Had he not been in Prague at the right time, audiences may have seen a version of Le Chiffre that was entirely different. It is interesting to learn that the casting of Mikkelsen was by chance. Ultimately, mounting a similar fight for the French actor she originally had in mind was simply not an option. Considering she had already fought hard to cast Craig as Bond, something the studio was not initially keen on, McWilliams was forced to pick her battles. The casting process for a Bond film, as McWilliams explains, is very much a group effort between her, the director, and the studio. Audiences were given a Bond villain the likes of which they had never seen before, and that has proven hard to match since. But they're always quite odd situations.'Īlthough Mikkelsen wasn't her first choice, everything clearly worked out in the end. I'd kept my eye on him although, to my mind, he wasn't entirely right for the part because La Chiffre by his own name is meant to be French, but once our French actor was not going to be cast, we were in Prague and by pure chance so was Mads Mikkelsen and so I grabbed him and got him in.

I had been monitoring Mads Mikkelsen for quite a while and had seen him in a few Danish films and was really impressed with his versatility. You always have to have your eyes open in case you have to replace somebody, which has happened many, many times. Having fought the battle for Daniel, Barbara felt she couldn't really push it any further. There was an actor very much in mind who I very much wanted, but in the end, the studio didn't want. Mads Mikkelsen was not in at all until the person who we originally wanted didn't go. Some people aren't cast even after we start shooting. 'Minds get changed quite long into the process.

However, the studio didn't want the actor she had in mind for the role. While she had been a fan of Mikkelsen for some time, McWilliams didn't feel he was right for the part because he wasn't French. Although McWilliams doesn't share who her original choice was, she does let on that it was a French actor, something that was important to her considering the character's name and heritage. However, according to comments from McWilliams in a new interview with EW, there was originally another actor she had in mind for the role of Le Chiffre. Related: Casino Royale Broke A Barrier No James Bond Movie Could Before

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