Michael Craig's Journal

The call came from Simon Gravel, a Frenchman who identified himself as a reporter for LaPresse, Montreal’s main newspaper. His question:

Was the character of LeChiffre, the villain in the new James Bond movie Casino Royale, inspired by Andy Beal?

My first two responses did nothing to deflect his inquiry: (1) The film was based on an Ian Fleming novel of the same title and that novel was written, if I am not mistaken, before Andy Beal was born; and (2) I hadn’t seen the movie.

We spoke for another 20 minutes. My goal, though I never really reflected on it, was to explain that Andy Beal was NOT, in real life, a James Bond-style supervillain. For that matter, he wasn’t any kind of villain.

I’m no apologist for Andy Beal, nor am I the keeper of the Andy Beal flame. We have, in fact, had many disagreements over things I have written about him. But he is a friend and, for better or worse, my access to him has made me the person they contact when they write about him. And he complains to me (whether I am involved or regardless of my capacity) when they write something he thinks is unfair, which is always.

Don’t interpret that as a complaint. Andy Beal is a good guy and I like him. If those are the strings attached to our friendship, I gladly accept them.

I tried to explain how Beal Bank’s purchase of airline bonds after September 11 was in no way analogous to the movie character aiding terrorists through his bank operations. (This was pretty clearly the point Gravel wanted to make.) I probably lost Simon with my explanation of how it was actually a PATRIOTIC act, supporting the capital markets as a buyer in a ime of panicked selling. Maybe there was some socio-economic-cultural-language gap between us, but he wasn’t buying it.

I gave up when, trying to be helpful, I answered one of Gravel’s questions by noting that Beal had taking up auto racing as a hobby to replace poker. The reporter pointed out that the film contained numerous fast-car sequences so that PROVED the character of LeChiffre was Beal-inspired.

I went to the newspaper’s web site on Friday morning to brace myself for the inevitable nasty story, soon to be followed by a call from the Incredulous Andy Beal.

I was pleased to discover that LaPresse is completely in French, with no English translation available. I never thought I’d say this, but God Bless the French!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 10:20 am and is filed under My favourites:.