Mikkelsen also reveals in the article that his character, Le Chiffre, invites the world's best poker players to an "everything or nothing" high stakes game. Bond, of course, takes part in an attempt to bankrupt the terrorist financier. The image (hosted on AICN) shows Mikkelsen in full character make-up for his role as Le Chiffre, complete with an eye-scar

Isaach de Bankole has been cast as Obanno, one of the villains in the forthcoming James Bond movie "Casino Royale" - reports Variety. The 48 year-old Ivory Coast actor recently wrapped the role of Neptune in Universal's "Miami Vice". Isaach was discovered on the streets of Paris while studying to be an airline pilot. He has a degree in Acting from Cours Simon and a Masters in Mathematics from the Universite de Paris.

Few details of his character have been released, but Obanno is thought to be a rogue African military chief who gives Le Chiffre fund to looks after.

MGM executives toured the set of Casino Royale in Prague on April 6. In town to promote the planned launch of the MGM Channel in central Europe, MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan, COO Rick Sands, MGM Networks executive VP Bruce Tuchman and others toured Barrandov Studios sound stages where Campbell was filming a critical gambling scene between James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, and villain Le Chiffre, played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen.

Although Bond and Le Chiffre play baccarat in Ian Fleming’s 1953 novel, the game will be Texas Hold ‘Em poker in the 21st Bond film. Casino Royale’s filming in the Bahamas wrapped April 5th. The Caribbean location stands in for Madagascar, where Casino Royale begins with Bond chasing down and apparently killing a villain.

Craig On Bond
Daniel Craig told BBC One's Film 2006 host Jonathan Ross all the traditional Bond elements would be in place. Craig, then on location in the Bahamas, said: "I just wanted to see him make a few mistakes. I want to make the audience believe that it's all going to go wrong and then when it goes right it's much more exciting."

Craig also explained how grueling chase scenes and fight sequences high up on cranes meant the role demanded a high level of fitness. He said: "Every day you pick up an injury and you're battered and bruised. If you're not physically fit then it's difficult to get through.

To answer his critics, Craig said: "I'm a Bond fan. If I go and see a Bond movie there are certain things I think should be in it. And they're there. We've got them in spades. Nobody knows more than I do how important this is, and it's my job to get it right."

Rumour Wrap-Up
Key players in the production team came out fighting in an Entertainment Weekly report in an attempt to lay various rumours to rest once and for all. "No, his teeth didn't get knocked out," says director Martin Campbell, "What happened was that one of his caps came loose while we were filming in Prague. A local dentist came to the set, put a bit of glue on it, and that was that. The whole thing took 10 minutes."

Above: Bond gets briefed by M.

Above: Bond waits for the arrival of his second target which will assure him his "00" status in the film's pre-title sequence.

"The way we look at it, it's Classic Bond", explained Broccoli (pictured opposite) in another interview with Globe & Mail. "Casino Royale is the definitive Bond story. It was always an ambition of [Cubby Broccoli & Harry Saltzman] to be able to make this story, but sadly, they were never able to. 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".

"James Bond is a very dark, complex character the way he was originally conceived by Fleming," she notes. "So this film is going to explore elements of the character that have not been seen before. It will really surprise people when they see it."

Co-producer Michael G. Wilson then discussed the change in tact from the hugely successful "Die Another Day", which netted nearly $450 million at the global box-office. "Well, I think we've seen Bond films go through different periods of change," offered Wilson. "In the 1970s, they got bigger and more fantastic until we reached Moonraker [1979] in outer space. And we realized that it was going in the wrong direction and we brought it back to basics with For Your Eyes Only [1981]."