After the blazing success of ‘Skyfall’, Sam Mendes has turned down the offer to direct the next James Bond movie, claiming that he wants to devote himself to theater for a while. All things considered, that’s probably a wise career move on his part. How do you top a billion-dollar blockbuster? Almost anything is destined to be seen as a disappointment. Better to go out on top. Nevertheless, James Bond will return, and somebody will have to direct the next movie. In this week’s Roundtable, we offer some suggestions.
Daniel Hirshleifer
Jonathan Mostow hasn’t had a hit in years, but he has a clean style that will fit Bond well, and he knows how to tell a story without too much muss or fuss. I don’t think the next Bond film will top ‘Skyfall’. Instead, EON should just focus on making a really tight, sharp picture that’s a lot of fun, and Mostow can deliver that in spades.
Shannon Nutt
With all due respect to New Zealander Martin Campbell, I’ve always felt that – like James Bond himself – the best Bond directors come from Britain. Therefore, I’m nominating Joe Wright to helm the next Bond flick. Wright proved that he has a knack for action pieces with ‘Hanna‘, and has dazzled with his camera movement and visuals in films like ‘Atonement‘ and ‘Anna Karenina‘. He has the ability to infuse a Bond picture both with breathtaking action and the kind of emotional stakes that Mendes brought to the latest installment. I would love to hear his name announced as the franchise’s next director, but alas, I fear we’ll get some hack like Guy Ritchie (who gets my vote as the worst possible pick for directing Bond!).
Adam Tyner (DVDTalk)
Whenever I come across a headline reading “Who should direct the next _________?”, my kneejerk reaction is always to fill in that blank with “Edgar Wright.” He clearly has a knack for action, both on the visceral adrenaline rush end of things and in terms of pure craftsmanship. If only more action flicks could be as well-staged and coherent as the brawls in ‘Scott Pilgrim vs. the World‘! Wright’s stylish eye, boundless imagination and razor-sharp wit would be extraordinary assets as well. I know some might sneer at Wright not being a traditional choice to helm a Bond film, but he’s really not any further out of left field than Brad Bird taking the reins of ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol’, and look how well that turned out.
Mike Attebery
Now that the Bond films have become a prestige franchise, I’d like to see Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson reinforce the transition by having a director with an even more distinctive style follow Sam Mendes’ perfect Bond outing. While I was a little disappointed with the American adaptation of ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo‘. I’d love to see David Fincher and Daniel Craig re-teamfor a Bond picture (particularly since Bonds 24 and 25 will likely be delaying ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’ whether Fincher directs that film or not).
Brian Hoss
Despite being a huge Bond fan, I tend accept that there really isn’t any single perfect Bond film. I also feel that the movies need to avoid either being too goofy or too serious, and have to balance incredible stunts with a degree of believability. All the Daniel Craig films are excellent in my eyes, but still have cringe-worthy moments. That being the case, why not reunite Craig with his ‘Layer Cake‘ director Matthew Vaughn? He’s a filmmaker who clearly knows how to handle character development, action and intrigue The worst thing that can happen is that people who think that ‘Skyfall’ is nearly flawless will complain, which is going to happen anyway.
Luke Hickman
For me, ‘Skyfall’ was nothing more than a Michael Bay movie without lens flares and slow motion. It’s way too long and full of plot holes that it tries to distract you from with pretty pictures. Because of that, I want to see what a Bond movie would be like if Michael Bay actually did one – not because I think he’d be good at it, but because that would reveal ‘Skyfall’ for what it really is, an effortless and rushed waste of time. With one of the writers returning for ‘Bond 24’, I’m sure that all of those flaws will continue. ‘Skyfall’ lovers were enchanted my Mendes’ direction, but the same wouldn’t fly with skepticism. They won’t expect a Bay movie to be any good, so when it turns out to be identical to ‘Skyfall’, the truth will be revealed and I’ll be vindicated.
Josh Zyber
Making a Bond movie can be a nearly thankless task for an A-List filmmaker. The director has to adhere to certain franchise standards and conventions without inserting too much of himself into the formula. Over the years, the producers have turned down requests by James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino, both of whom lobbied to direct Bond pictures. A Cameron or Tarantino James Bond movie would inevitably be more about Cameron or Tarantino than about Bond, and that wouldn’t be in the best interest of the franchise.
After Sam Mendes, I think the producers might have a shot with another past Oscar winner: Danny Boyle. The ‘Slumdog Millionarire‘ director has proven versatile in exploring many different genres, from dramas (‘127 hours‘) to thrillers (‘Shallow Grave‘) to horror (‘28 Days Later‘) and even sci-fi (‘Sunshine‘). He seems due for a spy movie. He’d bring some energy and verve to the action sequences while deftly balancing the dramatic bits. Yet I believe he’d be able to do that without imposing too much of his own ego on the production. And he’s even British, which is definitely in his favor.
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Who do you think should direct the next James Bond film? Tell us in the Comments.
Scott
James Bond: How?… It’s tailored.
Vesper Lynd: I sized you up the moment we met.
James Bond: I’ve got a little itch, down there. Would you mind?
Vesper Lynd: [introducing herself to Bond] I’m the money.
James Bond: Every penny of it.
Vesper Lynd: Am I going to have a problem with you, Mr. Bond?
James Bond: No, don’t worry, you’re not my type.
