Casino Royale (2006 film) the series, allowing them to show a less experienced and more vulnerable Bond. "Casino Royale" takes place at the beginning of Bond's career as Agent 007, as he is earning his licence to kill. The plot sees Bond on an assignment to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game; Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, a treasury employee assigned to provide the money he needs for the game. The film begins a story arc that continues in "Quantum of Solace" (2008). Casting involved a widespread search for a new actor to succeed Pierce Brosnan as James
Bond girl year instead. French actress Claudine Auger was ultimately cast in the role. "Thunderball" launched Auger into a successful European film career but did little for her in the United States. At one time it was said that appearing as a Bond girl would damage an actress's career. Lois Chiles is often cited as a case in point, even though her career did not suffer because of her portrayal of Holly Goodhead, but rather because, after she lost her younger brother to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, she decided to take a three-year break from acting, from which her career never recovered. Casting for