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
Very good point, I could see you being right about that.
Yeah. It's looking that way.
True. I guess they will continue the overall more serious, gritty style. Then again, Villeneuve may decide to break away from his own style. We'll have to see.
I doubt we're going to get something like CR or QOS, for example. Or even SF. I highly doubt we'll see Bond getting a daughter and dying again like in NTTD, and I suspect the Bond/Blofeld subplot is not going to be reused. Bond 26 will be a different story. So in large part it'll be very different.
Will there be ideas in this one that'll overlap with the Craig era? I suspect so. And why not? Some of the ideas of Craig's last three were present in some of Brosnan's, so it's not without precedent. And ultimately Bond's a rather cyclical franchise. Ideas tend to crop up again, different takes on specific characters and plots emerge etc.
Also, can we have a character like Sylvia Hoeks played in BR49, please? A femme fatale? He can surely do that. He directs villainy very well.
And the humor will be up to the screenwriters, I suppose, with the right balance, we'll have something that could be very different from the Craig era. Not that I would complain about the best of the Craig era: great directors, great production values, ...
What we can't have again is bad writing, convoluted forced continuity, cringeworthy special effects, bad editing,... And THAT, Villeneuve would never do.
Plus, it will be gorgeous to watch, that's for sure.
Yeah the way he's a big fan of Bond suggests to me that he obviously knows and appreciates the films, and thinks Craig was amazing, so hopefully that means he'd be looking to make something which is identifiably a Bond film. But that does mean.. jokes. He must've done jokes but I struggle to remember any in his films! :)
Martin Campbell for Casino or Sam Mendes with Skyfall maybe?
I remember one in BR2049 and one in Dune: part 1 so I’m guessing we’ll get a joke in the new 007 film.
Next Floor - a short he did in 2008 - is a dark comedy. It's quite twisted and the humour black, but it's there. Other than that I can only think of smaller, lighter moments in his more dramatic films between characters, not full on comedy necessarily.
That said he's a director who's worked within different genres, so I think he's used to adapting himself to story conventions. And honestly, adding humour is one of the things writers are for when it comes to Bond.
'You shot him at point-blank range and threw him off a roof.'
'I tried my best not to.'
Even the wryness of 'I've just shown someone your watch' in NTTD. That's all it needs.
I'm relieved that it's Villeneuve - it pretty much guarantees that we're not going to get a travesty and it's likely that there'll only be minimal lowest common denominator about it too. I do get what people have said about Villeneuve's pacing and the need for Bond films to be more dynamic than, say, Sicario, but some of that film's atmosphere and the brooding sense of real danger just behind the surface would (again, for me) be more than welcome in a Bond film too. I was with those on here who hoped that Bond 26 would be more like Matera and Jamaica than Cuba - and with Villeneuve directing, the odds of that have probably increased substantially. Have to say, I didn't at all trust Amazon to make the right decisions, so I'm pleasantly surprised today.
I suspect there would have been complaining no matter who the director ended up being ;)
I'm somewhat sympathetic incidentally. Villeneuve's films often aren't my cup of tea. But he's clearly experienced and a first rate director. Objectively, I can see from his films that making a Bond movie is within his capabilities. Who knows? Maybe the film will even be brilliant.
There's a lot to be excited about.
Well Danny Boyle got announced in mid 2018 and NTTD came out late 2021... X_X
Haha oh yeah I forgot about that one mate
I'm still surprised we've got a director at this seemingly early stage. Exciting times
The initial release was November 2019, then February 2020 and then April 2020. 18 months delay not a fault of the timeline itself.
Personally, it has to be fall 2027. That leaves the rest of this year and all of 2026 for Amazon to get a script written and nail down potential castings.
I think Villeneuve is talented and it should be a beautiful film. EON was definitely looking towards him. I'm quite relieved actually. But nervous about casting Bond more than anything else now.
Denis Villeneuve's '79 Moonraker, I'm here for it!
I saw his 2000 film Maelstrom again recently.
There's a lot of dark, dreamlike, absurdist/existential humour in that. It has a talking fish narrator (literally a gutted fish on a chopping block), whose voice reminds me of the dystopian computer system in Alphaville.
And in keeping with what we would come to see in the Craig era, there's also lots of emotional wreckage along the way ...
Not that any of the above is what we should expect in his Bond film.
It's early days, but it's a decision I can imagine EON making (from what I understand they'd considered Villeneuve in the past and if rumours are to be believed had spoken to him about directing when they were still at the helm).
I do wonder how much influence EON had over the decisions of producer and, to a lesser extent, who was approached to direct. BB and MGW would have had to have some reassurance that Bond was in the right hands before relinquishing the creative rights. Obviously Heyman's a top British producer and Pascal worked with them in the past/has that creative and personal connection to them. They were announced very quickly after the deal went through so it'd obviously been negotiated months in advance. And a lot of the rumoured director names had been mentioned when EON were in control.
Not saying EON are pulling the strings behind the scenes or whatever, but there's every much a 'picking up where they left off' feeling. I suspect their influence will have a bit of resonance in the short term. Or at least for this film.
Great news. Things are moving forward. Decent director on board. Now for this bigger obstacle/hurdle to overcome - Bond himself. This is the make or break decision for me.
I could live with an average director chosen, as long as the right actor is cast. Having Villeneuve on board is all great and well, but if they screw up the casting of Bond himself, with a silly, left-field controversial choice that is going to divide the fan base, then having a great director on board becomes irrelevant.
Here's hoping we get a decent Bond cast now. Who knows, maybe he has already been chosen?
Replace Craig with Dalton in that sentence and I'm on board ;)
I don't think he's ever publicly addressed what his Bond would be like ... but on the basis of BR49 & Dune [two other subjects carried forward from child/teen-hood] I'd guess it'll be quite reverent and maybe a little portentous ....
Just to answer your question: I love Campbell's The Mask of Zorro and from Hamilton I really liked Evil Under the Sun and Funeral in Berlin. Thought Hamilton's Battle of Britain and Force 10 from Navarone were decent too.