16/09/2026
OPERATION: ROYALE | ONE OF THE MOMENTS I’LL NEVER FORGET…
Of all the incredible memories I took away from OPERATION: ROYALE, there is one seemingly small moment that I keep finding myself thinking back to.
After Martin Campbell had introduced Casino Royale and the film began, I was sitting to the side by the entrance to the screening room with Phil, looking across at Martin, David Arnold, Darwin Shaw and our other VIP guests as those opening sequences unfolded on the big screen.
And I just remember smiling.
Here were people who had actually helped create the film, completely engrossed in watching it again. Heads nodding along to the music and the beats of the movie, popcorn in hand, smiles on their faces, enjoying every second.
Watching their reactions through the black-and-white opening, Daniel Craig’s first gun barrel, Chris Cornell and David Arnold’s You Know My Name, and then that incredible parkour chase was such a special sight.
What made it even better was that Martin had originally intended to stay for only the first ten minutes or so before making a discreet exit for lunch...
… Instead, he stayed for every single minute!
He was enjoying seeing Casino Royale back on the big screen and experiencing the brand-new print so much that he simply kept watching.
There were obviously much bigger moments throughout OPERATION: ROYALE, but sometimes it is the quiet, unexpected ones that stay with you.
Sitting there and watching Martin, David, Darwin and our guests completely absorbed in a film they each have their own connection to, surrounded by an audience of Bond fans equally captivated by what was happening on screen, is a sight and a memory I think I’ll treasure forever.
Sometimes you just have to sit back, take it all in and think… this is pretty special.