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<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Fast-forward to the present day, and Fleming\u2019s 007 books are being reissued to mark the 70th anniversary<\/a>, and their impact remains significant \u2013 not least on the movie franchise that now totals a decades-spanning 25 films.<\/p>\n The key question among fans is how the big-screen series will look when James Bond returns \u2013 not just the identity of who will be slipping on that iconic tux but, even more intriguingly, what tone the new films will look to strike and what\u2019s going to set this version of the super-spy apart from those who have shaken and stirred before.<\/p>\n While much of the conversation is pure speculation and guesswork at the moment, Fleming\u2019s novels provide us with something tangible to theorise on how the film\u2019s creative team may go about rebooting 007.<\/p>\n Long-time Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, whose father Albert R \u2018Cubby\u2019 Broccoli produced every Bond picture from 1962\u2019s Dr No<\/a> through to 1989\u2019s Licence to Kill<\/a>, has made no secret of the books\u2019 continued importance in shaping the film portrayals.<\/p>\n \u201cMy father would say, \u2018Whenever you\u2019re stuck, go back to Ian Fleming,’\u201d Barbara told FilmInk<\/a> in 2013. \u201cWe always go back to the books. You think, \u2018Christ, this doesn\u2019t make any sense\u2026what would Fleming do?\u2019 And you go back and you think about it. It\u2019s where the answers lie.\u201d<\/p>\n As readers\u2019 first introduction to Bond, Casino Royale is particularly well-placed to inform the character and world of 007 \u2013 in fact, it has often been called on when introducing a brand new actor to the role.<\/p>\n Timothy Dalton\u2019s debut Bond film The Living Daylights, which was originally envisioned as an origin story for the secret agent before those plans were dropped, has clear call-backs to Casino Royale\u2019s depiction of SMERSH, the Soviet counterintelligence agency whose \u2018Smiert Spionam\u2019 (\u2018Death to spies\u2019) operation sets the events of both stories in motion.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also no coincidence that one of the earliest scenes of Pierce Brosnan\u2019s 007 in his first entry GoldenEye<\/a> sees him take on the villainous Xenia Onatopp at the baccarat table \u2013 just as he does Le Chiffre in Fleming\u2019s novel.<\/p>\n Naturally, Daniel Craig\u2019s Bond opener went one step further and served as a fully realised adaptation of Casino Royale, so it\u2019s fair to say that Barbara Broccoli and fellow producer Michael G Wilson will have more than half an eye on the novel as they look to relaunch a new era of Bond once again.<\/p>\n With that in mind, what hints does the novel offer about the potential avenues we could be heading down with Bond 26?<\/p>\n For starters, despite the themes and scenarios already mined for the big screen, there remain moments in Casino Royale that have yet to make it to film<\/a>.<\/p>\n A tense set-piece in which Bond is covertly held at gunpoint at the cards table feels ripe for adaptation, while an altogether more unpleasant episode in which Bond\u2019s hand is carved with a knife to mark him out as a spy \u2013 leading to him later getting a skin graft \u2013 would be a hell of a way to welcome the new James.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the story of his first two kills to achieve 00 status is completely different to the version presented in the 2006 film\u2019s pre-credits sequence. With Craig\u2019s Bond meeting his maker in No Time to Die<\/a>, there would be no better time than now to completely reset if they ever wanted to expand those two kills out into the narrative of a Bond origin story.<\/p>\n And then there are the passages giving us an insight into the seemingly impenetrable character of 007. The Bond of Casino Royale is a well-drilled, coolly rational figure who takes cold showers and sleeps with a gun under his pillow, but he\u2019s also far more human in his fears and actions than most of his on-screen counterparts.<\/p> This is a Bond whose inner monologue expresses self-doubt about his ability to win \u2013 both the high-stakes card game at the centre of the novel and the heart of Vesper Lynd \u2013 and one who acknowledges \u201cthe acceptance of fallibility\u201d when he\u2019s inevitably brought to his knees by love or by luck.<\/p>\n It is a Bond whose physical pain is also felt keenly. The infamous torture scene is even more unbearable on the page than on the screen, and a surprising amount of the book is dedicated to Bond\u2019s recovery process as he slowly gets back to something like full strength at a nursing home.<\/p>\n Craig\u2019s portrayal was hugely well-received for bringing out these layers to the iconic character, and it\u2019s hard to see a way forward without retaining at least some of these human frailties, so if the next film does return to Royale for inspiration, don\u2019t expect a sudden lurch into Roger Moore-style frivolity.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most tantalising thread yet to be pulled from Fleming\u2019s novel is in its most acclaimed chapter, The Nature of Evil.<\/p>\n Coming after his bruising and traumatic experience at Le Chiffre\u2019s villa, the chapter serves as an exchange of viewpoints between Bond and his ally Ren\u00e9 Mathis on heroes and villains, God and the Devil, and the question of whether doing one\u2019s duty always equates to good.<\/p>\n \u201cThe heroes and villains get all mixed up,\u201d one says to the other. \u201cOf course, patriotism comes along and makes it seem fairly all right but this country-right-or-wrong business is getting a little out-of-date\u2026 History is moving pretty quickly these days and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.\u201d<\/p>\n Surprisingly, it\u2019s not Mathis making the argument \u2013 but Bond.<\/p>\n Explaining that he would kill Le Chiffre were he there with him, Bond admits it would only be for personal gain, not \u201cfor some high moral reason or for the sake of my country\u201d and resolves to resign from service.<\/p>\n The film franchise has flirted with the idea of a disillusioned Bond \u2013 he\u2019s quit MI6 on more than one occasion and has even been stripped of his 00 licence \u2013 but rarely has he actively rejected the notion of duty, no matter how much he might challenge his superiors\u2019 orders.<\/p>\n Could the new James go one step further and actively end up working against His Majesty\u2019s Government? It would have been unthinkable at one time, but the groundwork has already been laid in No Time to Die, where Ralph Fiennes\u2019s M strays perilously close to villain territory for his part in Project Heracles.<\/p>\n If we\u2019re reinventing Bond, why not do the same for M and make them the ultimate big bad? It wouldn\u2019t take too much of a narrative leap and sets up a fascinating dilemma for our loyal hero that wouldn\u2019t be out of step with Fleming\u2019s conflicted protagonist.<\/p>\n Wherever the world\u2019s most famous spy goes next, expect a bold and brave new direction with more than a hint of Royale. It\u2019s always a gamble bringing a new 007 to the table, but with Fleming still at the heart of the franchise, the odds are in its favour.<\/p> ![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/04\/casino-royale-ian-fleming-f6d7405.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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