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I don't personally see Chalamet as a Bond villain, yes, I could see him more as an ally (the disposable one) I could see him as another 00 agent whom Bond needs to assist only to get killed later in the middle of the mission whom Bond would later avenged, something along the likes of Ferrara in FYEO.
I'm not knocking on the guy, he has great looks, but he looks a bit too naive for me, he could even make Gustav Graves or Dominic Greene more dangerous in comparison.
I don’t think anyone has a problem with different opinions.
It’s when those opinions are sold as ‘factual’ before a single reel of film of Bond 26 has even happened yet.
That’s when it gets tedious.
Especially when almost none of the things that people "know" will happen, ever do.
The new game is a clear indicator. I don't think, in this post metoo era, that Amazon is going to take the risk to portray Bond as fully grown up, real man who punches and shoot people, and gets the girls.
A fully grown man doesn't attract the Gen Z (unless he is vilain).
All the values from the past are gone. Working years in schools to get diplomas doesn't gave you as much money as creating an app, or opening an onlyfans and selling your underwear.
People with zero education are making 10 000 to 70 000 a month doing nothing.
That is what GenZ identifies with. It's a new world, so they have to reinvent Bond.
They definitely are looking for a 28 to 32 actor. They want a poster boy for the GenZ generation. They don't care about us older Bond fans because they know we will show up, whatever they do, as long as it's Bond 007 branded.
... so it's reasonable to assume Broccoli kept him in mind for Bond 26. Maybe he was her top choice.
We all know what happened after NTTD. Broccoli couldn't come to an agreement with Amazon. Amazon effectively bought out Eon. Eon took the cash but lost creative control. But isn't Amazon hiring Villeneuve a big tactical blunder from Broccoli? If she wanted Villeneuve they why not compromise and stay on? Work with Villeneuve to make Bond 26. I accept she may have had to compromise but had she remained producer she'd have Villeneuve making her film. Assuming his vision for Bond 26 wasn't massively different to Broccoli's, it could have been a productive relationship? I guess so.
Amazon got creative control and Villeneuve. They got what they wanted. Broccoli could have prevented that. She could or maybe should have said "I'll be prepared to compromise if you hire Villeneuve and his ideas for Bond 26 align with mine." That way she still retains some control.
Maybe she jumped ship too early.
Maybe she wanted Villeneuve as much as she wanted Boyle.
You think the next Wolverine will be 28-32 damn. I think you just feel old.
It was reportedly Jonathan Nolan though wasn’t it? Berger is much more experienced.
Centuries old is some versions! But does the same logic apply; they need a 'poster boy' for GenZ to identify with?
I can't see the global reach of a 'pre-Bond'/rookie
I guess he’s just very good so likely to turn out a good film. But Villeneuve is just more experienced on big expensive movies, and we’ve seen Star Wars taking a punt on relatively inexperienced directors and then giving them the boot when they most probably were floundering and not making their days. DV is both a creative voice and a safe pair of hands from a financial point of view when it comes to something on this scale.
If the shortlist was right, I wonder how high up Paul King came as he’s shown similar experience with big films I’d say. But if Villeneuve is there I can see why you’d go for him.
What I've seen from Berger has been superb. Im Westen nichts Neues was phenomenal, Conclave was really good too (the ending a bit out there, but it was based on a novel).
Deutschland '83 was excellent as well. A spy show of course, which is always interesting experience if you want to do Bond, but it was also atmospherically superb.
Amazon could adapt 007 First Light for Bond 26. Change large chunks of the game's plot but use the premise.
Maybe it's too obvious an approach to take, new ideas are hard to do, but Villeneuve may find that appealing. Amazon starting with James Bond Year 1? 😉
That’s true! Totally my error, my mind is going. That does make more sense.
No. Berger was the runner up, not Jonathan Nolan. I’ve already mentioned this on page 5 of this topic.
EDIT: Ah, I see now that you were talking about the Christopher Nolan - Jonathan Nolan mix up.
I suspect what happened between Amazon and EON will be the sort of thing people will write entire books and articles about in the future. I suspect it’s not quite a clear cut case where one side ‘won’ over the other. It’s probably more a bittersweet compromise on both sides to make sure Bond could survive. And it involves ambitious, and quite ruthless people wanting to protect their own interests.
There’ll probably be a lot of factors that contributed to EON’s decision. It seems like they had no real creative successor (save for Greg Wilson none of the other kids seemed to be involved at this point, and for whatever reason - which I reckon will come to light - Gregg seemingly wasn’t considered the right person to keep Bond going). I suspect to some extent the Broccolis didn’t have an adequate succession plan before Amazon acquired MGM. There’ll be factors like MGW’s retirement and Broccoli’s hesitancy to continue without him, which is understandable. I suspect we’ll also get an indication of when they made the decision to sell the creative rights, which could have been years in the making and perhaps even a long, drawn out series of negotiations and considerations until they decided to relinquish the creative rights. It’s interesting that Broccoli and MGW made some very specific claims about Bond’s creative direction publicly throughout 2023-2024. That could be seen as a sort of warning to Amazon to carry on their legacy - the need to reinvent Bond, how Bond should always be contemporary and get a cinematic release, the need for an actor with gravitas etc. And of course the WSJ article which had some very pointed things to say about Amazon (its release three months prior to the deal being finalised is certainly interesting, as well as its release after Salke publicly said they’d wait for EON, the implication being EON were the ones responsible for the hold up. Of course as we know Salke herself didn't last, and it's likely a contributing factor was her inability to create a good relationship with EON. A mini PR war makes sense in this context, although in hindsight/with the context in mind what Salke said publicly was probably crossing the line and very stupid of her, even if the WSJ article was airing dirty laundry).
Perhaps from Amazon’s perspective BB and MGW were genuinely being unreasonable and unable to decide what they wanted for Bond’s future, halting the franchise and refusing to compromise. Even bringing some of this out into the public. From EON’s point of view, despite some friendly faces around, we know they thought many of these people didn’t understand Bond. Between a stubborn fight to protect their franchise and probably some internal uncertainties about EON's future, I can imagine none of this was as amicable as it could have been. It's not unreasonable to presume EON wanted to protect their character and personal legacy though.
Ultimately, I think EON had more power in this negotiation than we might believe currently. Interestingly they never sold their actual share, so in that way it’s a massive win for them. As I said they needed reassurance that their franchise would be in safe hands, and they have a prior association with Pascal to the point she worked on some of the Craig films, and of course Heyman is a top producer. Sort of continuity choices. Who knows what other specifics of the deal was. The new producers have in turn gone for Villeneuve who Broccoli has supposedly considered for years. They even got an extra billion. But, at the end of the day, EON no longer control James Bond, and that's Amazon's victory.
Denise comment that directing Bond 26 is a huge honour
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/jun/26/james-bond-movie-film-denis-villeneuve-director-amazon-mgm-studios
There are couple of interesting things he discus about this scene and it looks very Spectre.
Love him!
Definitely prefer Villeneuve's films
+1
@007HallY, your post is very wise.