Oh, and it didn't help that his James Bond couldn't even play poker. Somehow, director Martin Campbell pulled it off, but not without seriously struggling. But while that sequence necessitated some well-planned practical effects and stunt work, arguably the toughest scene to shoot was the famous poker game at the center of Ian Flemming's original story - though in the novel it's actually a game of Baccarat.
Specific scenes in the movie required a lot of hard work to pull off, such as the free-running themed chase sequence that opens the film. In other words, refreshing well-worn IP that was rapidly losing its appeal was never going to be easy, and that wasn't just true in the macro sense. Things weren't helped by the fact that 2002's 'Die Another Day' was widely regarded as a low point for the long-running franchise, even though some might argue for it, too, being an underrated Bond movie.
Imagine having to reinvent James Bond, a figure who in the early 2000s had been a cultural mainstay for more than 40 years - a figure who'd been reinvented time and time again and whose cultural appeal was arguably lessening as the world moved into the new millennium.
