Quentin Tarantino Once Claimed He Resented ‘Casino Royale’ Producers for Not Crediting Him for the Film
Casino Royale is largely credited for rebooting the James Bond series with Daniel Craig. But Quentin Tarantino once felt that if it wasn’t for him, Casino Royale would’ve never been made. At one point, he felt so strongly about it that he thought the people behind Royale owed him credit for the movie.
Quentin Tarantino bid against Barbara Broccoli for rights to ‘Casino Royale’
As some know, Casino Royale is Ian Flemming’s first James Bond novel, introducing the world to the MI6 agent. Tarantino had always expressed interest in doing Casino Royale. But Tarantino made an actual effort to acquire the book rights to bring his vision to fruition. Martin Campbell shared this revelation in an interview with The Daily Express.
“Casino Royale was not going to be the next film. They were developing another script but then, after a long battle, the Broccolis suddenly got the film rights to the first Bond movie, despite Quentin Tarantino bidding against them,” Campbell said according to Warped Factor.
Tarantino also would’ve had Pierce Brosnan continue his role as 007. But the Broccolis decided to go in a different direction.
“The script being developed was an original story in which James Bond isn’t the character we know today but someone younger and more screwed up,” he said. “Pierce was getting on for 49 or something, and clearly too old to play the younger Bond, so they decided to go in a different direction.”
Quentin Tarantino once said he should’ve gotten credit for ‘Casino Royale’
Quentin Tarantino didn’t believe that Casino Royale would’ve existed if it wasn’t for him. In an interview on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, the Pulp Fiction director shared how he inspired the film.
“The reason they did Casino Royale all comes down to me,” Tarantino said. “It’s the truth. The thing about it is I made it a point that I said, ‘I wanted to do Casino Royale. They were already on record as saying the movie was unfilmable. But then after I said it and talked about it for a little bit, then the big thing on all the internets was that was what the fans wanted to see. And that’s when they [went], ‘Oh, maybe it’s not so unfilmable now.”
The Mirror reported Tarantino brought up the situation and felt the studio should’ve acknowledged him for the movie.
“I resent that none of them gave me a shout-out that I’m the one [that] got them making Casino Royale,” Tarantino said. “They told them, ‘We’re afraid Quentin’s going to make it too good and f*** the rest of the series.’”
Pierce Brosnan not being James Bond anymore ‘killed Quentin Tarantino’s Bond movie
Quentin Tarantino’s interest in a Bond movie died down after learning that Pierce Brosnan wouldn’t portray the character.
“But once I heard Brosnan isn’t going to be doing any more Bond films, that killed it as far as I was concerned,” he said at the Empire Awards (via Sunday Morning Herald).
That’s because the Goldeneye actor embodied everything Tarantino wanted to see in a Bond.
“Over the course of time he’s really proven himself to me as the James Bond for this generation,” he continued. “He can really pull off that 60s thing that Casino Royale would have – it’s not just about a guy trying to take over the world, with speeding trains and action sequences, it should be more like the book.”
