It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
And he is a huge Bond fan. I have no problem imagining him dropping everything for Bond. Well, everything except Dune 3.
Villeneuve greatly impressed me with Prisoners, Enemy and Sicario. I was more than pleased with the BR sequel, a project that I didn't support originally. Arrival is one of the best sci-fi films ever made in my opinion. If Villeneuve ever did a Bond film, I'd certainly be interested.
I get that some people may find him "boring". He never goes for the quick "bang" or "boom"; he allows us time to absorb the story, the setting, and the slowly built tension. But satisfaction is guaranteed, in my opinion. Sicario, for example, has me on the edge of my seat early; Arrival keeps my eyes glued to the screen from the first second. I don't find the man's work boring at all. A lot is going on in almost every scene, even if things aren't always moving fast.
Then again, not all Bond directors were action directors before (or even while) they were making their Bond film. Capable second-unit directors can take care of the action when needed. But Bond films need good performances, a bit of drama and suspense, and well-staged scenes as well. With that in mind, I would prefer a Villeneuve Bond film over a Justin Lin Bond film.
And as @Univex said, he is a huge Bond fan. He's not likely to ruin the fun by turning a Bond film into something it isn't.
I've heard people call Nolan's action scenes boring or poorly made, but I disagree: Inception and The Dark Knight films had great action in my book, just not hyper-adrenalized action like what Neveldine & Taylor brought us with Crank and Gamer. I don't think Bond would play well in the latter genre. But if Nolan were ever to make a Bond film, I wouldn't be afraid that the action would suck; rather, I'd be confident that it would be well conceived (by Nolan among others) and expertly executed by EoN's trusted action units.
Same thing with Villeneuve. I'm already convinced that he could take care of the spy/suspense thriller side of the game, that he would elicit great performances from his cast and that scenes would look awesome. The one variable he's less known for, would still not worry me.
Lastly, I don't think it would be fair to use Dune's pacing as an example of why he shouldn't do a Bond film. Dune, by the nature of the story, is slow, has to dump a lot of data, and has to introduce us to an unusual but large and detailed world. No one could navigate that story any faster or more "exciting" without turning in a bastardization of the book. The power of Dune is that we're transported to vistas, events and characters so different from our world, that we are immersed in impressions, experiences and lore rather than in high-octane adventures. Bond, on the other hand, has a far more brisk, kiss-kiss-bang-bang! attitude in his DNA. A professional like Villeneuve would have no trouble, I believe, stepping into that game with the proper approach. If Villeneuve ever made a Bond film, I'm fairly certain he'd make a proper Bond film, not an arthouse project that hopes to collect some statues at the next Academy Awards.
I loved Blade Runner 2049, liked Prisoners, didn’t care a lot for Arrival in hindsight. Haven’t seen the others myself but wanted to try at least.
Barbara has always been a bit aloof. Perhaps even a little socially shy.
He would be an exciting choice. And he has experience, with Blade Runner, in casting a lead where the previous lead was a megastar. I wonder when the next opening in his directing schedule is.
I do think that should be Bond’s niche when it comes to action, along with a sense of humour in the more bombastic bits. NTTD seemed to be inspired by the highly coreographed, John Wick sort of stuff we’ve seen really take off over the last few years, similar to how QoS had echoes of Bourne and the Brosnan era was inspired by 90s action extravaganzas. And I did like the stairwell scene. But that sort of stuff doesn’t feel distinctly Bond in the way that the fights in CR, which had a Connery style visceral quality to them, or the stunts and chases in the Mendes movies, which had a Moore esque tongue in cheek sense of fun, did.
If Bond wants to set itself apart again I think the way to go is shootouts and scraps that feel dirty and real, and chase scenes/stunts with visual gags and a sense of absurtity. That’s the sort of action that lets you know straight away it’s a 007 film imo.
@FoxRox I definitely recommend that you watch Sicario. I don't think you'll regret it.
I agree. But some of the not so plausible ones can still be charming.
The action is usually handled by other units.
I’d say we definitely got scenes like the ‘backseat driver’ one in the Craig era. Under a director like Sam Mendes we got Bond commandeering construction diggers on trains (which is wonderful, classic Bondian absurdity - why would it even be working?) him conveniently landing on a sofa during an explosion. NTTD is about as larger than life as a Bond film can get, and while I have issues with Fukunaga’s approach, we got a number of lighthearted scenes which fans would argue wouldn’t seem out of place in the Brosnan era.
I'll give you that - if the next Bond film is 2 hrs of the tone of the paloma sequence from Bond 25, similar to how Casino Royale took the Korea torture opening of DAD and expanded on it, I think the cinemas will be packed to the gills for the next film.
This is just my perspective, and I do like the Cuba sequence, but getting the balance between tension, absurdity and heightened reality with Bond (particularly action sequences) can be a particular skill. I think Fukunaga substituted that absurdity for visual style.
Campbell and Mendes generally kept that trait of the Bond films alive - we could get moments like Bond hijacking tanks or diggers without question, and it played into a high stakes sequence. Again, it’s a very particular trait that took time for the Bond series to develop. Not even Young had it. It’s quite tricky predicting which director will have that skill.
Yeah. That's the positive side.
IMDb lists him as having both Cleopatra and Rendezvous with Rama in development. I don't know if he could fit in Bond there, too. Possibly the two films mentioned are a long way off from shooting?
Denis Villeneuve Says He Might Need a 'Detour' Before 'Dune 3' for His 'Mental Sanity' "For my mental sanity I might do something in between, but my dream would be to go a last time on this planet that I love," Villeneuve said, noting the script for the third film is "almost finished."
https://www.indiewire.com/news/general-news/denis-villeneuve-detour-before-dune-messiah-1234933531/
Hmm, that sounds like Fleming.
IMHO, Villeneuve is a better storyteller than Nolan. I'd sign him up immediately if I were Eon.
Yeah, and not every film should be a straight read of fleming, that's how we ended up with a franchise that spanned 25 films in the first place. ;)
But yeah, I really can’t think of many Bond films which miss that mark in terms of not being able to reconcile the ‘light’ and the ‘dark’ as well as that Bondian absurdity…. The closest films I’d say come to missing that sweet spot is either TB or QOS, but even then they’re not films with oppressive atmospheres by any means.