What Directors Should Helm A Bond Film?

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  • Phillip Noyce
    Would have loved to see Noyce directing Dalton's third Bond film... Does he still direct movies today?
  • TheQueensPeaceTheQueensPeace That's Classified
    Posts: 74
    Phillip Noyce
    Would have loved to see Noyce directing Dalton's third Bond film... Does he still direct movies today?

    he does, yes, though not as prolific as before, alas.
  • Posts: 372
    Mimi Leader. Now there's a name from a while ago. Not sure what she's directed lately but I bloody loved The Peacemaker with Clooney and Kidman. It was perfectly paced with thrilling action that was always believable and never OTT. A good call @TheQueensPeace
  • TheQueensPeaceTheQueensPeace That's Classified
    Posts: 74
    cooperman2 wrote: »
    Mimi Leader. Now there's a name from a while ago. Not sure what she's directed lately but I bloody loved The Peacemaker with Clooney and Kidman. It was perfectly paced with thrilling action that was always believable and never OTT. A good call @TheQueensPeace

    many thanks; love your name choice, too!

    Yes: Peacemaker is a kind of American THUNDERBALL. THAT is how you 'update' James Bond. And I remember seeing it and wishing they had hired Mimi for a Brosnan era Bond flick. Today? suspect the lady is back in television and may helm the rumoured HBO MAX Dr Ross spin off for Clooney. But she has visual style, pace, purpose and the right modern vision fused to traditional gloss imho.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    cooperman2 wrote: »
    Mimi Leader. Now there's a name from a while ago. Not sure what she's directed lately but I bloody loved The Peacemaker with Clooney and Kidman. It was perfectly paced with thrilling action that was always believable and never OTT. A good call @TheQueensPeace

    The Peacemaker is very underrated. Nice choice!
  • Martin Campbell
    Gareth Evans
    Alfonso Cuaron
  • edited November 2021 Posts: 6,682
    I watched The Peacemaker earlier this year. It was good! It's just over two hours long, but I remember thinking it felt longer than that. A lot happens in the film, but it's not boring.

    The scene early on with the train and the nuclear explosion is the kind of thing you would see in a Bond film: a setpiece without the leading character(s) to set up the plot. Very Thunderball indeed.

    After that, the film really takes its time to set the stage in dialogue-driven scenes before unleashing the action again in full. Clooney is badass in the square car "chase" (more like a demolition derby). Kidman is the brains of the operation but equally cool. The whole part of the film from the moment in which they enter Russian territory, to the very end, is great.

    I'll happily watch the movie again. I doubt it'll happen today but Mimi Leder could've done a Bond film back in the Brosnan days for sure.

    Edit: I'd forgotten she was back in films with On the Basis of Sex. That's good.
  • Posts: 372
    Good to see some love for Peacemaker. Leder would have been an inspired choice for a Brosnan Bond I agree
  • Benny wrote: »
    I love that he knows his Bond, but I still feel it would be a Christopher Nolan movie.
    We'd lose the uniqueness of Bond if Nolan directed. Bond has never attracted or used A list directors.

    This is the problem I have with a lot of the high falutin names like your Nolan's, Fukanaga's and Villeneuve's.


    Now Gareth Evans would be a brilliant choice. Anyone who has seen The Raid, will now how much of a game changer that film was. It took me longer than it should have, to watch The Raid, because I kept rewinding to see certain sequences again. The Raid 2... eh, not so much.

    Funnily enough it was The Raid 2 that made me really want him for Bond. The first one is brilliant, but it’s really just fight scene after fight scene. The sequel on the other hand was big and varied enough to make me think he’d do a good job with Bond, and Gangs of London cemented it for me. I think he’d be the perfect choice for a back to basics, Bond on a mission reboot.

    Heard about his new film @MajorDSmythe? It’s another action film and it’s set in Wales, so it should be right up your street. Tom Hardy’s starring apparently too, which I think is a good sign, that he’s working with big names now. Hopefully it’ll do well enough to put him on EON’s radar.
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    Posts: 8,009
    mattjoes wrote: »
    I watched The Peacemaker earlier this year. It was good! It's just over two hours long, but I remember thinking it felt longer than that. A lot happens in the film, but it's not boring.

