History Trivia / CasinoRoyale

* MarketBasedTitle: ''Casino'''s first paperback release in the U.S. was retitled to the punchier ''You Asked For It'', to appeal more to the pulp market. More details [[http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot.com/2011/02/you-asked-for-it-by-ian-fleming.html here]].

* WriteWhatYouKnow: The book was inspired by certain incidents that took place during Fleming's wartime career at the Naval Intelligence Division (NID), or by events of which he was aware. On a trip to Portugal, en route to the United States, Fleming and the NID Director, Admiral Godfrey, went to the Estoril Casino. Because of Portugal's neutral status, Estoril's population had been swelled by spies and agents from the warring regimes. Fleming claimed that while there he was cleaned out by a "chief German agent" at a table playing chemin de fer. Admiral Godfrey told a different story: that Fleming only played Portuguese businessmen, and afterwards fantasised about playing against German agents.

!!1953 novel:

!!1954 TV production:

* AwesomeDearBoy: Barry Nelson has said that his main impetus for taking the role was the opportunity to work with Creator/PeterLorre. Nelson had been a fan of the actor's great body of work and believed that if he didn't take this opportunity to work with him here it may not present itself again.
* DeletedScene: The extremely hard-to-find ''real'' ending involved Le Chiffre grabbing the razor and holding Vesper hostage, followed by Bond shooting the former then making out with Vesper. That scene was not on the copy that was discovered in 1981 (see below); another kinescope with the full ending has since been found, but only one VHS release has used that print so far.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: It was lost for decades until it resurfaced in 1981 when film collector and airlines executive Jim Shoenberger discovered a 16mm kinescope print of it amongst some old cans of film. The copies were labeled "Casino Royale" and he thought they were ''Film/CasinoRoyale1967''. When he realized they were black-and-white prints, he played the reels out of curiosity as the 1967 spoof was a color movie. The 1954 telemovie was thence rediscovered and it was screened in a theater, shown on TBS and released on videocassette. It is now available on DVD.
* MissingEpisode: ''Climax!'' was one of the rare few CBS programs of the 1950s to be broadcast in color, but sadly, kinescopes were still only done in black-and-white at the time ''Casino Royale'' aired, which means the original color broadcast will remain lost forever.
* OldShame: In an interview with Starlog Magazine in October 1983, Barry Nelson said:
-->So they went through and cut three words here, a line there, a half-a-word here, and their script ended up looking like a bad case of tic-tac-toe. I tell you it was so frightening that when I entered my only thought was, 'Oh, God, if I can only get out of this mother!'. I was very dissatisfied with the part, I thought they wrote it poorly. No charm or character or anything.
* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/PeterLorre is not an IneffectualSympatheticVillain...
* UrbanLegend: A rumor claims that, after his character Le Chiffe died, Peter Lorre [[TheLivingDead stood up and walked off the stage]] while the camera was still fixed on him. As [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/death-takes-a-powder/ reported]] by Snopes, this blooper did not happen on ''Casino Royale'', but a similar one did indeed happen on ''Climax!'', more specifically on its premiere episode. This confusion was likely helped along by ''Casino Royale'''s unavailability (see above) preventing a quick debunking of the rumor.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The network apparently commissioned a James Bond TV show based on the strength of this one special. Ian Fleming wrote a few outlines for some episodes and then negotiations fell through, and Fleming used the outlines he had already created and that became the eighth Bond book ''For Your Eyes Only''. Fleming would have his turn in television again when he did some concept work for ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE''.

* DeletedScene: The extremely hard-to-find ''real'' ending involved Le Chiffre grabbing the razor and holding Vesper hostage, followed by Bond shooting the former then making out with Vesper.

