He then decided to offer it to Columbia Studios using a script by Ben Hecht. This idea also fell through, partly because Sean Connery wanted $1 million to appear as Bond and due to the arguments over costs, distribution and profit rights. The plan fell through when the first Bond film came out in 1962.Ĭharles K Feldman then tried to set up a co-production with Eon Productions. Initially they considered making the film with Cary Grant, with directing to be by Howard Hawks and a script by Leigh Brackett. The producer, Charles K Feldman bought the movie rights in 1960 from the widow of Gregory Ratoff. Its troubled history started years before a single frame of film was shot. It has some touches of brilliance (only touches mind you) it has an eclectic cast ranging from the sublime to the truly incomprehensible. Joe Emery recently expressed his dislike for this film, and yet I have a certain affection for it. The 1967 version of Casino Royale has gone into history as an expensive folly of a film, with an overblown budget and a troubled shoot. Casino Royale is either going to be a classic bit of fun or the biggest fuck-up since the Flood.