    The scene early on with the train and the nuclear explosion is the kind of thing you would see in a Bond film: a setpiece without the leading character(s) to set up the plot. Very Thunderball indeed.

    After that, the film really takes its time to set the stage in dialogue-driven scenes before unleashing the action again in full. Clooney is badass in the square car "chase" (more like a demolition derby). Kidman is the brains of the operation but equally cool. The whole part of the film from the moment in which they enter Russian territory, to the very end, is great.

    I'll happily watch the movie again. I doubt it'll happen today but Mimi Leder could've done a Bond film back in the Brosnan days for sure.

    Edit: I'd forgotten she was back in films with On the Basis of Sex. That's good.

    I have far more love for TND and TWINE than many on these boards, but I can't help but wonder what the films would have turned out like if Noyce and Leder had taken the place of Spottiswoode and Apted, respectively.
  • Posts: 6,682
    mattjoes wrote: »
    I watched The Peacemaker earlier this year. It was good! It's just over two hours long, but I remember thinking it felt longer than that. A lot happens in the film, but it's not boring.

    The scene early on with the train and the nuclear explosion is the kind of thing you would see in a Bond film: a setpiece without the leading character(s) to set up the plot. Very Thunderball indeed.

    After that, the film really takes its time to set the stage in dialogue-driven scenes before unleashing the action again in full. Clooney is badass in the square car "chase" (more like a demolition derby). Kidman is the brains of the operation but equally cool. The whole part of the film from the moment in which they enter Russian territory, to the very end, is great.

    I'll happily watch the movie again. I doubt it'll happen today but Mimi Leder could've done a Bond film back in the Brosnan days for sure.

    Edit: I'd forgotten she was back in films with On the Basis of Sex. That's good.

    I have far more love for TND and TWINE than many on these boards, but I can't help but wonder what the films would have turned out like if Noyce and Leder had taken the place of Spottiswoode and Apted, respectively.

    Yeah. I'm a big fan of the Brosnan films just the way they are, but I do think it would have been interesting to see what those two directors could have brought to the table. Interestingly, Noyce might be working with Brosnan in an upcoming film.

    I was also thinking you could take that segment of The Peacemaker that's set in Vienna and transplant it to a Bond film and I wouldn't bat an eye.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    Posts: 13,882
    Benny wrote: »
    I love that he knows his Bond, but I still feel it would be a Christopher Nolan movie.
    We'd lose the uniqueness of Bond if Nolan directed. Bond has never attracted or used A list directors.

    This is the problem I have with a lot of the high falutin names like your Nolan's, Fukanaga's and Villeneuve's.


    Now Gareth Evans would be a brilliant choice. Anyone who has seen The Raid, will now how much of a game changer that film was. It took me longer than it should have, to watch The Raid, because I kept rewinding to see certain sequences again. The Raid 2... eh, not so much.

    Funnily enough it was The Raid 2 that made me really want him for Bond. The first one is brilliant, but it’s really just fight scene after fight scene. The sequel on the other hand was big and varied enough to make me think he’d do a good job with Bond, and Gangs of London cemented it for me. I think he’d be the perfect choice for a back to basics, Bond on a mission reboot.

    Don't get me wrong, I would recommend both Raid films. But... you know, I just didn't quite enjoy the 2nd one as much. But I agree that he would be a perfect s
    choice to launch the new era of Bond.

    Now that you mention it, I do remember seeing Gangs Of London advertised on Sky Atlantic, but I never got around to watching it. I'll have to look into it.
    Heard about his new film @MajorDSmythe? It’s another action film and it’s set in Wales, so it should be right up your street. Tom Hardy’s starring apparently too, which I think is a good sign, that he’s working with big names now. Hopefully it’ll do well enough to put him on EON’s radar.

