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I think they could do a lot worse, if he's interested that is.
The good thing about Wright is he’s a director who understands how to do genre films, whether that means subverting expectations for a comedy (so very much in line with the Cornetto trilogy) or indeed for something a bit more straight laced (so more along the lines of Last Night in Soho or Baby Driver). I always say if he did a Bond film there’d be no guarantee we’d get something ‘lighter’ out of him. Kinetic perhaps, though not necessarily light. But he would understand how to make a Bond film.
I want a successful movie.
I remember when Singer admitted that, as a fan of Superman, he may've been too close to the material, too in awe of the character, that Superman Returns was a disappointment to him.
Even in my own life, I'm asked: would you want to write a Bond script, and my first answer is: not a chance in hell (with an exception if I was ever lucky enough to get a call as a script doctor, but; being hired to write a new Bond adventure for EoN? I wouldn't want that job. I'd get in my own way, as a fan.).
That's my main concern with someone like Wright.
I see where you're coming from, but at the same time, Wright's fandom of the Ant Man Comics singlehandedly propelled that property onto the big screen, iirc; Wright story-boarded one of the fight scenes to really highlight the character's size-morphing abilities in a way that had never really been shown on film before, enough to inspire execs to greenlight the movie (and then he was fired from the project and most of his ideas watered down).
I do wonder if that's what happened with Boyle: overconfidence in knowledge of the character pushes that character to uncomfortable extremes in search of something "new" for the creative, while not what the audience may want (i.e. I can send Bond back to space and get away with it!). As a creative, do you echo and flow with what's come before, or try to top it? Ironically, someone with LESS interest in the franchise may be more likely to stick to what's been done before out of lack of inspiration, whereas an inspired creative fan might already be bored with the formula you're trying to produce.
I think it depends on the director at the end of the day. Regardless of whether they’re big fans of Bond or simply casual ones (they’re never going to hire someone who hates the series), I think any filmmaker needs to spend some time understanding the character and how these stories work, ideally both in terms of the films, novels, and how both work alongside each other in adaptation.
Take Batman/its directors as parallel examples - as far as I’m aware Zack Snyder’s a big fan of DC comics, and yet his films featuring the character haven’t been particularly well received. I’d even say it’s not dissimilar to what was written above - it feels like they were trying to do something radically ‘different’ with the character and as a result crossed into inconsistent territory. Matt Reeves, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have read the comics prior to getting the job as far as I know, but was certainly familiar with the character on film and is likely a ‘fan’ of these adaptations, albiet likely in a casual sense. He also took the time to read up on the comics when writing The Batman, and from interviews seems to have a good grasp on them/what he wanted from his movie, even if it was in terms of how he subverted certain tropes. So yeah, while I think there is something to a director needing that level of impartiality, they have to legitimately understand what they’re trying to adapt.
He did more than just write Dredd. According to Karl Urban, he actually directed the movie. At the same time, Garland said in 2019 it was a pretty crude experience and that he was not in any hurry to do that again. I guess by that he meant directing a blockbuster. Granted, since 2019, he maybe changed his mind.
Actually, I would be very curious to see what he could do with Bond. He would be a good pick to take the character one minute into the future. Obviously, I'm not interesting in seeing a full sci-fi Bond film, but it could be a nice way for the next movie to distanciante itself from the Craig era by having Bond in a slightly futuristic setting: something realistic, down to earth, but one minute into the future with high-tech and architecture that do not exist yet. Garland could be the right choice for such direction.
Don't knock it @talos7 , lol!
In all seriousness, the best money for a writer is script doctoring. You may not get the credit, but writers are paid gobs and gobs to fix issues, over a short period of time. The top writers can make as much as 2-3 million plus on three works of work vs a $750 thousand production fee
My apologies, @talos7 , I thought you were making a joke (I had a chuckle). It’s a really interesting process and one of my favourite parts of writing (I’ve done it on a couple of horror flicks).
“Ideas come from everywhere,” Nolan explained. “I’ve done a remake, I’ve made adaptations from comic books and novels, and I’ve written original screenplays. I’m open to anything. But as a writer and director, whatever I do, I have to feel like I own it completely. I have to make it original to me: The initial seed of an idea may come from elsewhere, but it has to go through my fingers on a keyboard and come out through my eyes alone.”
https://www.mi6community.com/discussion/21516/interview-sfx-supervisor-chris-corbould-could-be-retiring-from-effects-james-bond/p1?new=1
- Has delivered a string of commercially successful films, including four Hunger Games films
- Works well within a big budget studio set up
- Can deliver a lot on screeen for less - see the budgets of the Hunger Games films.
