CasionRoyale Tagged Articles at Cinematical

With all the hoopla surrounding the release of the latest James Bond film Casino Royale -- wherein MI6 agent Bond drives fast cars, blows things up, beds a bevy of beautiful women and generally saves the world from sure destruction -- did anyone ever think to ask the real men and women of MI6 what they think about their fictional counterpart? I, for one, would be very interested in what they had to say. Fortunately, BBC radio was just as curious as I am and managed to snag a rare interview with two MI6 agents during a recent broadcast.

Even though the agents choose to keep their identity secret (and you can't really blame them, can you?), the station did manage to extract a few key bits of intelligence on their thoughts about 007 and his exploits. According to the interview (Via Yahoo News) working for the real MI6 is not like being James Bond, but the real service does have some similarities to its Hollywood-ised sibling. "There is certainly action, there is a lot of adventure and it's also quite glamorous - depending on what you mean by that exactly," said a female agent during the radio interview "For me, glamor has to do with contrast - one situation you might find yourself in and then being transported into something else."

As for "M", the tough-as-nails female leader of Bonds' MI6 and famed gadget master "Q", the agents said: "He is `C' and that's what the chief of the service has been called since it was established in 1909. We also have a `Q' figure whose team is responsible for innovative technology and gimmicks and gadgets and things like that." And what about that infamous "license to kill" Bond seems to use so frequently in the movies? "The job of the service is to obtain intelligence to inform British government policy and help prevent, for example, terrorist attacks, and in doing that we work under U.K. law," said one of the agents. "The work of the service is overseen both politically and legally, so there's absolutely no room in that for killing people."

So, if you expect your MI6 agents to kill for Queen and Country (and to save the world) you'll just have to be satisfied with the fictional variety. Fortunately, Casino Royale opens today so you don't have to wait too long.