Bond fever is gripping the globe and all eyes are turned towards the most headline-grabbing aspect of the next installment in the long-running property. What, do you think all the frenzied speculation begins and ends with the newest leading man who’ll eventually try on that impeccably-tailored suit? Ha! In my eye, what’s just as crucial to the future of this series is the filmmaker who’ll take a seat in the director’s chair and try to improve on Daniel Craig’s widely celebrated run as James Bond. In the three years (and counting) since “No Time to Die” brought that iteration to a very definitive end — and it doesn’t get any more definitive than killing off the title character for the first time in franchise history — all the most obvious names have been bandied back and forth. While I wouldn’t put much stock into the notion of Christopher Nolan making the most unimaginative directing choice in history (although he seems amenable to the idea), we can at least cross one notable name off the list.
Sam Mendes has taken on two of the biggest Bond movies ever in 2012’s “Skyfall” and “Spectre” in 2015, but maybe don’t get your hopes up for him to make a grand return and add a third one to the ledger. “Skyfall” might be one of the most well-received and well-made movies in the entire franchise, but the troubled sequel ended up garnering a much chillier reception. At the time, Mendes was resolute that it would be his last time directing a Bond movie and, well, he’s sticking by those words nearly a decade later.
To Mendes, studios these days want more ‘controllable’ directors
Jonathan Olley/Eon Productions
Sam Mendes is currently an executive producer on the new HBO series “The Franchise” and, in a recent interview with Inverse (via Variety), the extremely accomplished director opened up about his thoughts on the James Bond movies and whether he could see himself returning to the fold. While not ruling out the possibility entirely, he certainly poured quite a lot of cold water on how realistic that might actually be. As he tactfully explained:
“Never say never, to quote the man, but I would doubt it. It was very good for me at that moment in my life. I felt like it shot me out of some old habits. It made me think on a bigger scale. It made me use different parts of my brain. You have to have a lot of energy.”
Now that’s putting it mildly. After all, we’re talking about the same franchise that once inspired an exhausted Daniel Craig to make a sarcastic, off-the-cuff comment about how he’d rather commit some serious self-harm than film another Bond movie again. (Craig later walked back those remarks, of course.) But while speaking more generally about the state of big-budget studio movies at large, Mendes pinpointed one painfully apparent reason why he could never play in that sandbox again. He went on to explain:
“They don’t want people who have a big track record. They want slightly more malleable people who are earlier in their career, who perhaps are going to use it as a stepping stone, and who are more controllable by the studio.”
That’s a pretty damning (yet awfully accurate) statement. We’ve seen this again and again with Marvel movies in particular, but it’s a slippery slope that extends to the vast majority of IPs these days, too. It’s not a stretch to see how this could apply to the ever-protective Broccoli family and their tendency to micro-manage each film. For now, we remain in a holding pattern — both for the new Bond actor and the director who’ll accompany them.
