What Directors Should Helm A Bond Film?

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  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 692
    Bond surfed the tsunami. Bourne surfed the dead guy. 2002 was the year of the surfing spy.
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    Babs stated that the process to search for a new director will start this year.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Matt Reeves then. Greg is indeed the photographer of the Batman.

    And DoP of DUNE and probably DUNE 2.
  • edited January 2022 Posts: 9,846
    matt_u wrote: »
    Babs stated that the process to search for a new director will start this year.

    interesting... Nolan would be great
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Test audiences are tricky. They led Paramount to change the ending of FATAL ATTRACTION. And with THE AVENGERS (Steed/Peel), their reaction lead the film to be mutilated in the cutting room. Probably it was a not a very good movie (although Patrick Macnee said, the original screenplay was better then any script for the AVENGERS TV series. But then actually this script was not the shooting script), but it made the movie one of the worst movies I ever saw, and I loved the TV series. Ralph Fiennes was quoted, that every actirs CV includes at least one complete flop.
  • Posts: 157
    Matthew Vaughn
    Brad Bird
    Morten Tyldum
    Russo Brothers
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    For some reason I constantly want to convince myself that Joe Wright would be perfect for Bond, but after seeing Cyrano - a film I liked a lot! - I think I finally have to bury that idea. I just can't see that style of theatricality for Bond and the fights - eventhough Bond fights would obviously be totally different - are just not really good and don't grab the attention.
  • Posts: 1,630
    I think they should work with whoever directed those Lego movies. If you can gate great a performance out of LEGOS, then, wow, with real people ?!!! It just would be so amazing, amiright ?
  • Posts: 9,846
    Matt Reeves.
  • matt_u wrote: »
    Babs stated that the process to search for a new director will start this year.

    It's possible that they already know who the director of Bond 26 will be (Nolan) and there won't be any search.
  • MSL49MSL49 Finland
    Posts: 395
    Is it Danny Boyle's time?
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    MSL49 wrote: »
    Is it Danny Boyle's time?

    It would be pretty funny, but not totally unreasonable if they went back to him.

    "You didn't want to kill him the last time, so we did it without you. As we don't want to kill him this time, why don't we give it another shot?"
  • Junglist_1985Junglist_1985 Los Angeles
    Posts: 1,031
    It would be rude not to offer it to Martin Campbell.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Nolan's current movie OPPENHEIMER is scheduled for release in July 2023. Villeneuve's DUNE 2 isscheduled for an October 2023 release, so either of them probably would be available - taken, they would want to do the next Bond - late 2ß023, early 2024.
    Fukunaga has two projects in the pipeline, the mini-series MASTERS OF THE AIR and the NAPOLEON project (originally a Stanley Kubrick project). If he is avaialable, and has some interesting ideas, they should offer him B26. Or Martin Campbell, if he feels, he has another Bond movie in him. And I still would like to see Danny Boyle to have a go at Bond. But we will have to wait and see, what EON's plans are.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited March 2022 Posts: 5,970
    I'd love for Fukunaga to return. To see what he'd do with a clean slate is just too exciting.
  • edited March 2022 Posts: 784
    It will hard to pull of a reboot after such amazing and successful one. I don't envy the people in charge or the next actor. I am a huge fan of CR and QoS (quantum storyline) and was sad to see them transition into Skyfall, Spectre which were too personal, cartoony and simple for my taste. The last thing we need are Pokemons popping up like in Matrix 4 and Star Wars.

    I'd like something dark, elegant, suspenseful, cerebral and twisty, Nolan hits all those cylinders. Although I thought his Batmans were cheesy af, I do love Memento, Interstellar, Inception and Tenet.

    I did like the ruthlessness with which Guy Ritchie portrayed Jason Statham's character, in Wrath of Man, (I'd like the next Bond to be similarly R rated) and he did do an amazing job with the Sherlock blockbusters.

    Honestly I think the writers for the next iteration are of higher concern than the Director, and I really hope Craig's later films won't set the tone for the upcoming one.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    edited March 2022 Posts: 1,261
    Yes to Fukunaga, yes to Campbell.

    Other candidates might (or might not) be:

    Thomas Alfredsson
    Philipp Noyce
    Fede Alvarez
    Alfonso Cuaron
    Edgar Wright
    Steve McQueen
    Joe Wright
    John Madden
    Matthew Vaughan
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 8,205
    Denbigh wrote: »
    I'd love for Fukunaga to return. To see what he'd do with a clean slate is just too exciting.