Vesper Lynd: Smart?
James Bond: Single.
James Bond: I’m sorry. That last hand… nearly killed me.
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Yep, no humor at all in Casino Royale
Scott
Sorry fun, no fun in Casino Royale. That’s for damn sure.
Scott
And loOk at the actual Quantum of Solace gross:
Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $168,368,427 28.7%
+ Foreign: $417,722,300 71.3%
= Worldwide: $586,090,727
Nov 14–16 1 $67,528,882
Nov 21–23 2 $26,707,945 – 60.4%
It made 40% of its gross opening weekend then took a nose dive off the money tree. Plus when you factor in advertising costs which sometimes double the initial budget or at least add $100 million then yes, Quantum was a commercial and critical disappointment. Especially in the Dimestic market and I know, Bond films do better over seas but can anyone honestly recall anything they truly enjoyed in this film?
William Henley
I agree with Michael Bay or JJ Abram.
We could give Steven Speilberg the movies. His first movie will be something along the lines of Moonraker, and possibly feature an alien. Music by John Williams. Second movie will involve the Iranians cloning Dinosaurs. The third James Bond movie will take place about two or three hundred years ago, and actually be a documentary based around the American Revolution.
We could get Mel Gibson to direct it. Bond is suddenly a no one whose wife gets raped and killed by the North Koreans, and he becomes a freedom fighter, set to destroy North Korea, and while the British Government knows they can’t really control him, they figure that as long as he wants to kill Koreans, than tehy will back him. Bond will teach the otehr agents gorilla warfare.
George Lucas. Entire movie shot in front of a green screen. Lucas keeps saying “cut, let’s do it again, with even less emotion and less acting”. John Williams is again given the musical score. Bond finds out that his father is really Kim Jong Il, and that he has special ESP abilities as his father did before him. Live-action characters are going to be replaced last minute with really-bad CGI-rendered aliens. There will be an outcry on the internet debating if Bond shot first, and if it was only one shot or two shots.
James Cameron. It will be the most expensive movie ever made. People will OOOOhhh and AAAAwwww about it when it comes out, say its the greatest movie ever made, will break all sorts of box office records, but before it even makes its home video debute, people will be sick of it. Bond will end up going to Iran on a mission, and end up falling in love with a Persian girl, decide that the Iranian governement is misunderstood, and help Iran to launch nukes against Britain. The movie will be four hours long.
Peter Jackson. We will take a 20 page script, and stretch it across three different three-hour-long movies. The first movie will be about Bond and his friends traveling across Europe, with stops in France and Germany to eat, drink, gamble, and randomly sleep with women. At one point, Bond will randomly decide that they must go through the caves in the Alps, as it is too much trouble to go over the alps, and we will loose Q as he attempts to to save the rest of the party. Bond eventually makes it to St Petersburg, the jewel of Russia, and the first movie ends. In the second movie, we are going to travel across Asia, but we are going to spend half the movie focusing on the backstory of Kim Jong Il and Napoleon, who is now over 200 years old, and has been kept alive artificially by some evil experiment. The second movie will end with Bond at the gates of North Korea while British and American forces bunker down in Iran. Q comes back from the dead, and M turns out to have suddenly been working for Kim Jung Il. The third movie focuses mainly on trying to establish a new British colony in the East, as Bond finally makes it into Kim Jung Il’s castle, but then finds out that he is too weak to press the self-destruct button by himself. 009 says he cannot press the button, it has to be Bond, and carries Bond to the Button.
William Henley
The HDD community will lynch Josh when he attempts to state how bad of a movie Cameron’s Bond is, and how its just another rehash of “Dances With Wolves”. Random people who have never commented on a poll before will create logins to leave Josh death threats. Badly written comments will be written about how great Cameron’s Bond must be because it made over a billion dollars, without any other supporting facts as to why the movie is so good. Jane will randomly post box office data, and Drew and EM will go off on how wrong Josh is, whether they agree with him or not, because anything Josh says is automatically wrong. 🙂
Speilberg’s fourth Bond movie is going to find out that the Iranians (wait, are we fighting Iranians or Koreans?) are really telepathic aliens, and that Craig is way too old to continue playing the role of Bond. No one will notice that the basic story is very similar to Lucas’s Bond.
Timcharger
Will, funny and well thought out, but clearly too much time on your hands.
About Peter Jackson, so you find fault with him for the source material by Tolkien?
So when your favorite director makes a movie on the Bible, your going to blame the sin/punishment/redemption/promise-to-not-sin/sin-again circular plot on the director?
William Henley
Who said I had issues with the source material? I was simply refering to how many people feel about his works and poking fun at it, and does not represent my personal views on his work.
Geoff Gillespie
My mate Glenn Williams – a bit of a Bond nut! -says Vic Armstrong, second unit director on most of the Bond movies, is the obvious man for the job and the franchise doesn’t need a big time director…and who am I to argue?
Tim
Guy Ritchie would be a great director for Bond 24!
Ryan M
Surprising to see such little support for Joe Wright. Did you see Hanna?
RBBrittain
I’m shocked NO ONE pointed out Danny Boyle has ALREADY directed Daniel Craig as Bond–in the Summer Olympics opening. With Queen Elizabeth II as herself, no less. 😀
Josh Zyber
AuthorD’oh! That’s true. He’s clearly the man for the job! 🙂