[Quick Summary: After getting his 00 license, Bond has to enter a high stakes poker game to stop a banker who is financing terrorists.]
As I read these Bond scripts and hear complaints about the films, I begin to grasp how difficult it is to get the alchemy right. Each film is truly a bespoke effort.
This script begins the Daniel Craig era, whose scripts are markedly more pleasurable to read on the page, compared to previous eras.*
It tackles one of the greatest pressures, i.e., introducing a new actor to play Bond, with real flair.
In this scene:
- I really liked how this introduction included the usual (danger, proficiency on the job) but also an emotional layer (grappling with his first kills).
- I also like how easy they make it for a non-Bond fan to comprehend. Everyone understands playing games and one-upmanship, which are strong themes here.
- Finally, Dryden and Bond are trading verbal punches. Note how the flashback doesn't interrupt the flow. It adds weight behind Dryden's "made you feel it" line.
INT. MODERN OFFICE -- NIGHT
Dryden grabs the pistol, levels it -- Bond still hasn't moved.
DRYDEN: Shame, we barely got to know each other.
He pulls the trigger. Click. Bond holds up the magazine.
BOND (with humor): I knew where you hid your gun, I suppose that's something.
DRYDEN (has to smile): True. (lays gun down) How did he die?
BOND: Your contact?
INT. CRICKET GROUND - CLUB HOUSE -- DAY
Fisher backs up to a washbasin, turns on the tap, throws water on his sweating face - his eyes never leave the door. Suddenly, a burst of cheering from outside. Fisher instinctively brings the gun up. A second door, behind him, crashes open. Bond. He spins but James grabs him, knocks the gun out of his hand.
Fisher attacks. The two tumble into the stalls. The fight is chaotic, both men trying to hit each other in a confined space until the stall partitions fold like dominoes. They fall into the shower room. Fisher fights like a madman until finally Bond forces his head into the basin, now overflowing with water. James holds him under until the body stops writhing and kicking. Not a clean kill by any means. He lets the body slide to the floor, steps back, considering the dead man. Hating him for making this feel so much like...killing.
INT. MODERN OFFICE -- NIGHT
BOND: Not well.
DRYDEN: Made you feel it, did he? (sees the truth in Bond's eyes) Well, no worries, the second is --
Bond raises his silenced Walther and fires, cutting off the words before they reach Dryden's lips.
BOND: Yes. Considerably.
Bond holsters his weapon and heads for the door.
WHAT I'VE LEARNED: I was surprised by how much Bond was feeling the pathos (sadness, sympathy, compassion). It surprised me and made a deeper impact.
Casino Royale (2006)(2nd revisions by Haggis, 12/13/05)
by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, and Paul Haggis
Based on the novel by Ian Fleming
*I will not say that Craig era scripts are "better", just more readable. The reason that these films have been great are their creativity, imaginativity, originality, and inventiveness, which do often look very messy on the page.
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