    Not the specifics, but I heard vaguely that he was working with Tom Hardy on a new film.

    I actually really want him to work with Scott Adkins on anything. But as you said, Evans is now working with bigger (/mainstream) names, so that's unlikely to happen.
  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,727
    NO TO NOLAN / WRIGHT / CORY part 2.
    Yes to:
    Martin Campbell
    John Madden
    Roger Michell
    Mike Newell
    Matthew Vaughn
    Mimi Leder
    Kathryn Bigelow
    Paul Greengrass
    Ben Affleck
    Danny Boyle
    Roger Donaldson
    Phillip Noyce
    Ang Lee
    Brian DePalma
    Chris McQuarrie
    Brad Bird

    I'd be pleased with Bigelow. She is one of the few directors who brings strong female parts to her films WITHOUT pandering to the overt feminists' PC brigade.

    Females in her films are not strong because they put down men or 'replace' the traditional male archetypes (here's looking at you, NTTD) - they are strong parts because, well, they are strong human beings in their own right.
  • Gareth Evans is a really inspired choice I that would bring a fresh take with some undoubtedly mind blowing action. We haven’t seen him do anything quite as refined or glossy as Bond but I think he could pull it off and it would be fun to see him use his horror experience with VHS and Apostle to bring something different, I’ve always thought a final act that goes almost fully into the horror territory can be thrilling in this franchise and I think NTTD’s opening served as a good proof of concept for that.

    Since Cary Fukunaga broke the precedent of not hiring American directors, I think Ryan Coogler could be a very interesting option. His directorial debut Fruitvale Station is an emotional gut punch, he has proven himself with a big budget blockbuster like Black Panther and has been able to bring something fresh to the Rocky franchise in Creed, while still paying homage to the old films and reintroducing some of the familiar tropes with a contemporary edge. Also, fun fact, the casino scene in Black Panther was inspired by Skyfall.

    Steve McQueen is one who has the prestige filmmaking/dramatic chops that EON seems to go for these days and made a pretty solid thriller in Widows. Really good filmmaker but not sure if I can see him making something as “fun” as a Bond film should be.

    Bong Joon-Ho is a director I think who also has the pedigree and versatility to make a Bond film that finally hits all the right notes, similar in my opinion to Cary Fukunaga. I’d also love to see South Korea used as a location and he might make that a likelihood.

    Lastly, I’ve mentioned him before but Denis Villeneuve feels like a no brainer. Incredibly talented director all around, deep filmography with no duds, my only apprehensions are that he has yet to make a truly commercially successful film which may put off the producers, and that tonally it seems like he would bring something very similar to what we’ve already seen in the past few films and probably would have been a stronger choice to direct during Craig’s tenure. It would be an impeccably made film, no doubt, but I’m not sure how much freshness and energy it’d bring.

  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,459
    I want Cary Fukunaga back more than anyone else for the next one.
  • GadgetManGadgetMan Lagos, Nigeria
    edited November 2021 Posts: 4,247
    I think the only reason Cary might return, is if they want to serialize the next era again.
  • talos7talos7 New Orleans
    Posts: 7,889
    I want Cary Fukunaga back more than anyone else for the next one.

    Yes, it would be interesting to see what he could do with a clean slate.. He did a great job with NTTD, but I do think that he was constricted by having to weave in so many threads from the Craig era, particularly from SP.
  • DraxCucumberSandwichDraxCucumberSandwich United Kingdom
    Posts: 208
    talos7 wrote: »

    Yes, it would be interesting to see what he could do with a clean slate.. He did a great job with NTTD, but I do think that he was constricted by having to weave in so many threads from the Craig era, particularly from SP.

    And he pulled it off amazingly well in my opinion. He used those Craig threads to best effect whilst introducing some fun, some horror and some family drama. Brilliantly directed action, great performances wrought from the actors, an obvious love for Bond of old weaves in, and overall the movie was paced and balanced so well. It’s a frankly ridiculously good directorial job he did in the circumstances, especially when you consider the right schedule they must have been on.

