During the years when James Bond went missing in action with everyone unsure as to the future of the MI6 spy, Tarantino had an idea to repackage Bond with a small-scale, plot driven take on Ian Flemingʼs novel, Casino Royale. It was one of the few Fleming novels that hadnʼt been adapted properly into a movie, apart from a rather campy effort starring Peter Sellers in 1967. Chatter regarding Tarantinoʼs link with the project rumbled on through the ʻ90s, with rumours beginning to get serious once the filmmaker had put the finishing touches on Kill Bill: Vol. 2, with QT actually meeting up with then Bond, Pierce Brosnan. Tarantino made it clear from the outset that he wanted to keep Brosnan on-board, but the actor departed the franchise in 2005, which invariably killed Tarantinoʼs interest. In later years, the director admitted that even if he acquired the rights to Casino Royale, it wouldʼve been a hard sell. Producers were afraid I was going to make it too good and f*ck the rest of the series, he said in an interview. Then, during another interview, the director spoke of how his interest in the novel made executives realise that Casino Royale was worthy of adapting if a director of his ilk thought it was good enough to make. Itʼs safe to assume there is some bad blood between the director and the top brass at Bond, and our chance of seeing Tarantino make a Bond movie has probably come and gone.