    +1 I agree. I really enjoyed NTTD but do feel that Cary was hindered by having to tie up elements from Craig’s previous films , as well as having a preordained conclusion, ending with Bond’s death. I would really like to see what he could do with a blank canvas.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited March 2022 Posts: 3,152
    Y'know, thinking about it, didn't Mendes salvage the idea of M's death from Peter Morgan's otherwise rejected script for SF? Which would mean that when Logan came on board, he also had to write a script that built to a pre-ordained ending. That one worked out ok, right?
  • Posts: 1,630
    Nolan jumped the shark with TeneT. Perhaps Oppenheimer will accomplish a full redemption. If not...a Bond film should not serve as his redemption film.
  • MSL49MSL49 Finland
    Posts: 395
    They should ask Martin Campbell first.
  • ImpertinentGoonImpertinentGoon Everybody needs a hobby.
    Posts: 1,351
    Venutius wrote: »
    Y'know, thinking about it, didn't Mendes salvage the idea of M's death from Peter Morgan's otherwise rejected script for SF? Which would mean that when Logan came on board, he also had to write a script that built to a pre-ordained ending. That one worked out ok, right?

    From what I gathered, it was more that they liked a couple of the ideas in the treatment like the villain being from M's past and her dying at the end, but rejected most of it and then Purvis & Wade wrote another script that has Bond presumed dead at the beginning and M dying at the end and then Logan went over all of that and worked it into the final form. I think that's pretty standard for Hollywood scriptwriting. It's not wholly different, but the way they seem to have went about NTTD was still something else. "This is the start point and that has to be the end point, make it work" is different than "Here are some old treatments and a script with a couple of ideas we like, what do you think?"

    Also, I always find it quite funny that Mendes and Purvis & Wade are so adamant that they took only one or two ideas from Morgan and then you watch the film and it's an allegory-laden drama about mothers and sons, ageing and death, Britain's place in the world and the End of Empire. You absolutely cannot tell me all that stuff didn't come from Morgan, who has been writing about this stuff for a very long time. The thing about SF is that it has an amazing story and great little moments of dialogue but a streaky plot and all the filmmakers talk about is what they did with the plot and the story seems to have kind of fallen into place from an old treatment, which is wild.

    What are your thoughts on writer-directors? If I'm not mistaken, Fukunaga was the first director to also get a writing credit on a Bond film and many of the mor auteur-ish directors that get thrown around here do that for most of their projects. Do you think that should (or has to) continue?
  • MSL49MSL49 Finland
    Posts: 395
    Yes to Fukunaga's return.
  • MSL49MSL49 Finland
    Posts: 395
    Yes to Matthew Vaughn.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    Posts: 4,247
    Martin Campbell. Hope Bond 26 happens soon, because he's getting older.
  • VenutiusVenutius Yorkshire
    edited March 2022 Posts: 3,152
    From what I gathered, it was more that they liked a couple of the ideas in the treatment like the villain being from M's past and her dying at the end, but rejected most of it and then Purvis & Wade wrote another script that has Bond presumed dead at the beginning and M dying at the end and then Logan went over all of that and worked it into the final form. I think that's pretty standard for Hollywood scriptwriting. It's not wholly different, but the way they seem to have went about NTTD was still something else. "This is the start point and that has to be the end point, make it work" is different than "Here are some old treatments and a script with a couple of ideas we like, what do you think?"

    Ah, right, now I see. That makes a lot of sense, actually - thanks for the clarification here, IG. And yes, it seems that at the very least, Logan/P & W ran with a lot of Morgan's themes for SF.
    Apparently, Paul Haggis was offered the chance to direct QOS but passed on it as he was also writing the script, otherwise he'd've been the series' first writer-director. That would've been interesting but I love QOS as it is, so I don't really see it as a missed opportunity. But didn't directors such as Forster and Mendes come on board specifically because of Craig? I wonder if the auter-ish and prestige figures will hang back a bit now and wait to see where EON take the series?
  • TripAcesTripAces Universal Exports
    edited March 2022 Posts: 4,583
    MSL49 wrote: »
    They should ask Martin Campbell first.

    Why? He's a mediocre director, at best. After Forster, Mendes, and CJF, Babs will likely only go with A-list talent in the chair. Marty isn't even C-list...and he's almost 80 years old.
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    edited March 2022 Posts: 5,970
    While he has produced two of the best James Bond films, I have to say since Casino Royale he's only manage to produce some mediocre films in my opinion, but maybe given a James Bond budget he'd produce something more remarkable like his other two entries. i think overall I'd prefer someone a bit more artistic.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,216
    Mendes is the only one I would consider A-list of the directors we've had in the last 20 years. Forster was a rising star who has botched most of the projects he's done since his breakout film that put him on the map, and CJF is similarly not on the A-list yet from what I can see. He's still a rising star.

    With that in mind, if they're only going to seek A-list talent for the director's chair going forward, then it's a shame really. There are plenty of directors out there now (and there have been throughout the last three decades) who would do a good job of it. Ruling someone out because they're not A-list is cutting off your nose to spite your face, as far as I'm concerned.

    Campbell's not coming back, though. He's done a few solid action vehicles since CR but I highly doubt he's all that interested in breaking in yet another new Bond era. The pressure experienced on the set of CR will be amplified by the success of Craig's run for the first film of the next guy, and that might be unappealing to Campbell considering his age.
  • Ruling someone out because they're not A-list is cutting off your nose to spite your face, as far as I'm concerned.

    Sure, they should not rule anyone out just because they aren't A-list directors, but A-list directors should have priority.
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