Casino Royale – A sometimes-secret cameo
The James Bond franchise is one of the longest-running action franchises ever, starting back in 1962 with Sean Connery playing the dapper secret agent. There have been so many movies released, most of which opened to critical acclaim, over the years that we had no idea which one to pick for this list. James Bond films could fill a list on their own.
Casino Royale was a new direction for the Bond franchise. After years of films starring Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig stepped into the iconic role as a younger, blonde Bond to much acclaim.
In fact, Craig became the first Bond to be nominated for a BAFTA, and the film received more BAFTA nominations than any of the previous Bond movies.
This time around, secret agent James Bond heads out on his first mission as a 007 agent and must attend a high stakes game of poker at the Casino Royale. But it’s much more complicated than your average poker game.
With a franchise as legendary as Bond, there’s bound to be some cameos from notable faces. One notable appearance was Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. Viewers see him at the Miami airport going through an X-ray screening machine when Bond is chasing Eclipse. He’s only visible for a couple of seconds, but there’s also a shot of the Virgin Atlantic aircraft that he supplied for the movie.
The funny thing is, that cameo (and the shot of the aircraft) is cut out of the film in any inflight versions of the film. It seems like airlines didn’t want to give a competitor any screen time during their flights!