productions 2006

After Bond instructs Vesper to find Mathis and help him dispose of the bodies, we cut to Bond nursing his wounds in front of the mirror, drinking (presumably a whisky) from a;

JAMES BOND GRASMERE DOUBLE OLD FASHIONED TUMBLER – CASINO ROYALE EDITION – BY CUMBRIA CRYSTAL which is available on the 007 Store.

Listen to the Show

There Will Be Bond breaks down the minutes of Casino Royale and you really should subscribe. If you don’t my already-fragile ego will be flailing like Obanno’s legs after a rear naked choke. You can listen to the breakdown of Casino Royale on the podcast here. (Spotify). For iTunes you can find it here. Leave a review, bless your hearts.

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