- Seems to get good performances out of his actors
- Works well with established properties and adapting them to screen
- Can shoot crisp and clear action in a followable way
- Has worked in the spy thriller genre - Red Sparrow
- Films have strong technical elements and cinematography
- Likes the imax format (I wish NTTD had more of it).
Again the problem i have with a lot of action movies is now a days we bring in these dramatic directors who want to show human drama in all the scenes except for the action scenes which are done by a second unit guy who has a different view then the actual director… i mean when i look at good action films like John Wick and Taken and heck even Winter soldier and the batman i am reminded of what good action directors can do and make it so its something exciting…
Really what i want from bond 26 is tension fear and excitment…
No tome to die should of been that with bond dying at the end but in reality the more i watch it the more it comes off the way Joey Tribbiani’s character Dr Drake Ramory died in days of our lives in that friends episode…
I see fan trailers now and think i want Bond to have a world of darkness of fear… heck even the new novel from Higson has that kind of fear in it…
So to sum up since i dont know directors well let me give my recipe for the perfect director and you all can tell me who it is
Start with a director who understands 007
Add a dash (just a dash) of oscar bate
Add two dashes of Wes craven horror
Add a dash of david fincher tension
Oh and add 2 cups of john wick action
So mix the ingredients and who comes out?
But what would we get (again ... again)?
A PTS with a scene set in a bathroom.
James Bond driving heavy machinery through something (tank; digger).
Aston Martin DB5 alongside new Bond car.
Limited on-screen use of gadget car.
At constant odds with M. on relevance and method.
Bond lady who is good with numbers.
A Bond who bleeds.
Bond goes to an island just off the coast of Florida (Cuba, Bahamas)
A scene where Bond and Girl have heart to heart on the beach.
Traitorous ally close to Bond.
Finale with building collapsing.
Mostly teasing.
There's an obvious Bond alum choice to me, which I suggested before and nobody discussed. But I'm curious how it's not obvious to more.
Anyway, I don't think he can deliver for the third time.
I would love Campbell to complete his trilogy and go down in Bond folklore, however unlikely.
I don't want a Bourne knockoff or Michael Bay, but I do think we can find someone young(er) than 70 to make one of these good. I hope. If not, Bond is truly dead.
Fukunaga was a good in the role of director with what he was handed. I genuinely think the guy is a talented creative with decent ideas on the fly and a good eye for action, so hopefully we can repeat that "success." Not that I'm opposed to an older filmmaker, I just don't think that's our only option, or necessarily where the producers are hoping to _start_ looking. We may end up with Campbell or some older guy, and that's totally fine. But again, I don't think those sort of names are very marketable to a broad audience sadly, when you could have Nolan or Boyle or Villeneuve etc. Just analyzing the full picture; maco focus, Eon could totally move this way if they think it will result in a quality product audiences will respond to.
I would guess, subjectively and not officially, that Eon will search for 1. big name talent, then 2. probably women, then 3. a consideration toward diversity (just making sure their list is inclusive, not that they will force themselves down a path), then 4. who they know, then 5. desperation (Fukunaga type plucked from TV)
From my understanding (so obviously I don’t know 100%) Boyle/Hodge’s script was essentially a version of NTTD with a very different plot and set of characters. It was commissioned by EON so the broad outline of Bond being retired, getting called on one last mission, and eventually dying (and having a daughter) would have been there. We even know in later drafts Madeline Swann was written back in, or at least this was the plan.
My gut instinct is that their ‘script’ is not a single script, but a series of drafts at various stages of completion. Boyle has mentioned little tidbits - the story ‘going to space’ by the third act which involved a giant rocket, a Russian villain, a Cold War element that would have brought Bond ‘back to his origins’ etc. I think there were even mentions of Bond being captured and getting put in a gulag style prison and some sort of subplot involving M (can’t remember what exactly - M ordering a hit on him or something?) We’ve also got concept art for his script in which we see an underwater laboratory, solar panels by a statue, a train etc. According to Robert Wade it read a bit like a pastiche.
I think if any of it is used it’ll be very broad ideas or little bits and pieces. I don’t think they’d need to credit Boyle/Hodge, and we wouldn’t know for certain who came up with them (usually the producers discuss the story with the writers before they begin writing and contribute ideas).