[[redirect:Trivia/CasinoRoyale2006]]

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/DanielCraig got a lot of controversy when he was cast as James Bond because he looked very different from the past Bonds, being derisively referred to as "James Blond." This all went away, of course, once the film came out, and he got rave reviews. He may have invoked the trope since he refused to dye his hair black for the role.
* TheCameo:
** There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by rock-star executive Richard Branson: he's one of the people being scanned when Bond goes through Miami Airport security. They actually had to cut this little bit for inflight showings on British Airways flights, due to Branson's airline Virgin Atlantic being a rival competitor to British Airways in transatlantic air travel
** A similarly short appearance by VS Angel Alessandra Ambrosio as a sexy tennis player who gives Bond the eyes in Nassau.
** One of the poker players is played by Tsai Chin, who played Ling, the Chinese girl Bond beds in the pre-credits sequence of ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice''.
* CastTheExpert:
** The parkour guy that James Bond pursues in the LeParkour scene at the beginning of the film is Sébastien Foucan, one of the inventors of LeParkour.
** When Bond plays poker at the Ocean Club and wins Dimitrios's car, the dealer running the game is an actual professional poker dealer who works at that establishment.
* DeathByCameo: The director of the film plays a truck driver who has his {{neck snap}}ped at the Miami airport.
* DyeingForYourArt: Daniel Craig buffed up and put on twenty pounds of muscle for the role of Bond. In an aversion of the literal meaning of the trope, many critics moaned about Craig's hair being blonde in the film.
* FakeBrit: Eva Green is French.
* HeyItsThatGuy:
** Tyrone from {{Snatch}} is apparently a poker ace too.
** Le Chiffre's stockbroker is none other than [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath Duggan]] (Tom Chadbon).
** The warlord that Le Chiffre meets at the beginning would later go on to appear on the seventh season of ''Series/TwentyFour'', ironically enough as a prime minister opposing a similar warlord.
** Spanish people watching this film could easily recognize the casino director as [[ElInternado Jacques Noiret]].
** That's [[Film/InglouriousBasterds Sgt. Werner Rachtman]] contacting Vesper while in Venice
** Madame Wu is also [[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent May's mother]].
** Hey, It's That Plane!: The plane that served as the experimental skyliner is now located at Dunsfield Aerodrome, also home of ''Series/TopGear''. You can frequently catch glimpses of it behind the test track, and Jeremy Clarkson actually tows it during a tractor "drag" race in one episode.
* MythologyGag: To get this you have to read several of the original novels, especially ''Goldfinger''. Throughout the series there are references to the game at the Casino Royale including the names and positions of the players. The large black gentleman? Mr. Big from ''Literature/LiveAndLetDie''. The touristy woman to Felix's left? In the book ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', she and her husband ask Bond to investigate Goldfinger's cheating them.
* NonAppearingTitle: "You Know My Name" has no mention of "Casino Royale" because according to Music/ChrisCornell, he "couldn't imagine it fitting into a song lyric that would come out of my mouth"
-->"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEk9gWNfaVE ''Casino Royale'' didn't make a good rock title]], but I would write a song named ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' just for fun".
* HistoricalInJoke: A throwaway line from M suggests that Le Chiffre may have orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, or at the very least, profited off of them.
* TechnologyMarchesOn: Cell phones, here probably intended to show how gadgets aren't necessary in the modern world. They looked terrific at the time (remember that GPS?) but amusingly, in today's smartphone era they all now look terribly out of date.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Approximately half the male actors in film were rumored as being considered for the role of Bond. Of note, Creator/HenryCavill was the runner-up, but at age 22, was considered too young.
** A lot of the examples of this trope for this film involve the constant struggle of MGM and EON to secure/keep/re-secure the rights to the novel.
*** As ''Film/{{Hitchcock}}'' notes, when MGM first had the rights, they wanted Creator/AlfredHitchcock to direct, with Creator/CaryGrant as Bond. Sadly, that fell through. And then Columbia got the rights and did [[CasinoRoyale1967 that other film....]]
*** Creator/QuentinTarantino often expressed his desire to do the film--as a prequel to the classic series instead of a reboot, set before ''Film/DrNo''. He also noted that if a literal prequel were impossible, he'd have kept Creator/PierceBrosnan. (He's since half-joked that his interest in doing ''Casino Royale'' was what led to the studio trying to secure the rights for the book again.)
----

