Never say die

FROM the posh restaurant Café Martinique and the hyper-electric Junkanoo parade made famous in 1965's Thunderball to the spectacular coral reef dives, this opulent oasis in the Bahamas has been a tropical touchstone throughout what has been the most successful franchise in movie history.

These sun-drenched shores have in fact played host to five previous James Bond films. Nassau duly credits the 007 phenomenon with elevating it to a jet-set destination in the 1960s and longtime resident Sean Connery still maintains his primary residence on the island.

With much of Casino Royale being shot in Prague, the few weeks of location work in the Bahamas provided a much-needed breath of fresh air for the cast and crew - and a chance to reconnect with Bond history. With the 21st film, Casino Royale, the series is going retro and returning to its roots. It's the first 007 novel, written by Ian Fleming back in 1953, and producer Barbara Broccoli, daughter of legendary 007 producer 'Cubby' Broccoli, promises this is classic Bond.

"Casino Royale is the definitive Bond story," says Broccoli, between camera set-ups on the beaches of Paradise Island, where 007 makes an entrance from these crystal-blue waters, echoing Ursula Andress's iconic introduction in the first Bond film, Dr No.

Casino Royale is the only Bond novel that her father and producing partner Harry Saltzman did not have the rights to produce. The only other film version is the 1967 unofficial spoof which boasted an extraordinary cast including David Niven as James Bond, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress and Orson Welles, with a score by Burt Bacharach.

"It was always an ambition of theirs to be able to make this story but, sadly, they were never able to," Broccoli says. "So, when it finally became available to us, we leapt at the chance. I like to think that I'm doing this for my dad."

Up until 1975, Albert (Cubby) Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced most of the Bond films, after which Broccoli became the sole producer. His daughter and stepson, Michael G Wilson, were passed the mantle in 1995.

Casino Royale is regarded as a major turning point in the evolution of the series, and Broccoli says it's a bold decision of which her father would be proud. "James Bond is a very dark, complex character the way he was originally conceived by Fleming," she says. "So this film is going to explore elements of the character that have not yet been seen before. It will really surprise people."

But the decision to reboot the series - which has grossed more than £2bn worldwide since the premiere of Dr No in 1962 - is a tricky business. Casino Royale introduces James Bond before he holds his licence to kill, forgoing the trademark fantastical elements in favour of a more realistic narrative and grittier characterisations - all spiked with tragedy and loss. Also gone are such beloved Bond hallmarks as gadget-guru 'Q', lovelorn secretary Miss Moneypenny, over-the-top supervillains and, of course, Pierce Brosnan. Considering that Brosnan's last outing as 007 in 2002's Die Another Day grossed £225m - the highest take for a Bond film to date - the obvious question arises: why mess with success?

"I think we've seen Bond films go through different periods of change," says co-producer Wilson. "In the 1970s, they got bigger and more fantastic, until we reached Moonraker (1979) in outer space. And we realised that it was going in the wrong direction and we brought it back to basics with For Your Eyes Only (1981).

"What we saw with Die Another Day is that we got to the same point. We started getting too high in the sky - outer space, invisible cars - and the technology began to overwhelm the story and the characters. We felt it was very important to bring it back down to earth.

"At the end of the day, what's really important - not just for the audience but ourselves - is that we are doing stuff that we believe in, that makes us enthusiastic," continues Wilson, who first worked on 1977's The Spy Who Loved Me, alongside his late stepfather. "Whether Casino Royale will make more or less money, I don't know. But, because we needed to re-energise ourselves, it's going to be a better film."

Although 007 has tangled with the world's worst megalomaniacs over the past 44 years, for Casino Royale, Bond's greatest nemesis has proven to be the media and the fans themselves. SMERSH, SPECTRE, Auric Goldfinger and Blofeld were all paper tigers compared with the press, since it was confirmed last October that a little-known 38-year-old British actor was replacing Brosnan.

Rumours have ranged from Daniel Craig being unable to drive a car to having false teeth, both of which are untrue. In any case, he has signed a three-film contract and the second - the 22nd Bond film - is already in pre-production. Craig is also set to play Lord Asriel in the forthcoming film adaptation of Philip Pullman's novel The Golden Compass, a role played on stage by none other than Timothy Dalton, the fourth James Bond.

But hate websites, such as the shortlived www.craignotbond.com, sprung up, urging fans to boycott the film, largely on the grounds that he is not tall enough, is too fair-haired and so on.

Craig, who recently starred in Munich and The Jacket, seems to have taken it all in his stride. "The truth is, if you're not getting bruised when you're doing Bond, you're not doing it properly," he quips, as we sit down to chat at the plush One & Only Ocean Club on the powder-white sands of Paradise Island. The warm tropical breezes and golden Caribbean sunset bathing the lush grounds belie the cold reception that has greeted Craig ever since he agreed to be the sixth actor to play the iconic screen hero.

"Quite honestly, I didn't really expect it," he shrugs. "I mean, I've been acting a while now and I've been in some big movies before, but nothing on this level. I've learned that you can't believe the good stuff and you can't believe the bad stuff. You kind of still take it in, but I'm really trying to ignore it. I have to. I'm getting on with it."

Still, he confesses that the furore has upped the ante. "I've been giving 110% from the very beginning, and maybe after that [the criticism], I was trying to give 115%, but I mean, I'm giving everything I can. Once we've got the movie out, people can say what they want. They can criticise it then, but it's really silly for anyone to criticise it now because we haven't done it yet."

In what Broccoli describes as the franchise's most faithful adaptation of a Fleming novel since 1964's Goldfinger, Casino Royale introduces Bond in black-and-white, before switching into colour once he makes his first two kills and is elevated to '00' status. His first licenced-to-kill mission means facing down Le Chiffre (played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world's terrorist organisations. The Bond Girls include Italian Caterina Murino as femme fatale Solange and French actress Eva Green (Kingdom of Heaven) as Vesper Lynd, a representative from the British Secret Service sent to keep tabs on Bond during his assignment.

"It's a very special, unusual relationship because Vesper is the only woman who really gets to Bond's heart," explains Green, relaxing on the waterside between takes. She realises that Vesper is a key to unlocking the enigmatic character of Bond and emphasises that she is not the stereotypical 'Bond Girl'. "They really fall in love," smiles Green. "She has a big impact on his life and he will later become the Bond that we all know because of that one relationship."

Under the direction of Martin Campbell - who also had the task of introducing Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond in 1995's Goldeneye - Casino Royale has been maximising the island locales, and the Bahamas are doubling for both Madagascar and Montenegro in the film's key action scenes.

The following day's shooting on Coral Harbour includes a spectacular chase through the alleyways of a specially built shanty town, culminating in a showdown 10 storeys up across narrow girders in a building site. Watching Craig in action (he works out for two hours every night after shooting is over), it's evident he at least has the athleticism necessary for the role.

"You see how physical this job is for me," he says, catching his breath between takes and wiping the sweat from his brow. "I got a personal trainer for this film, which has been an absolute godsend. I knew I had to be in the best shape I could be. At the end of the day, there isn't any painting-it-in for this movie. These stunts aren't going to be helped by CGI - what you're seeing is the real thing. It's the 'wow' factor. Audiences get it when the stunts are done for real and people actually put their lives in danger."

For Campbell, it's all about making the 21st James Bond film, what he calls "the most realistic and emotionally involving" one of the series. "How many madmen can take over the world? How many space stations can you take over?" he shrugs. "We've taken Bond as far as we can with the formula, so let's see if we can shake it up a little bit."

• Casino Royale is released on November 17. David Giammarco is the author of For Your Eyes Only: Behind the Scenes of the Bond Films