Screenwriter Paul Haggis talks Casino Royale post-Oscars

07-Mar-2006 • Casino Royale

Screenwriter Paul Haggis, who was brought onboard "Casino Royale" to polish a script by Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, has spoken about the concept behind his work in a post-Oscars interview.

Q: Were you called in to be a script doctor for the upcoming Bond movie, "Casino Royale"?

Haggis: Yeah. They sent me a script, a very good script, and asked me to think about the character and re-conceive the character of James Bond. I took 10 weeks on that.

Q: How is this film going to be different than the 1967 original?

Haggis: It will be completely different, I think. You know, it takes James Bond from the very first Ian Fleming book, "Casino Royale," when he becomes James Bond â when he gets his "Double 0" status, which means he has two kills, and therefore has his license to kill. But all the bells and whistles, all the things that Q used to give him, the gadgets, those are all gone. So you deal with the character as an assassin and what it feels like to be an assassin. And I ask the question, "Why does he treat women the way that he treats them?"

So I've either helped to re-energize this series, or I've just ruined James Bond for everybody forever.