Daniel Craig initially rejected the part of James Bond, as he felt that the series had settled into a standard formula. He changed his mind when he read the finished script. Timothy Dalton had turned down For Your Eyes Only (1981) for the same reason, and, like Craig, ended up playing a different, more grounded interpretation of Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).
In the shower scene, Vesper (Eva Green) was originally scripted to be wearing nothing but her underwear. Daniel Craig argued that Vesper would not have stopped to take her clothes off, and the scene was changed.
To prepare for the role, Daniel Craig read all of Ian Fleming's novels and talked with Mossad and British Secret Service agents who had served as advisers on Munich (2005).
The car barrel roll stunt by the Aston Martin DBS broke the world record for the most barrel rolls assisted by a cannon. Originally, the racing specifications of the DBS meant that a standard ramp would not be sufficient to get the car to roll, so the special effects team were called in to install an air-powered cannon behind the driver's seat. This allowed the car to complete seven full rolls. The stunt was officially entered into the Guinness Book of World Records on November 5, 2006.
Tsai Chin: As Madame Wu, she is seen playing poker Le Chiffre's yacht and again at the card table at Casino Royale. She had appeared decades earlier in You Only Live Twice (1967) as Ling, the girl who helps set up Bond's "death" in the opening sequence. With a gap of thirty-nine years between the two films, she holds the record for the longest credited span between appearances in the franchise, and the second longest overall.
Richard Branson: The Virgin Airlines boss as a man at airport security. When British Airways showed this movie on their airline, they blurred out the tail showing the Virgin Atlantic logo, and cut Branson's cameo.
Diane Hartford: She featured as "Card Player #3" in the credits, and had the longest gap between appearances in James Bond movies. She had three lines playing a girl in the Kiss Kiss Club in Thunderball (1965), a gap of forty-one years.
Alessandra Ambrosio: The supermodel from Brazil is seen at the Ocean Club when Bond arrives in the Bahamas. She is credited as Tennis Girl #1.
Michael G. Wilson: Screenwriter and producer Wilson acted as poker consultant, and played the part of a corrupt Chief of Police. He's made an appearance, in one way or another, even if it's just a hand, in every movie since The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).