Variety’s revealing “Sticks to Her Guns” interview with former Bond casting director Debbie McWilliams offers fascinating insight into how some of the franchise’s biggest casting decisions developed. Here are the quotes that stood out most to me, along with my thoughts:

1. On casting Bond for Bond 26:
   “And, you know, it’s about to change dramatically, is all I can say.”
   That certainly caught my attention. It almost sounds like McWilliams already knows who the next Bond will be, or at least who’s on the shortlist.
2. On choosing Daniel Craig as the next James Bond for Casino Royale:
   “And then the film Layer Cake came out, and Barbara Broccoli said, ‘I think we’d better meet him.’”
   It confirms what many suspected, that Layer Cake wasn’t just a turning point for Daniel Craig’s public image, it also convinced the person whose opinion mattered most that he could portray James Bond.
3. On Eva Green’s audition for Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale:
   “Anyway, eventually we got her to come out here [to the Czech Republic], and she screen tested, and she was so nervous it was almost unbearable.”
   I love little behind-the-scenes stories like this, and knowing Eva Green stumbled at first but later nailed her callback makes her eventual casting even more satisfying.
4. “I’ve never read a James Bond book in my life.”
   This quote was genuinely surprising to me since if I were casting Bond, Fleming’s novels would seem like essential reading to better understand the character or at least get some ideas. Although I don’t hold the books in the highest esteem either (and have read them), I also don’t think this admission is the flex she thinks it is.