Script Structure: Lessons from Casino Royale

Today’s list of plot points is from Casino Royale, the James Bond reboot which introduced Daniel Craig as the iconic British spy. There are many things to admire about this script, penned by Bond veterans Neal Purvis & Robert Wade, along with Paul Haggis, whose writing career includes credits for Crash, Million Dollar Baby, and thirtysomething.

One of the movie’s most enviable qualities is its tight structure. As I mentioned in screenwriting tip #6 in 12 Spy Scriptwriting Secrets from Casino Royale we know exactly why Bond is doing what he’s doing, producing an extremely tight chain of cause and effect–the backbone of any screenplay plot. Everything else–from character development, witty dialogue, and exotic settings–is just a bunch of bells of whistles which enhance the plot.

Speaking of exotic settings, a different one marks each major storytelling chunk. We’re introduced to Bond and hints of a nefarious plot primarily in Madagascar. The first half of Act Two, where Bond learns more about “Ellipsis,” and eventually thwarts it, takes place in the Bahamas and the Miami-Dade area.

The latter part of the second half, where Bond must win a high-stakes poker game against Le Chiffre, all occurs in Montenegro. Finally, the movie concludes with a double-crossing climax in Venice, Italy. Demarcating each of your acts with a change in setting is a sound strategy to emulate, especially if you follow spy screenwriting tip #3.

Still, even if you have a clear idea of the goal your hero is trying to achieve overall (and of the smaller goals he’ll need to undertake to eventually succeed), it’s a daunting task to write a screenplay which is both thrilling and unpredictable. Studying the plot points from Casino Royale may give you clues on how to do exactly that…

