James Bond has been a symbol of pop culture and the gambling community especially, for more than four decades. He is the embodiment of coolness with his suave demeanor; his confidence with the ladies, when facing ruthless enemies or when sitting at a casino table playing for high stakes. His smooth and cool way of handling life-threatening situations, some of them lie solely on him winning the next hand, has been mimicked by countless fictional characters, real life "characters" and even quite a few poker players.

Casino Royale, the new film in the series, will be released in the United Kingdom on November 16 and in the United States and Canada on November 17. It will be released in most of Europe by the end of November and the rest of the world by the end of the year.

Bond. James Bond

The James bond character was created in 1952 by Ian Fleming, who wrote many books and short stories starring the British spy. The first film, "Dr. No", came out in 1962 starring none other than Sean Connery. In 1967 Connery retired from the role after five movies and George Lazenby took over the role of 007 for the first and only time in "On her Majesty's Secret Service" in 1969. In 1971, Connery returned to his roots and starred in his sixth Bond movie, "Diamonds Are Forever", which would be his last until he returned in 1983's "Never Say Never Again", which was not part of the series' continuity.

From 1973 to 1985, Roger Moore took over the role, making him the longest-serving James Bond actor at thirteen years, from when he was first signed to the role in 1972.

At the age of 58, Moore quit because of "old age" in favor of Timothy Dalton, who starred in two films: "The Living Daylights" in 1987 and "A license to Kill" in 1989.

Pierce Brosnan was the last to portray the MI6 agent. He began in 1995 with "GoldenEye" and ended his tenure with 2002's "Die Another Day", his 4^th Bond film.

Casino Royale

In 2005, EON Productions, the company that owns the rights to the James Bond films and has produced the series since 1962, announced that actor Daniel Craig was hired to be the next and sixth James Bond and that the film, "Casino Royale", will be the 21^st movie in the series.

The film is based on the original 1953 Ian Fleming novel, which is the first James bond novel. This version is the third movie adaptation of Casino Royale. In 1954, CBS created an hour-long episode as part of their Climax! series, that featured Barry Nelson as Jimmy Bond. In 1967, a spoof film, which was very lightly based on Ian Fleming's novel, was released, starring Woody Allen and David Niven.

What's the story?

The new film tells the story of a younger James Bond, in his early days as 007. After making his first two kills, Bond formally becomes a member of the double-o section of the MI6, the British secret service. The origin of James Bond is explored in the film as never before, providing much insight into his character, his motives and his faults.

The movie's villain, Le Chiffre, is a banker for terrorists who lost his client's money due to Bond's intervention in a terrorist plot gone bad. In order to retrieve the money and to save his own life, Le Chiffre goes to the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Bond and his nemesis then confront each other in a card table showdown.

The writers of the film, as well as director Martin Campbell, have confirmed that a good portion of the film (the latter half) will be a faithful adaptation of Fleming's novel, including the infamous violent torture scene from the original novel, in which Bond is naked and tied into a chair without a bottom. Le Chiffre then tortures his "private parts".

Robert Wade, one of the film's screenwriters, commented on the scene simply by saying: "If it is done the right way, there are going to be a lot of crossed legs in the cinema".

Gambling with 007

Gambling plays a major role in the James Bond saga and in Casino Royale in particular. When the novel Casino Royale was written by Ian Fleming back in the 50's, Chemin de Fur (a version of Baccarat) was a high stakes game. The famous expression "Neuf à la banque", which has been romanticized by the Bond novels and films, is proclaimed by the dealer when the player is dealt 9.

Today, the high stakes game has shifted from Baccarat to Texas Holdem poker, in which pots as high as $20 million are not unreasonable. This is why the producers and screenwriters of the 21^st Bond film chose it as the perfect game for the movie.

Michael Wilson, one of the film's producers, needed to set up a poker school to train the actors to play poker. Actors need to rehearse techniques they will need for movies, such as shooting, horse riding and diving. For this particular movie nine actors, who were hired to play against Bond at the poker table, needed to be taught how to look and act like a professional poker player.

Thomas Sanbrook was brought in to work with the actors on their playing techniques and their behavior at the table. For example, the actors were taught to look at their cards the right way, play with their chips in a certain way and how to stack them and how to throw their cards in when they do so. Each of them developed his own personal style of playing poker to make the scenes believable and as natural as possible. They did more than just rehearse the scenes and the particular games that would be played out for the movie. Part of their preparation was also to participate in poker tournaments to hone their skills and get familiar with the game, which turned them all into pretty good poker players by the end of the process. The cast and crew played games between takes throughout the filming of the movie and even after it had wrapped.

The 22^nd Bond film is already scheduled for release on November 7, 2008 and will again star Daniel Craig. It is rumored that it will be a continuation of Casino Royale's timeline and plot, and will not be a remake of any other Bond movie.

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