SOUTH KOREA: Director and actors of Casino Royale met South Korean media.

Daniel Craig and co-star Caterina Murino on Monday (December 11, 2006) attended a press conference for Casino Royale in Seoul. Published in 1953, Casino Royale was Ian Fleming's first Bond novel and is the 21st James Bond adventure. Director Campbell said the characters in the book are different from their predecessors in other 007 films. "It's a very much more realistic book, and Bond, I think, is a much more human character in that book. And that's what we tried to achieve" he said. Actress Carterina Murino agreed: "It's absolutely more human being Bond for the first time I think about the role of the bond girl are more human. We tried to show that we are more smart and we tried to drive the car faster than James Bond. Just a human being and my character is Solange. And she's just a woman". Craig recalled when he heard he had been chosen as the new Bond. "I was working on the east coast of the America during the film. I got the phone call abruptly and I went out and I mixed myself three very large vodka martinis," said Craig. Murino said she had also been overwhelmed at the news of being chosen as a Bond girl. "You know, I started to jump up and down and started to scream after came down I say I have another movie after and I needed to think to be the best as an actress. I don't think that I'm side of Hollywood movie or James Bond movie," said Murino. "When the criticism came, yes, I read everything, I looked at everything, I make sure I knew what's going on. But I ignored it. I gotta do my job," said Craig. Making his debut as the sixth James Bond, Craig follows in the footsteps of previous stars Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, and Roger Moore. Film-makers considered more than 200 actors from around the world for more than two years before settling on Craig. Craig's big break in Hollywood came alongside Tom Hanks in Road To Perdition in 2002. He has since played poet Ted Hughes opposite Gwyneth Paltrow in Sylvia, and headlined Layer Cake, which co-starred Sienna Miller. Craig also appeared in Steven Spielberg's Munich in 2005 and will be seen in the sci-fi thriller The Invasion, next year. South Korea will start running Casino Royale on December 21.

ITN Source | December 14, 2006

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