Though his work in film and television was produced in Britain and America, Martin Campbell's career was defined by traits that seem stereotypical of his New Zealand heritage: a cheerful lack of ego and a willingness to put in a hard day's work. It was this grounded, collaborative spirit that made him a perfect fit with the team behind the venerable James Bond franchise, which Campbell would have the distinction of re-inventing twice. Campbell's first outing with Bond, "GoldenEye" (1995), introduced Pierce Brosnan as the iconic spy re-imagined for a post-Cold War era. His second would rescue the series from the excesses of the late-nineties, rebooting it with "Casino Royale" (2006), a hard-hitting origin story starring Daniel Craig. Unschooled in film, Campbell had learned how to direct the way any laborer learns a trade - by apprenticeship. His first films, produced by pulp writer and Hammer horror veteran Tudor Gates, were exploitative sex comedies that served as laboratory experiments in creating fast-paced, crowd-pleasing films. Martin Campbell was a director who eschewed pretention and auteurism in favor of the fine art of pulse-pounding popcorn fare, bringing the heroics of legends such as James Bond, Zorro, and Green Lantern to marvelous, cinematic life.