Plot Points from Casino Royale

Exterior shot of an office building in Prague. In black and white, we see a man (Dryden) entering a modern office. He is surprised to discover he has a late-night visitor–James Bond–who accuses Dryden of selling secrets. Dryden taunts Bond, “if M were sure, she’d have sent a double-0, which requires two kills.”
Flashback to Bond drowning then shooting a man (Dryden’s contact) in a bathroom. Bond then achieves double-0 status by shooting Dryden.
Elaborated credit sequence with playing card motif.
Under the auspices of a mysterious Mr White, an African terrorist leader meets with Le Chiffre, a financier with questional morals, who promises his portfolio is risk-free. Once he’s secured the leader’s money, Le Chiffre invests it by betting against Skyfleet stock.
In Madagascar, Bond tracks a bombmaker identified by his facial burn scars at a mongoose-cobra fight. Bond chases the bombmaker through a crowded market, then into a construction site. They engage in hand-to-hand combat on top of a giant crane.
The bombmaker jumps onto the roof of the building below the crane. More chasing through the construction site ensues, until the bombmaker seeks refuge at the Nambutu Embassy.
The alarm is triggered at the embassy. More chasing, lots of gunfire exchanges, with the action ending with Bond shooting the bombmaker and creating an explosion as a diversionary tactic.
Bond studies the contents of the bombmaker’s backpack. It contained a bomb and a cell phone with one message: “Ellipsis.”
Le Chiffre (who oddly cries tears of blood) plays a high-stakes poker game on his sleek yacht. The game is interrupted when he learns that Bond has killed the bombmaker, a story which dominates the media.
Bond’s supervisor, M, complains about Bond’s rashness to her assistant.
In M’s home, Bond uses her computer to trace the “ellipsis” text message–it was sent from The Ocean Club in the Bahamas. M arrives and scolds Bond. MI6 isn’t after a bombmaker-for-hire, they want to discover how a network of international terrorists is being financed. She concludes by instructing Bond to lay low.
Bond arrives in the Bahamas and enters the office of security at the resort. He reviews security footage and sees a man, Dimitrios, send the text message after exiting his Aston Martin. Bond also learns that Dimitrios has a house up the beach.
A woman (Solange, Dimitrios’s wife) rides her horse down the beach. Bond admires her. They share a look.
M’s underlings report to her that Bond is in the Bahamas and is using her security clearance to access intel on Dimitrios and his known associates, one of whom is Le Chiffre.
Bond plays poker at the hotel; Dimitrios is one of the other players. Dimitrios even throws his Aston Martin into the pot–but he loses. His three kings are beaten by Bond’s three aces.
Bond invites Solange for a drink at his place.
Le Chiffre and Dimitrios have a standoff.
Bond and Solange are getting quite cozy, when Dimitrios calls her to tell her he just booked the last flight to Miami. Bond abandons Solange to follow Dimitrios.
In Miami, Bond follows Dimitrios to a Bodyworks exhibit. At a poker table being used as a display, Dimitrios leaves a key to locker #53. He then accosts Bond and almost kills him with a switchblade, but Bond emerges as the victor. But when Bond returns to the poker table, the key to the locker is gone.
Bond uses Dimitrios’s cell phone to call his “Ellipsis” contact, which helps Bond identify the man, whom Bond follows to the Miami-Dade airport. The man changes into a security guard uniform. Bond calls MI6 for help to crack a security code, but then realizes the Ellipsis text contains the code. MI6 informs Bond that Skyfleet is about to unveil the largest plane in the world that evening.
The man in the security guard outfit attaches a miniature device to an oil tanker and drives it towards the Skyfleet plane. Bond jumps onto the tanker, but then has to leap off of it to save his life. He’s almost run over. The bomber shoots at Bond, who then climbs back into the tanker, and they fight within the tanker’s tractor. The police chase after them. A plane almost impales the tanker on the runway. Lots of frenzied activity takes place over by the Skyfleet prototype. Bond is finally in control of the tanker, but its brakes are malfunctioning. He manages to halt it right before it crashes into the prototype.
He falls out of the oil tanker and is arrested by the police. The bomber detonates the explosion–but unbeknownst to him, Bond attached the miniature honing device onto him. The bomber goes up in flames.
Because he was betting against Skyfleet, and because the plane was undamaged, Le Chiffre loses approximately $100 million.
Bond returns to the Bahamas. M is there too. She shows him Solange’s dead body–she was tortured then murdered. M explains Dimitrios’s relationship with Le Chiffre, a mathematical genius who likes to prove it by playing poker. Le Chiffre has in fact organized a high-stakes poker game with a $10 million buy-in in Montenegro to recoup his losses. As MI6’s best poker player, they’re sending Bond in to play, hoping that Bond will defeat Le Chiffre who, out of desperation, will be forced to cooperate with MI6.
On the train ride to Montenegro, Bond meets Vesper Lynd, the emissary from the British Treasury, who is bankrolling Bond’s buy-in. She’s very skeptical of Bond and of MI6’s plan and proves herself to be Bond’s match in exchanging quips.
Bond tells Vesper the cover identities they must assume when they check into their hotel, but when they do arrive, he uses his real name. Vesper is aghast, but Bond says that Le Chiffre already knows who he is and agreed to let Bond play anyway.
Bond and Vesper meet up with Mathis, their MI6 contact in Montenegro. He reveals that Le Chiffre is friends with the chief of police…but Mathis has provided the chief’s deputy with evidence of the chief’s corruption, neatly dispatching with that obstacle.
Bond and Vesper prepare for the poker game. He makes her wear a gorgeous purple dress; she buys him a tailored dinner jacket.
