Let me say one thing: I was fully prepared to be disappointed by Casino Royale. I haven’t seriously enjoyed a 007 movie since the Roger Moore days. I thought Pierce Brosnan was going to be the perfect Bond; he’s a terrific actor and I’ve loved him in everything else he’s done. I think he was a great choice, but the writing in Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough just didn’t do it for me, and I never even bothered to see Die Another Day. That should tell you something.
I’m a huge James Bond fan. When I was a kid my dad and I would frequently have 007 marathons and watch four or five movies at a time. We used to make compilation VHS tapes (with a TRS-80 connected to the VCR) and put our own graphics and songs on them. I used to spend hours analyzing the bad guys and writing my own spin-offs. I’ve probably seen Octopussy a hundred times. I wanted to be James Bond.