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From the Bond 23/Skyfall pre-production period, some background that may or may not apply to the current situation.
The Deadline: Hollywood site said things get serious when a director is hired.
Mendes' possible involvement was reported in January 2010. But it was, at the time, as consultant (but with the idea he would direct).
http://deadline.com/2010/01/exclusive-sam-mendes-about-to-be-hired-as-consultant-on-bond-23-21327/
Excerpt:
//Here’s what sources are telling me: once EON hires a director on their Bond films, it triggers a first payment from MGM. Well, given that MGM is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and EON may have the right to take Bond elsewhere, it stands to reason that the producers wouldn’t want to do anything right away that further complicates ownership of Bond #23.//
Of course, MGM did end up going into bankruptcy and Bond 23 was put on hold.
Bond 23 was announced as a go in January 2011. There was a short press release. It was the first mention of John Logan as one of the writers.
As early as Jan. 30, 2011, you began to get reports of casting in the movie, including that the production was pursuing Javier Bardem.
http://deadline.com/2011/01/javier-bardem-offered-big-bond-role-as-mgm-leveraging-007-distribution-with-co-financing-deal-to-improve-its-cash-flow-jockeying-studios-increasingly-frustrated-100823/
If that's the case, with all this time there's absolutely zero reason for Bond 25 to be disappointing.
It disappoints me that "nothing 's happening". Something like that would never happen with Cubby in charge. It seems like Barbara is (at least a bit) less invested in Bond than Cubby was. Which, honestly, just makes me worry about the next generation of Bond bosses...
http://nypost.com/2017/01/19/sony-is-weighing-a-sale-of-film-tv-business/
But hard to do anything beyond bat around ideas if Bond is tied to MGM and potentially Sony.
What the leaks did do RE: SP is highlight how much of a mess preproduction was and how some people clearly weren't doing their jobs. If anything, the leaks ironically did EoN a favour and hopefully taught them a lesson in avoiding preproduction problems. They ultimately need to make a better movie. That's the long and short of it.
In any case, EoN still made a highly profitable film with SP but if they want a less divisive movie and want the critical response they're looking for then everyone needs to be on the same page, doing their jobs and not get complacent. Babs and Michael, I have a lot of respect and appreciation for but it was a real dereliction of duty on their part during SP's preproduction that should never have happened. They carelessly put too much trust and time to people who failed to deliver and ironically enough its those people I dont even blame. As producers EoN should have been more effective and responsibly oversee the progress of things before leaving it to the 11th hour and then going into a blind and rushed panic.
EoN are OGs in the game they should have known better but what's done is done and hopefully they can avoid making such silly mistakes in the future. However, I get the feeling SP has left them somewhat deflated and with distribution issues needing resolving, i think it would be unfair to label EoN as not caring about Bond and not beeing as invested as we'd like them to be. These are extenuating circumstances beyond their control but I sincerely hope they do have and are making plans for Bond 25. Not everything needs to be so top secret all the time especially when it's not that necessary or if the outcome isn't exactly overwhelming.
I agree. The distribution thing is probably holding everything up more than we know. Having said that, I really hope BB/MGW still have passion for the franchise (beyond the Craig years) and most importantly, a vision for what they want to achieve. If their hearts aren't in it, then we will inevitably see some delays, given how much faith they have invested in the Craig/Mendes/P&W creative team over the years.
https://www.reddit.com/r/JamesBond/comments/5fe0d1/craig_and_mendes_to_return_for_bond_25/
I don't know if this guy has any legitimacy, but Mi6 did reference the poster in their last article on the main site.
Part of me is convinced that the whole Brexit mess and Trump's presidency has sparked an idea in Sam. Could be interesting.
I have a great difficulty believing random users who claim they know "people in the film business". But in lack of any other news with even the slightest of credibility, I'll give my two cents.
He says Barbara wants someone "completely different" to replace Craig. So far so good; I do believe that's the best way to go. But then he says the names of Sam Riley and Jack O'Connell are heard the most. One is 25 years old and the other looks like a 20-year-old. I really hope they are not actually in Barbara's mind for Bond... And to be honest, I highly doubt they are.
The guy sounds pretty sure that Mendes will do 'Beautiful Ruins' before doing 'Bond 25' in 2019, and yet it was never even confirmed that Mendes would do anything more than produce that movie. I don't buy it, mostly because I have zero reason to believe someone on Reddit, and also because I really, really don't want it to be the case.
https://www.reddit.com/r/JamesBond/comments/4q4kso/preproduction_work_has_begun_on_bond_25/
Based upon SF, and to a lesser extent SP, Mendes may actually be a bit of a closet Trump supporter. So if Brexit and Trump have sparked an idea, it could be an Isis/Black Lives Matter plot to assassinate inconvenient Western leaders and open wider the floodgates of third world immigration, destroying the Western world in the process.
sorry. I don't want
Daniel Craig is Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in Shatterhand a film by Sam Mendes.
I would prefer Hardy and Nolan at this point
That's just his wish. Harris whom actually knows the producers said nothing up.
Hmmm Harris or Reddit hack??? :-? Tough one.