On one hand, James Bond isn't exactly known for its controversy. After all, they are spy movies with some big set pieces and a big cultural impact. Although, that's not to say that there haven't been a number of questionable elements included in the films, particularly the earlier ones. These elements are part of the reason fans turned on Sean Connery.
There was also a strange controversy around the casting of Daniel Craig in the leading role for the 2006 revamp, Casino Royale. But as soon as the movie came out, the vast majority of James Bond fans realized just how ingenious Daniel's casting truly was.
However, that doesn't mean that the movie itself was beloved by everyone. Some parent's groups had issues with one scene in particular... the one where Mads Mikkelsen's Le Chiffre ties Bond naked to a chair and tortures him by whacking his manhood with a giant rope. While the scene is easily one of the best in the film, some found it over-the-line. Regardless, Both Mads and Daniel enjoyed filming it. Here's what they had to say about it...
The Scene Was Almost More Gruesome Than It Ended Up Being
Casino Royale, which also launched Eva Green into stardom, is the movie that created Daniel Craig's A-list status. Thanks to Daniel, and the script, we saw sides to James Bond that we had never seen up until that point. The film was smart, fast-paced, entertaining, emotional, and exceptionally well-acted thanks to the likes of Eva, Dame Judi Dench, Mads, and of course, Daniel Craig.
To inaugurate Variety's 'Dream Teams' video interview series, Daniel Craig sat down with his Casino Royale co-star, Mads Mikkelsen to discuss his fantastic new film, Another Round, which has been nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture at the upcoming 2021 Academy Awards. While Daniel praised Mads' work in his touching and funny new film, the topic of their experience on Casino Royale was discussed.
First off, the two recalled the first time they met, the casting process, and how Mads easily got the role as the movie's main antagonist. The pair also discussed their most infamous scene together, the torture scene. Of course, the moment was also featured in Ian Flemming's "Casino Royale" novel, in which the film was based. But translating it to the big screen was something else entirely.
"It was great," Mads Mikkelsen said in the Variety interview.
"Yeah, it was," Daniel Craig laughed. "In the book, they take a wicker chair and they cut it out with a butterfly knife, like they kinda do in the film. But there's a whip. It's just a whip. Like ah, I dunno, like a horsewhip in the book."
"Well, that would've been even more painful [than the rope used in the movie," Mads said.
"It was painful either way. But where did the rope come from? Do you know where the rope came from?"
"With the knot? Don't know. But I do remember that we had an extensive conversation with Martin Campbell [the director]," Mads explained. "We were just diving into that scene and we came up with so many cool ideas and Martin was listening and listening and at a certain point he said, "Guys, come back. Come back. It's a Bond film.'"
It seems as though Mads was saying that he, Daniel, and the creative team were brainstorming really cool (and possibly gruesome) elements of the torture scene that the director thought took things even further than what ended up on the screen.
"It was always a scene on the edge," Mads admitted about the moment. "We were never sure if it was going to be in there or not because it was on the edge for a Bond film."
So, How Did The Scene Work?
In the Variety conversation between the two former colleagues, Daniel explained how exactly the whole whipping moment worked. Instead of using some sort of CGI, the whip that Mads was using was 100% real. And Daniel was almost 100% naked aside from a flesh-colored garment that covered his private bits.
To prevent the whip from making contact with him, the wicker chair Daniel was seated in was equipped with 'a thing' the shape of Daniel's 'backside'. This was used so that when Mads swung the whip it made contact with that and not Daniel's actual body.
"I had to give over to the fact that this thing wouldn't break because [Mads] was swinging the f*** out of it," Daniel said.
"It did break a couple of times," Mads admitted.
"You're right, it did!"
As soon as Daniel remembered this moment, he recalled just how much it actually hurt. Not only that, but the device he was sitting in was made of wood so it splintered when it was cracked by the whip.
"It was a wonderful day for me," Mads said. "You, maybe not so much."