    I’d love to see him return. I would think the producers would be keen but him maybe less so. It’s still early in his career and he probably wants to plough his own furrow as it were.

    We can be thankfully though that we got this movie in the series from him

  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    edited November 2021 Posts: 1,261
    Roger Michell regrettably is not available anymore. He died about two months.

    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0585011/
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited November 2021 Posts: 4,416
    Sean Durkin. Canadian directer. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1699934
    A movie named The Nest with Jude Law he directed/wrote. I read a Dutch ''Belgium'' review about BD.



    I stil like to see Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) and then i expect Alexander Witt will remain as second united directer. Then he should work with Jules O'Loughlin (The Hitman's Bodyguard, Angel Has Fallen, Jolt) as cinematographer and Production Designer, Art directers and editors of NTTD. Angel Has Fallen cinematography feels a bit Tomorrow Never Dies, Skyfall and pretitle of Die Another Day. Jolt (Amazon movie) looks more Skyfall/color. I whant difrent dop with him so we stay a way from yellow agression of Safe House. Already said before that it also feels CR, QOS.



    Other one i consider, whyle he is American born directer his father is Irish: Destin Daniel Cretton. Directer of The Glass Castle and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Brie Larson as Bondfgirl then. By prefer as villian.

  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    Tom Ford would be a dream come true.
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Phillip Noyce
    Would have loved to see Noyce directing Dalton's third Bond film... Does he still direct movies today?

    Apparentl yes.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakewood_(film)
  • peterpeter Toronto
    Posts: 8,254
    Denis Villeneuve did meet with Barbara Broccoli after Boyle’s exit but couldn’t make his schedule work (he was in deep on Dune’s pre-production)… I think he will be one of the top directors they’ll go back to…
  • slide_99slide_99 USA
    Posts: 648
    Christopher Nolan
    Edgar Wright
    Guy Ritchie
    Matthew Vaughn
    Neil Marshall

    Please, FFS, no more prestige directors. Bond movies are not dramas and when EON tries to turn them into dramas they always end up being cringe-inducing soap operas. Bond movies need either high-caliber action directors or workman directors who don't rock the boat. Actually the best Bond movies were made by precisely these types of directors (Young, Hamilton, Hunt, Campbell).
  • Get Gareth Evans. His work on the Raid films and Gangs of London is *chef's kiss*
  • matt_umatt_u better known as Mr. Roark
    Posts: 4,343
    peter wrote: »
    Denis Villeneuve did meet with Barbara Broccoli after Boyle’s exit but couldn’t make his schedule work (he was in deep on Dune’s pre-production)… I think he will be one of the top directors they’ll go back to…

    Since Dune Part II will come out October 2023, it may be possible.
  • Junglist_1985Junglist_1985 Los Angeles
    edited December 2021 Posts: 1,006
    Denis worked on Blade Runner 2049 then Dune 1 and then Dune 2…. Poor guy needs a break. Let’s do Campbell for trifecta… then Denis. Cary needs to return as well.
  • TheQueensPeaceTheQueensPeace That's Classified
    Posts: 74
    i was up for Guy Ritchie because Game of Shadows = Russia with love via shot in the dark.
    Then I saw Wrath of Man. It is nasty, violent, charmless stuff imho.
    Also, his man from uncle was like a greatest hits of the crooners CD: what he thinks is Bond like /stylish was in fact just dull and boring?
    Same with Matthew Vaughn: Layer Cake is GREAT and THAT is how Craig's Bond should have gone out imho. But his shared misreading with Ritchie of what makes things hard/cool/classy is precisely the kind of dorm raid new money snobbery of a Bond baddie..not a Bond MOVIE..imho ;)
    That said: Ritchie does show that Hugh Grant could make an exceptional Bond villain
  • DenbighDenbigh UK
    Posts: 5,834
    Whoever they get, they should definitely get Greg Fraser on as cinematographer.
  • Posts: 725
    Matt Reeves then. Greg is indeed the photographer of the Batman.
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