Le Chiffre cordially greets Bond before the game begins. The players are instructed to enter a password into a tiny computer, which will be necessary to release the funds to any bank account the winner designates.
During one round of poker, Bond thinks he’s discovered Le Chiffre’s tell. He also orders one of his famous martinis.
Bond kisses Vesper again, to create a new cover, and brags about learning Le Chiffre’s tell to her and Mathis.
They break for one hour. Le Chiffre returns to his hotel room–where he and his girlfriend are attacked by the African terrorist whose money Le Chiffre lost.
Bond receives a package from M which contains a gun. He tracks Le Chiffre and tells Vesper to return to their room. The African terrorist threatens to chop off the arm of Le Chiffre’s girlfriend with a long sword. But he doesn’t.
The African terrorist and his assistant leave Le Chiffre’s room and spot Bond and Vesper. A fight ensues in the hotel stairwell. The assistant is killed fairly quickly, his leader requires more effort. Witnessing all of this clearly rattles Vesper.
Bond cleans up for the next round of poker. When he returns to his hotel room, Vesper’s in the shower–still fully-clothed. Bond comforts her.
Mathis disposes of the bodies in the stairwell.
Back at the gaming table, Le Chiffre goes all in. Bond has a full house–but Le Chiffre has four jacks and wins. His tell really wasn’t a tell.
Vesper refuses to extend $5 million to Bond so he can get back in the game. He calls her a bloody idiot.
In desperation, Bond seizes a knife and is about to chase Le Chiffre before he’s stopped by Felix, one of the other players, who introduces himself as one of Bond’s counterparts at Langley. Felix will stake-in bond.
Le Chiffre’s girlfriend poisons Bond’s martini. He has to leave the gaming table and guzzles down a bunch of saltwater to induce vomiting. He rushes to his car and calls MI6 to tell them he’s going into cardiac arrest. There’s a defibrillator in the car, and MI6 doctors instruct Bond on how to use it, but it doesn’t work because the defibrillator’s lead is disconnected. At the last second, Vesper arrives and rehooks it. Bond goes back into the game.
Only four players remain. Le Chiffre raises to $12 million. Bond goes all in. Le Chiffre calls–there’s $150 million in the pot. Le Chiffre has a high full house–aces full of sixes. But Bond has a straight flush and wins it all. He instructs Felix to take care of Le Chiffre.
Bond and Vesper enjoy a meal in the dining room which they have all to themselves. Bond identifies Vesper’s necklace as an Algerian love knot and tells her that whoever gave it to her is a lucky man.
After Vesper leaves the table, Bond suddenly cries out Mathis’s name. He rushes out of the hotel to witness Vesper being absconded into a car which he chases down a curving empty highway. In swerving to avoid Vesper who’s tied and gagged and in the middle of the road, Bond wrecks his car.
Le Chiffre’s men extract the GPS chip MI6 implanted into Bond’s arm. Le Chiffre reveals that Mathis was really his, not Bond’s, and takes Bond and Vesper to an old rusty warehouse. There, he separates Bond and Vesper, and then whips Bond (now naked) with a rope. Le Chiffre plans to torture Bond to retrieve the password he needs to access Bond’s poker winnings. But the torture is put to an end when Le Chiffre is shot by Mr White–who says that money isn’t as important as knowing whom to trust.
When Bond opens his eyes, he’s at an idyllic Italian villa. Vesper is there. Mathis too. He tells them that they killed everyone but Vesper and Bond…before he is dragged away for being a double-crosser. Vesper makes an abrupt turnaround–Bond can have her anywhere. A man from Casino Royale comes to the villa for Bond to enter his password to access the funds. Turns out Bond’s password was “Vesper.” Bond confesses to Vesper that whatever left of him is hers. They make up for lost time…
Bond confides to Vesper that Mathis was a traitor. He also tells her that he loves her, and that he’s leaving MI6 with the little soul he has left to float around the world with her, if she’ll have him.
In an email, Bond tenders his resignation to M. Bond and Vesper arrive in Venice. At their hotel, Bond notices Vesper has removed her Algerian love knot. She leaves for the bank.
M calls Bond to tell him that a man from the Treasury is there, wondering when Bond’s going to deposit the winnings into the Treasury account. Bond calls his banking contact at Casino Royale who informs him that the funds are being withdrawn from their Venice branch as they speak.
Realizing Vesper is the culprit, Bond chases her through a piazza and into a dark backstreet. A man wearing glasses which are black on one lens takes the suitcase of money from Vesper. When he spots Bond, lots of gunfire ensues, and Bond chases him into an apartment building on the canal which is under repair. Bond shoots the giant balloons at the bottom, which formed a barrier between the canal and the building, which starts to collapse into the canal.
Vesper gets trapped in the remains of an elevator. Bond kills several hitmen, including the one-eyed man. The suitcase of money falls into the canal as the apartment building continues to collapse. Bond rushes to the elevator, but the doors are locked. Vesper apologizes for her betrayal and removes the elevator key. The elevator sinks. He dives into the canal and tries in vain to open the elevator’s door. Before she drowns, Vesper tells Bond she loves him. Bond manages to pry the doors open, but it’s too late. On firmer ground, now he administers fruitless CPR, then says good-bye to her…all while being observed by Mr White, who leaves with the suitcase of money.
M reveals to Bond that Vesper had been blackmailed. The Algerian Vesper had been in love with had been kidnapped by the organization behind Le Chiffre…but Vesper’s betrayal was not complete. She bargained with the organization–she’d deliver them the money if they let Bond go. Before she died, Vesper left Mr White’s contact info for Bond on her cell.
On the grounds of Mr White’s beautiful Italian villa, Bond shoots him.