* HistoricalInJoke: A throwaway line from M suggests that Le Chiffre may have orchestrated the 9/11 attacks, or at the very least, profited off of them

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Cell phones, here probably intended to show how gadgets aren't necessary in the modern world. They looked terrific at the time (remember that GPS?) but amusingly, in today's smartphone era they all now look terribly out of date.

*** As ''Film/Hitchcock'' notes, when MGM first had the rights, they wanted Creator/AlfredHitchcock to direct, with Creator/CaryGrant as Bond. Sadly, that fell through. And then Columbia got the rights and did [[CasinoRoyale1967 that other film....]]

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/DanielCraig got a lot of controversy when he was cast as James Bond because he looked very different from the past Bonds, being derisively referred to as "James Blond." This of course all went away once the film came out and he got rave reviews. He may have invoked the trope, since he refused to dye his hair black for the role.

* DyeingForYourArt: Daniel Craig buffed up and put on 20 lbs of muscle for the role of Bond. In an aversion of the literal meaning of the trope, many critics moaned about Craig's hair being blonde in the film.

** The parkour guy that James Bond pursues in the LeParkour scene at the beginning of the film is Sébastien Foucan one of the inventors of LeParkour.

** The parkour guy that James Bond pursues in the LeParkour scene at the beginning of the film is one of the inventors of LeParkour.

* TheCameo: There's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance by rock-star executive Richard Branson: he's one of the people being scanned when Bond goes through Miami Airport security.

** The actor playing the guy that James Bond pursues in the LeParkour scene at the beginning of the film is one of the inventors of LeParkour.
** When Bond plays poker at the Ocean Club and wins Dimitrios's car, the dealer running the game is an actual professional poker dealer.

* HistoricalInJoke: It's shown that Le Chiffre profited from airline stocks sinking after the 9/11 attacks, so he may have orchestrated the attacks, or at the very least, profited off the attacks

* NonAppearingTitle: "You Know My Name" has no mention of "Casino Royale" because according to ChrisCornell, he "couldn't imagine it fitting into a song lyric that would come out of my mouth"
-->"[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEk9gWNfaVE ''Casino Royale'' didn't make a good rock title]], but I would write a song named {{Octopussy}} just for fun".
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Approximately half the male actors in film were rumored as being considered for the role of Bond. Of note, [[ManOfSteel Henry Cavill]] was the runner-up, but at age 22, was considered too young.

* The Poker Game!
** To get this you have to read several of the original novels, especially ''Goldfinger''. Throughout the series there are references to the game at the Casino Royale including the names and positions of the players. The large black gentleman? Mr. Big from ''Literature/LiveAndLetDie''. The touristy woman to Felix's left? In the book ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', she and her husband ask Bond to investigate Goldfinger's cheating them.

* IronyAsSheIsCast: As they discuss their cover, Vesper describes herself as coming from a strict Roman Catholic family. Eva Green herself is an atheist, and was raised in an irreligious family.

* AbilityOverAppearance: Creator/DanielCraig got a lot of controversy when he was cast as JamesBond because he looked very different from the past Bonds, being derisively referred to as "James Blond." This of course all went away once the film came out and he got rave reviews. He may have invoked the trope, since he refused to dye his hair black for the role.

** One of the poker players is played by Tsai Chin, who played Ling, the Chinese girl Bond beds in the pre-credits sequence of Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice.

** The actor playing the guy that James Bond pursues in the LeParkour scene at the beginning of Casino Royale is one of the inventors of LeParkour.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Approximately half the male actors in film were rumored as being considered for the role of Bond.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Mads Mikkelsen playing Le Chiffre before he played {{Series/Hannibal}}.