Timeline - Casino Royale

4th April 2003 – Aishwarya Rai’s press agents release rumours of the Bollywood star clinching a role in Bond 21. Bond 21 casting rumours begin more than 3 years before release. 15th April 2003 – Catherine McCormack of Eon Productions denies all rumours that the Bond 21 casting had begun saying, “These are only rumours We have not approached Aishwarya… we have no shooting script, not casting agent, not even at date for the film”. 10th October 2003 – Press rumours claim Bond 21 will shoot in January 2005, with a November release. 27th October 2003 – The much debated Jinx spin-off (that was pushing back Bond 21 production dates) is canned. 22nd March 2004 – Brosnan speaks about the future of 007, Bond 21 and his future involvement stating, “The producers have reached an impasse, as far as I can tell. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to move on.” 20th April 2004 – MGM’s Chris McGurk confirms a penciled November 2005 release for James Bond 21.

27th May 2004 – Regular Bond scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade begin work on the Bond 21 script.

11th August 2004 – The first draft of the James Bond 21 script is completed by Purvis and Wade.

30th September 2004 – MGM announce they are delaying Bond 21 until the Spring of 2006, now set for release a whole year after the original penciled date.

14th October 2004 – Pierce Brosnan officially stands down from the role of Agent 007. The hunt for Bond #6 is on.

3rd February 2005 – Eon Productions announce James Bond 21 to be Casino Royale, helmed by New Zealand director, Martin Campbell and based on the original Ian Fleming novel.

24th February 2005 – Martin Campbell talks Casino Royale, telling the presses that Bond will be back to basics, grittier and much more Fleming-esque.

18th May 2005 – Producer Michael G. Wilson announces Prague’s Barrandov Studios as the home of the production. 30th August 2005 – Oscar-winning scribe, Paul Haggis begins work on brushing up the Casino Royale script, developing character and dialogue and making sure Bond is believable. 29th August 2005 – Casino Royale’s production team is assembled – Die Another Day’s Simon Crane does not return to the role of Stunt Coordinator. 14th October 2005 – 37-year-old Daniel Craig is announced as James Bond #6 by Eon Productions at a London-based press day. 9th November 2005 – Eon Productions announce the complete line-up of international release dates for 2006’s Casino Royale. 24th November 2005 – Dame Judi Dench is welcomed back to her role as ‘M’, but other regulars will not make a return. Shooting schedule set to include the Bahamas (doubling for Madagascar). 27th January 2006 – German actor Ludger Pistor is cast in Casino Royale.

29th January 2006 – Sebastien Foucan, the stunt-man and free-runner is given a Royale role.

30th January 2006 – Principal photography on Casino Royale begins with Martin Campbell directing Daniel Craig in the Embassy shoot-up.

15th February 2006 – Danish star Mads Mikkelsen is cast as the villainous Le Chiffre.

16th February 2006 – The casting of Vesper Lynd and Felix Leiter is announced. Eva Green is unveiled as the latest in the long line of Bond girls and Jeffrey Wright is set to play Bond’s "brother from Langley".

20th February 2006 – While shooting continues in the Bahamas, Aston Martin unveil concept designs for the new DBS – Bond’s new ride in Casino Royale.

15th March 2006 – The cast and crew give their first mid-production press release. On the sunny shores of the Bahamas, Daniel Craig, Eva Green and Caterina Murino give their first press release and photoshoot.

5th April 2006 – The second unit wraps shooting the massive construction site case in the Bahamas.

6th April 2006 – Martin Campbell rolls cameras on the intensive Poker tournament at Barrandov Studios.

2nd May 2006 – Sony Pictures release teaser trailers for James Bond 21. 3th May 2006 – The production begins shooting at Prague International Airport (doubling for Miami International) with a giant Airbus A340-600, posing as the new Skyways super-jet. 9th May 2006 – The crew shoot Daniel Craig and Simon Abkarian at the Ministry of Transport in Prague. The Ministry doubles for the "Body World" exhibition where Abkarian’s character, Dimitrios, makes a drop to the latest in the line of terrorists.

12th May 2006 – The first unit set up at a disused military hospital in Plana. Here they shoot much of Bond’s recuperation sequence.

28th May 2006 – The first unit travel to Lake Como in Italy – a location already made familiar by George Lucas’ blockbuster "Star Wars Episode II".

30th May 2006 – The garden scenes of Bond’s recovery are captured on the shores of Lake Como.

3rd June 2006 – The second unit shoot at UK’s Dunsford Park aerodrome. Doubling for the Miami airport runway, Dunsford is home to calculated crashes, explosions and stunts as the unit films one of the big action sets of the picture.

5th June 2006 – Daniel Craig and the first unit roll cameras on the Venice sequence at the famous St. Mark’s square. 5th June 2006 – The production holds a press day at their Venice based location shoot. Bond and his new leading lady pose for photographs. 8th June 2006 – Daniel and Eva shoot the yachting scenes in the Grand Canal. 5th July 2006 – The Royale second unit set up at Black Park, just outside of Pinewood, to shoot scenes of Le Chiffre’s meet with Obanno at the beginning of the film. They shoot for two days. 26 July 2006 – Chris Cornell of Audioslave fame is announced as Casino Royale’s theme artist. 30 July 2006 – The 007 Stage is swamped in flames after an oxyacetylene gas canister exploded. The second unit had completed shooting in Pinewood’s wet-tank just days before the fire. 7th September 2006 – A full theatrical trailer for Casino Royale is released to cinemas world wide.

4th November 2006 – Press agencies are quick on the ball and the first of many positive reviews are released.

13th November 2006 – David Arnold’s Casino Royale soundtrack is released on CD. However, the compilation lacks the theme "You Know My Name" performed by Chris Cornell.

14th November 2006 – Casino Royale’s world premiere is held at Leicester Square and celebrates with red carpet guests and an appearance from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

11th February 2007 – Eva Green and Daniel Craig attend the BAFTA awards, where Casino Royale picked up nine nominations and Eva Green received the "Rising Star" award for her Bond girl role.

13th March 2007 – Casino Royale is released on "Collectors Edition" two-disc DVD (fullscreen and widescreen versions) and Blu-Ray in the USA, entering the DVD charts at #1 and selling over 100,00 copies on the high-def format in the first week.

19th March 2007 – Casino Royale is released on "Collectors Edition" two-disc DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK.

24th April 2007 - Casino Royale enters the all-time UK box office top 10 by hauling £55.5m at the national box-office.

26th May 2007 - The Casino Royale stunt team scooped two Taurus awards for Best High Work and Best Stunt Coordination and/or 2nd Unit Direction.

15th September 2007 - Selling over 2.3 million copies in the first half of 2007, the Casino Royale tops the first ever UK culture chart.

17th September 2007 - A single-disc edition of Casino Royale with no special features is released in the UK by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

29th September 2007 - At the first ever National Movie Awards in the UK, Casino Royale won best action and adventure movie, and the James Bond franchise also won the special recognition award at the event.