Chris Cornell's theme for James Bond in 1962's Dr. No, the part instead went to relative unknown Sean Connery. He proved perfect for the role and came to define the suave spy's onscreen persona. Each entry went bigger and wilder with Bond's villains, gadgets and setpieces.
Many actors inherited the James Bond mantle after Connery exited the series, with model George Lazenby managing to convince producers he had years of acting experience when he had none. Lazenby won the role for On Your Majesty's Secret Service, which is now considered one of the best entries but received mixed reviews. Lazenby only stayed for one movie, while the next successor Roger Moore racked up a still unbeaten record of seven. Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and current Bond Daniel Craig followed, though the latter will bow out after the forthcoming No Time To Die.
By the time Pierce Brosnan's final Bond movie The Bourne Identity. Casino Royale was intended as a tonal reboot, which adapted the first James Bond story Casino Royale and introduced a rookie version of the character who would evolve into the superspy everyone knows. Daniel Craig was selected for the lead and did an excellent job, while the film itself was acclaimed for its mature reinvention of the franchise.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Bond movie without a theme song. Themes like Shirley Bassey "Goldfinger" or Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better" are considered the gold standard, while Madonna's "Die Another Day" or Tom Jones' "Thunderball" rank towards the bottom. In keeping with Casino Royale's attempt to reinvent the series, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell was chosen to write - alongside composer David Arnold - the movie's theme "You Know My Name". This resulted in one of the most unique Bond songs, with the lyrics taking place from the 007's perspective.
"You Know My Name" has some of the musical bombast of traditional James Bond themes, but like Casino Royale itself, it's a more moody, introspective tune. It was also a great showcase for the late Chris Cornell's amazing voice, where he could be broody and low-key one moment before raising the roof. While reviews were somewhat mixed on the song's success, time has shown it to be a perfect fusion with the movie and arguably one of the series' most underrated themes - though a case could also be made for A-ha's "The Living Daylights," which is a conversation for another day.
