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Daniel Craig will make James Bond cool again. He'll be a rough, tough 007 that men can aspire and women will want to shag. This is no armchair prediction. Because I am on the Casino Royale set, the 21st century Bond film based on Ian Fleming's first British spy adventure, where we learn how Bond gets his '00' status.

It's the halfway point of the 23-week shoot here at the Barrandov Studios, high up in the hills overlooking Prague. The mammoth production has already visited the Bahamas, Lake Como, Venice, Plana in Croatia, and will wrap in the UK where the team will shoot at Eton College, Pinewood studios and Top Gear TV's home at Dunsfold Airfield in Surrey.

Today's filming is a scene inside the Hotel Splendido, where Bond has been tasked by MI6 to win a poker game against Le Chiffre - terrorist nancier and all-round baddie - that costs $10 million to enter. Bond not only must win, his mission is also to try and turn Le Chiffre; to entice him to work for MI6.

There's expected to be a certain four-wheeled incentive in the prize pot too. Despite losing the first hand, Bond is able to anticipate Le Chiffre's next move - the villain hasn't got the best poker face, thanks to a dodgy eye.

Being allowed onto the Casino Royale set for a glimpse of Daniel Craig in action feels surreal and exciting. And, contrary to earlier reports, he really does seem hard enough for the role. He's got the gritty, raw manliness of Sean Connery in Dr No but he is more brutish and thuggish. "Daniel is very manly. He moves and handles himself very well," says Gary Powell, stunt co-ordinator. Craig does a lot of the stunts himself.

I get a little hot under the collar later that evening when I get up close and personal with the new James Bond. That potent sexual energy that translates so well on the screen is rawer at source. There is a hint of psycho in those glacial blue eyes - Craig's Bond wouldn't use cheesy one liners to charm you into the sack.