So I grabbed hold of him, quite literally. I had watched several of Mads Mikkelsen’s films and we were all out in Prague, in pre-production on Casino Royale, and I suddenly found out that he was right there filming something. We were absolutely down to the week before filming with Mads Mikkelsen as well. Eva Green won the day in the end but it was a bit tricky, the whole thing. We started that without our leading lady and that’s never happened before. One of the more hair-raising times was on Casino Royale.

So what keeps you busiest when casting for a James Bond film? Various people, including Cubby Broccoli, said, ‘Oh, who’s he?’ and so he became a known quantity way back then. Pierce was her then boyfriend, and he went out to stay with her. I had cast Cassandra Harris in a role and it was shooting out in Corfu. For Your Eyes Only was my first 007 film which was when Pierce Brosnan became known to everybody. I was very young and inexperienced when I started but nobody seemed to question that. How did you get started with the 007 film franchise? Debbie shares some of her insights from No Time To Die, on which she worked alongside her great-niece Jemima McWilliams. Not only has she cast some of the biggest villains and leading actresses, she was an instrumental part of the casting process of bringing Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig to 007’s shoes. Insider Inside The 007 Casting Process Casting director Debbie McWilliams shares her casting storiesĭebbie McWilliams is a leading casting director and has worked on every James Bond film since 1981’s For Your Eyes Only.

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