Haggis, who was nominated for an Oscar for "Million Dollar Baby" and wrote and directed this summer's sleeper hit "Crash," has been hired to do the rewrite of "Casino Royale," the 21st installment of the Bond franchise.
The search for a new Bond to replace Pierce Brosnan is under way. Martin Campbell, who directed Brosnan in the actor's first Bond flick, "GoldenEye," will return to the franchise.
Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who cut their teeth on Bond films "The World Is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day," wrote the previous draft for the MGM/Sony project.
The movie's script is based on the 1953 Ian Fleming novel, which is the first, most violent and darkest of the Bond books. It introduced not only Bond, but the evil organization SMERSH, as well as model Bond villain Le Chiffre (French for "the number").
The book was first adapted as the 1967 spy spoof starring Peter Sellers,
David Niven, Orson Welles and George Raft, although the comedy is not considered
part of the Bond canon.
