Daniel Craig became the sixth actor to portray James Bond in the celebrated Eon film series with the 2006 release of Casino Royale. Craig's performance presented a darker and more human portrayal of Bond, very much in the same manner that
Timothy Dalton had pioneered in his two Bond films almost 20 years earlier. Dalton himself went on to praise both the film and Craig's performance, saying he was delighted for him .
 |
Daniel Craig
Proved a safe
bet |
Whilst Casino Royale went on to be a huge success with critics and audiences alike, the film was beset by censorship problems in many territories across the world, with at least five different cuts of the film being released in various countries
around the globe. For instance, Chinese audiences had some luck in that Casino Royale was the first James Bond film to ever be officially released in China, although the Chinese censors did cut the film and demanded that a line mentioning the Cold War be
redubbed to instead make a vague reference to the old times. As another example, the German release was practically uncut, but one small change was made to an undetailed neck break to secure an FSK-12 rating. Other countries got an uncut version,
whilst the United States and the United Kingdom got two entirely separate cut versions.
In this edition of Cutting Edge, we'll be primarily focusing on the changes that were made to director Martin Campbell's original uncut version for both
the UK and US releases of the film, and the results say a lot about the different attitudes taken by the two different censor boards on both sides of the Atlantic.
Seeking BBFC advice on torture
After production wrapped in 2006, director Martin Campbell was in the process of editing Casino Royale in England and an unfinished rough cut
of the film was submitted to the BBFC by the film's distributors, Sony Pictures, for advice on how to achieve a 12A rating for the final UK release. Although the film has some particularly violent scenes, the BBFC took issue with only one part of the
film - the torture of James Bond by the film's chief villain, Le Chiffre. This important sequence (in both Ian Fleming's novel and the film itself) sees Le Chiffre repeatedly beating Bond in his testicles with a knotted rope; although in the novel a
carpet beater is used. The BBFC declared that the film's torture scene contained too much emphasis on both the infliction of pain and the sadism of the villain and later commented:
Casino Royale sat on the
borderline between '12A' and '15' when first seen in unfinished form. The BBFC advised the distributor that the violence would need to be toned down if the desired '12A' category was to be achieved. The version submitted for formal classification [was]
appropriately placed at the upper end of '12A'... where the [BBFC] Guidelines permit violence provided there is no dwelling on detail or emphasis on injuries.
Minor changes were suggested to the filmmakers following the advice
viewing, including:
...the removal of lingering shots of the rope, close shots of Bond's facial reaction and the substitution of a more distant shot of the beating.
Submission to the BBFC
Cut Scenes: Ballsy Resistance The first -- and most obvious -- elimination in the UK version occurs as Le Chiffre approaches the naked and bound Bond with the rope. Le Chiffre speaks to Bond, remarking, You've
taken good care of your body. As Le Chiffre encircles Bond, he pauses to drape the end of the rope over Bond's shoulder, saying, Such a waste. The rope is then removed and Le Chiffre walks to Bond's side.
| |
|
Removed shots including the Le Chiffre line: Such a waste
|
The shots showing the draping and removing of the rope and Le Chiffre's second line were removed entirely. In an interview with James Bond fan site MI6 in 2006, director Martin Campbell remarked that the BBFC's issue with this particular shot was that
it was a little too sexual for their tastes.
|
Now just one swing of the rope
|
Immediately afterwards, Le Chiffre begins to slowly swing the rope towards Bond's genitals. A shot from underneath the chair showing the rope swinging two times was reduced to just one swing for the UK version.
| Shot extended to replace the close up
| |
| Missing close up
|
Le Chiffre's second strike with the rope is covered in two shots in the uncut version - a two-shot of Bond and Le Chiffre as the latter whips Bond with the rope; a close-up of Bond's grimacing face as he cries out in pain; and a return to the previous
two-shot as Le Chiffre walks away. For the UK version, the close-up of Bond's face was removed, and the two-shot held for the entirety of the second whipping with no cutaway. Campbell appears to have incorporated the last BBFC change -- the substitution of a more distant shot of the beating
- into his final edit of the film. When Bond is struck for the third time, the scene quickly cuts away to a long shot of Bond screaming from behind.
|
More distant shot of beating
|
This shot exists in the uncut version too, and could possibly suggest that Campbell agreed with the BBFC's assessment and saw fit to remove the original offending footage in all versions of the film.
|
Following a formal submission of Casino Royale to the BBFC, it was passed without further cuts with a 12A rating on October 30th 2006. After suffering numerous BBFC cuts to his 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye, Martin Campbell was surprised that such
minor changes were all that was required to Casino Royale:
In England, they didn't give a damn, and said that the violence is terrific. It was amazing to me that they let as much through as they did.
On the other hand, the reaction from the British cinema-going public was not quite so terrific. As the BBFC later stated in their Annual Report:
Any one of our decisions may be controversial or at least subject to
challenge and criticism. For example, were we right to make Casino Royale '12A', despite some scenes of violence and torture?
