Could a version of Casino Royale had been made earlier with all the toughness and darkness as the Daniel Craig one?
Scary as the '50s were, why couldn't it be made in '55 or '56?
You could argue Licence to Kill was that very thing, perhaps Dalton pushes for a 'reboot' after Moore as one of the conditions for him taking the job. Couldn't be called Casino Royale though as someone else would've owned the rights due to the 60s film
Wasn't there a serious made-for-TV movie of it back then?
You may already be aware, but there was a comedy version in 1967
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casino_Royale_(1967_film)
The prospects for a serious version at some point earlier, I'd say so. The seriousness (toughness, darkness) of the modern, Craig Bond is another thing, though.
Yep. An hour-long Climax! episode featuring American Combined Intelligence agent Jimmy Bond. I haven't seen it, and have heard that Nelson is a lackluster Bond, but Peter Lorre as a Bond villain must've been great.
I've said it before, but the modern gritty reboot Casino Royale is ultimately sourced back to Ronin and Assassins (via the Bourne franchise), so, yes, you can advance it a couple of years, but not too many.
Otherwise I just can't see anyone deciding to take the tired old Bond series and create a new subgenre* for it in, say, the late eighties. The biz doesn't work like that.
*Gritty modern post-MTV actioner.
Sp you want a Bond film written by the Wachowskis brothers and directed by John Frankenheiner?
You would need a dark period of the United States and lets face it the beginning of the new millennium starting with 2001 was pretty dark. A darker 1970's me thinks would do it and let us not forget that back in the day 80's Batman was considered dark while now it would be considered light hearted