Actress Michelle Yeoh poses for photographers as she arrives for the world premiere of the latest James Bond movie "Casino Royale" at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square in London November 14, 2006. (Reuters)

The new blond Bond — sandy-haired Daniel Craig — met his public as "Casino Royale" had its world premiere in London.

"Casino Royale," the 21st James Bond film and the grittiest to date, opens in Britain and North America on Friday.

The film was being screened as the annual Royal Film Performance, a 60-year-old tradition that raises funds for performers' charity the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund. It is the second Bond film chosen for the royal honor, after "Die Another Day" in 2002. (AP)