[It] was the most complained about film in 2006. The majority were about the level of violence in the
film, commenting that it should have been a '15'. It was felt by some [that] the torture scene was still considered very strong despite being reduced.
The pre-cut UK cinema version was later passed with a 12 rating by the BBFC in February 2007 and released
on DVD and Blu-ray.
No problems with torture in the US... but the MPAA required cuts to fight scenes
Martin Campbell submitted the uncut version of the film to the MPAA in the United States, with Sony Pictures keen to secure a PG-13 rating. In an
unexpected move, the MPAA - usually more lenient on violence in action films than the BBFC - stated that cuts would be required in two of the film's major fight scenes before a rating would be awarded. As it stood, the uncut version would receive an R
rating; a rating that Sony were not willing to accept. In an interview with M2E Pictures, Martin Campbell spoke about the American treatment of Casino Royale:
You have to have a PG-13 rating, you can't have a stiffer
one, otherwise you'll be in serious problems on Bond. So the point is it has to be a sort of general audience movie. In the States, we took out a tiny bit of violence at the beginning of the movie, and a little bit in the machete fight. Oddly enough the
Americans let the torture scene go through without a cut.
Cut Scenes: That sinking feeling Through the use of numerous techniques including small snips, the shifting of edit points and alternative footage, Campbell re-edited the film's opening bathroom fight and the later
stairwell fight to secure a PG-13 rating in the United States. The bathroom fight cuts are as follows:
- The initial punch by Bond to Fisher's face is altered. When compared to the uncut version, the edit point has been moved to occur just as Bond's punch makes contact, which subtly lessens the impact of the blow.
- Bond smashing a
cubicle door into Fisher's face is removed.
- Bond kicking Fisher in the face and moving in for another kick before Fisher throws a trash can at Bond is cut and merged into one kick. As Bond goes to kick Fisher initially, the US version
cuts to Bond's second kick as Fisher blocks it with the trash can.
- Footage of Fisher choking and screaming as Bond moves him towards the sink is trimmed.
- The drowning of Fisher is reduced in length, removing a
close-up of Bond straining to hold Fisher down and a shot of Fisher spluttering in the sink.
- Alternate footage of Fisher's legs kicking has also been inserted in place of more footage that shows Fisher drowning in the sink.
 |
 |
 |
Some of the shots cut from the US version
|
Martin Campbell had intended this scene to be ugly and brutal; Bond is earning his stripes as a new Double-0 agent and in the novel Ian Fleming makes it quite clear that Bond has trouble dealing with such violence in his profession. Campbell's
intended effect is somewhat diluted due to the MPAA's changes. |
Cut Scenes: Stairway to Heaven The stairwell fight later in the film is also heavily cut in the US version. The main changes are as follows:
- Obanno's bodyguard hitting the floor after Bond kicks him over the railing is removed, followed by the substitution of a shot showing Obanno kicking Bond in the stomach
- Bond smashing Obanno's head into a window is cut entirely,
along with Obanno swiping at Bond with a machete
- Obanno grabbing Vesper's leg as she runs away is removed
- A brief wide shot of Bond and Obanno struggling is missing
- Bond kicking Obanno in the
leg and smacking him in the face is cut, followed by Bond throwing himself at Obanno and Obanno shoving Bond into a wall
- Bond elbowing Obanno twice in the back is reduced to one blow
- Bond choking Obanno and yanking
him backwards is slightly trimmed
- The second of two shots showing Obanno's struggling legs is missing
- Footage showing Obanno twice reaching for the gun on the floor is missing, along with footage of Bond continuing
to choke Obanno
- A shot showing Obanno slowly dying in Bond's grip is cut so that only the latter part of the shot remains after he is already dead
- The final close-up of Obanno's dead and bloodied face is missing
completely
 |
 |
 |
Some of the shots cut from the US version
|
|
Following these alterations, the US version was passed with a PG-13 rating and this version was released on both DVD and Blu-ray.
International Versions
Unlike
many previous Bond films which have only ever been available with at least some censor cuts permanently incorporated into all final release prints, the uncut version of Casino Royale was actually released intact in many parts of the world - Australia,
France, Holland, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, Scandinavia and Taiwan all received uncut DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film. The Russian DVD release was also uncut, although the Blu-ray contains the cut UK version with the shortened torture scene.
Celebrating James Bond's 50th anniversary with an uncut release in the UK (but not the US)
In 2012, Sony resubmitted Casino Royale to the BBFC for the film's Blu-ray release as part of James
Bond's 50th anniversary celebrations. They submitted the original uncut version of the film, which was passed by the Board on August 13th 2012 with a 15 rating, and all previous cuts were waived. The UK now has a fully uncut version of the film, with
none of the BBFC or MPAA edits. All of the fight scenes are intact, and the torture scene is uncut. However, the 12-rated DVD releases still contain the cut UK version.
