The very first Bond novel, and coincidently the only one never properly adapted in the movie franchise, has been the talk of the town ever since the last Cannes Films Festival. Rogue director Quentin Tarantino had then expressed his desire to enter the Bond fold, and adapt the novel in order to bring some freshness in to the whole thing. Pierce Brosnan, who wasn't yet shown the door, advocated the idea and reportedly met a few times with QT.

Of course, the idea was rejected by EON (the Bond Producing company), and Brosnan, well, left with his Colin Farrell comment.

A new spin is now added by Brit newspaper The Sunday Times. According to them, EON intends to adapt "Casino Royal" as soon as 2006, and might even make it their Bond 21.

The novel, once adapted as a spoof with David Niven and Peter Sellers, presents a much colder and more aggressive Bond than seen in the Broccoli-produced franchise. Should it be Bond 21 or not, an insider from EON assured the Sunday Times that the adaptation was indeed happening for 2006, with whomever was chosen as the new spy.

As for Brosnan and Quentin, the former mentioned recently that he still intended to work with the director, both having a vague idea of what kind of project would be just right for the pairing.