Rob and I are back to talk about the minutes of Casino Royale. We’ve made it to the torture scene, what joy. I’ve tried to find the rope that Le Chiffre uses, Rob is convinced that I’m a sadist for looking, maybe I am.
blu ray commentary
The idea for this scene came about because we were looking for somewhere where Le Chiffre could take him that would be out of the way, wouldn’t be spotted, we looked at an old castle, different places, then it occurred to us, then we looked at this place where they stored boats, I took a photo of it.
I remembered it and I suggested to Martin, why couldn’t we take him to a barge, no one would be walking past, out of that grew this scene. This set was built at Barrandov studio.
It was obvious there would be no electric, so the kerosene lamp would be it, and that meant lighting it would be an issue we put in some skylights to give it some depth, and deliberately let the filler light fall off from Daniel so when Le Chiffre appears out of the darkness it’s a much more sinister thing. – Phil Mayheux
Perhaps a ballisong knife
A balisong, commonly known as a butterfly knife, is a type of folding pocketknife characterized by its two handles that rotate around the blade. These handles conceal the blade when closed, allowing for various flipping and manipulation tricks.
Cuts to the torture scene:
Martin Campbell was surprised that such minor changes were all that was required to Casino Royale:
In England, they didn’t give a damn, and said that the violence is terrific. It was amazing to me that they let as much through as they did.
On the other hand, the reaction from the British cinema-going public was not quite so terrific. As the BBFC later stated in their Annual Report:
[It] was the most complained about film in 2006. The majority were about the level of violence in the film, commenting that it should have been a ’15’. It was felt by some [that] the torture scene was still considered very strong despite being reduced.
Draping the rope over his shoulder and whispering, what a waste was seen as too erotic.
The shots showing the draping and removing of the rope and Le Chiffre’s second line were removed entirely. In an interview with James Bond fan site MI6 in 2006, director Martin Campbell remarked that the BBFC’s issue with this particular shot was that it was a little too sexual for their tastes.
What kind of knot?
large wall and crown knot with a close back splice? Or maybe some sort of modified monkey’s fist made with thicker rope and the close back splice?
Chair nearly broke
‘I’m sitting in a chair naked,’ he said. ‘It was a thing that was the shape of my backside in the chair which I sat in.
‘[The rope] was actually swinging right up under this thing and it was hitting the chair as hard as it sounded. So I had to give over to the fact that this thing would not break, because [Mikkelsen] was swinging the f*** out of it.’
But Mikkelsen, 55, recalled: ‘It did break. It was made out of plywood and you got splinters going up like that.’
The International Spy Museum in Washington DC had a Bond exhibit years ago called Exquisitely Evil and this was one of the props on display. (photo sent by the Bond Enthusiast )
Barge location
CR – Prague, Czech Republic
Bond’s gets captured, after he crashed the Aston Martin, transported and tortured at the tug boat marina, filmed along the Vltava River outside Prague. With the help of Austrian Bond friends Birgit and Gernot we reached the location, welcoming manager Marek of the private property gave us the tour of the boat repair facility where this intense scene was filmed.
Credits
For your eyes only around the world
