“But that scene was so important, and it’s from the original Ian Fleming book,” says Barbara Broccoli, the film’s legendary producer. The 46-year-old Bond heiress, daughter of Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and bona fide producer of the four previous blockbusting Bond movies, is defending accusations that the scene in question might be perceived as a tiny bit, well, odd. “We always said that there were certain things that just had to stay from the book, otherwise there’s no point in doing this, and that scene was one. It is his chrysalis. It’s when Bond realises what he’s taken on with his double 0 status. It’s his trial by fire!”

Of course, the battered gonads aren’t the only surprise in store for the Bond faithful. The whole movie, in fact, might indeed be a trial by fire for those loyal to the synthetic schoolboy adventures of the most recent Bonds (Die Another Day, in particular). For instead of invisible cars and computergenerated tsunami we’ve now got savage fist fights and brutal stabbings. Instead of ironic quips we’ve got angst-ridden silences. And instead of camp and inane triumphalism there’s a delicious sense of despondency that permeates the entire movie (reviewed on page 16).

There’s no super-villain either, and no diabolical plans to take over the planet. The real enemy is in fact Bond himself, his doubts and his fears for his own identity. Here Craig has a telling and deceptively poignant scene, surely courtesy of the Oscar-winning co-writer Paul Haggis (Crash), in which he stands in front of a bathroom mirror after a grisly murder and swiftly downs a calming glass of Scotch. There’s nothing suave about it, and his eyes are filled with both terror and a kind of wonderment at his own bloodlust. Elsewhere he plays cards for long periods, falls passionately in love with an accountant, and tries to retire.

Thus every generation gets the Bond movies they deserve, and Broccoli, seated beside her half-brother and fellow movie royal Michael G. Wilson (a producer on Bond since Moonraker), is inclined to agree. “When we made Goldeneye, everyone was saying that Bond wasn’t relevant any more. The Berlin Wall had come down and the world was a really safe place. But now the world has become increasingly more dangerous, and I think this film reflects that.”

“Even though the last film was the most commercially successful,” adds Wilson, “I think we felt that we were getting away from our roots, which is what made Bond so special. And that’s what we were trying to find here – our basic Bond.”

Both Broccoli and Wilson admit they are impressed by the unanimous critical adoration heaped upon their movie, but they claim that it means nothing until the public votes at this weekend’s box office. “It’s not a done deal until the regular people see it,” explains Broccoli. “It’s not a hit just because it’s been reviewed well.” Wilson adds that, as with everything in the movie business, it’s the size of the project that matters (it was budgeted at an estimated $102 million). “We’re a big international picture. So, we may be great in Britain, and we may be OK in America. But what happens in the Far East? How do the Japanese react?”

Broccoli and Wilson’s commercial scepticism has no doubt been bolstered by the unprecedented and unjustifiably negative media blitz that surrounded Casino Royale from the very beginning. The casting of the 38-year-old Liverpudlian Craig became the lightning rod for criticism. When it transpired that the former Bond Pierce Brosnan had been dropped despite being credited with reviving the series, a cabal of fans and commentators began sharpening their knives for the new boy. Craig was decried by the pro-Brosnan CraigNotBond.com for being, among other things, “too blond”. When filming began, media stories claimed that Craig was afraid of water, couldn’t drive a stick-shift car, was afraid of guns and suffered from heat rash.

“We were actually making the film, we were seeing him on set and we were looking at the dailies when some of this stupid stuff started to appear,” Broccoli says, still clearly smarting. “We were surprised, but it didn’t affect us, yet it was unfair to him. He was always the right choice and certainly appropriate for the Casino Royale we were trying to make.”

Broccoli, who has earned a fearsome reputation as a producer, admits to being hugely territorial over Bond. It is, after all, her family legacy – she was born two years before the release of Dr No, and grew up on Bond sets. “Bond has always been there,” she explains. “I thought he was a real person until I was 6 or 7. He was like this mysterious relative who people talked about. You were always waiting for him to arrive at Christmas time. He is the single biggest thing in our lives. So we’re both very protective of him, just as Cubby was.”

This overriding sense of legacy, she says, is also the reason why she needs the movie to succeed, especially after dabbling so conspicuously with the formula. “Cubby always said to us: “Listen, this is the golden goose, and don’t let them screw it up. It’s fine, you guys can screw it up, because it’s your baby, but don’t give in to someone else. I think that’s very liberating because you’ve got to make changes, otherwise you’ll shrivel up and die.”

Given the daring, the risks and the ingenuity on display in Casino Royale, there’s little chance that the Bond franchise will shrivel up and die anytime soon. Craig has reportedly been signed for another two movies, while the next in the series, Bond 22, is already set for a November 2008 release. “The next film is still in the writing stage,” explains a slightly anxious-looking Wilson (Bond films traditionally spend four to six months in the “writing stage”). “We’re trying to come to grips with where to go from here, so we don’t have any meaningful focus that we could discuss right now.”

Meanwhile, irrespective of box-office performance, they surely must be satisfied that, thanks to an Oscar-winning writer, some heavyweight actors and some defiantly adult themes, they have finally made a Bond film that can be taken seriously?

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