It just occurred to me that when Daniel Craig got the call that he got the part he was shopping in Whole Foods, a company which shortly thereafter was purchased by Amazon.
It was destined to be…
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Kind of you.
Although on further reflection, given the connotation of the number 25, it was a family business and also that old phrase about “selling the…”, an apposite name for the Broccoli period might be - The Family Silver.
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You’re right about Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. As for Roger Moore, he was one of the candidates considered for Dr. No in 1962 and to my recollection he was also considered for both On Her Majesty’s Secret Service AND Diamonds Are Forever, but he couldn’t do either because he was still doing The Saint circa 1969 and was then doing The Persuaders circa 1971.
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I fear that quote only underlines that EON was indeed burned out.
I really don’t like Amazon or the producer of the „Fantastic Beasts“-franchise (if one can call it that) to get their hands on Bond. But I suspect the ending of NTTD was not just giving Craig what he wanted, it was a collective agreement that EON did not know nor want to start a new era.
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There’s definitely a market for it. The franchise has been headed in that direction here lately with the upcoming Q spinoff and The Moneypenny Diaries a while back. The fanbase has been telling them quite loudly over the past decade-plus that a “Bond film” can’t be a “Bond film” unless it includes non-Bond characters like Q and Moneypenny.
The natural progression of that idea is now here and, honestly, I think Amazon might be the perfect platform to bring it to its full potential. This stuff even began to become a big part of the latest EON Bond films, where M has stood alongside Bond as a co-lead character of these films. CR and QOS are largely about the relationship between Bond and M. Then, two of the remaining three films are devoted entirely to Bond cleaning up disastrous mistakes that M has made, all while turning Q and Moneypenny from the background characters they were always meant to be into indispensable parts of the “Bond” operation. They’ve been elevated to co-leads in the films and poised to take over the literary wing of the franchise. Now, with Amazon and their penchant for spin-offs, the “Bond” franchise is now Q and Moneypenny’s show to run, and it’s all coalesced around them at the absolute right time.
The really radical idea that I can’t wait for some studio to one day consider, which would be making a “James Bond” film that is actually about this guy called “James Bond”.
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If Amazon wants to do spin-offs with tons of side characters, existing ones and new ones), I don‘t have to watch that, just like I stopped watching the Marvel tv shows.
If the upcoming Bond films, however, only make narratively sense with the knowledge of what transpired in those umpteenth shows I won’t watch these films either.
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Whatever Amazon does, their first step has to be to get Bond back. Without Bond they won’t be able to spin off anything.
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I’m not convinced there’s a market for it.
The good thing is that the market ultimately dictates what can and cannot be done. If we, as die-hard fans, have little interest in the fabled Moneypenny Diaries TV series, I highly doubt it could attract a broader audience—which would be absolutely crucial for its success.
Additionally, TV series like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Minority Report, The Transporter, Taken, and Treadstone are just a few examples of shows based on widely successful movies that still only lasted a season or two at most.
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Yes, definitely deserved for that take 
.
JJ Abrams is one director I hope never even approaches a Bond film. He was perhaps the worst choice for Star Wars. The Force Awakens feels rushed as Disney wanted to quickly make their money back. And as a result, no one stepped up to say: “um, doesn’t this script feel a little too similar to the original Star Wars?” It was a mistake that they then repeated with Rise of Skywalker.
I hope that Amazon finds a brand new director for Bond 26 (because Martin Campbell is too old). One that can reboot Bond in this new generation, but in a way that stays true to the franchise (and doesn’t just blatantly rip off Goldfinger or Casino Royale).
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The sad thing about that is that, in my opinion, The Force Awakens and Rogue One were wonderful. All the old humor, energy and excitement were back, after going missing in the stifling prequels. But then (again, in my opinion) it all fell apart after that. It was almost as if, once those first two concepts were filmed, the creative bucket was empty.
I think the only way I’ll be interested in Bond, going forward, is if Christopher Nolan takes the director’s reins. Having just rewatched Memento last night, I’m reminded of his (and his brother’s) brilliance.
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I do like Abrams‘ work, but TFA suffers immensely from universe building and keeping Luke out of the picture (until the end). The best scenes happen because of Ford. TROS finally proves that Disney was immensely scared and forced Abrams to cram in everything they thought a SW movie should offer.
This is a danger for Amazon‘s Bond films, too.
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Yes, the thought of having to do some homework before subjecting myself to escapist light entertainment doesn’t render me replete with glee. I can do without the obligation being imposed upon me.
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I doubt we’ll see anything complicated enough that “homework” will be necessary. I think everyone can kind of see the hole that Marvel dug for themselves in that regard and view that as something of a cautionary tale.
I would think that, if anything, Amazon might look at the massive box office totals of the past few films and see that as evidence that maybe they don’t need to “fix” a whole lot with regards to Bond.
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Optimism I would hope to share.
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One positive in all of this is that, given that we will almost certainly have a new writing team behind the next film, all of this Bond going rogue business and Bond and M spending the entire film hashing out their trust and relationship issues with each other should finally be left by the wayside in favor of something new.
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I will say, for those convinced it’s going to be a cookie cutter style of film making - Amazon made The Boys and Fallout, both of which couldn’t be more their respective writers work if they tried.
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Absolutely. They can do prestige if they set their mind to it. And they can do popcorn entertainment that’s not halfway bad.
Amazon is of course a huger entity not solely dedicated to a single cause the way Eon was. But it’s probably too soon to see it all with the catastrophe tinted lenses. They will want to recoup - but that wasn’t so different in the MGM days. Things will certainly be different, but it was inevitable this would happen once Amazon acquired MGM. Let’s judge their efforts by the results.
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There is a rumour being reported in the UK tabloids that Florence Pugh has been cast as Moneypenny in an adaptation of the Moneypenny Diaries. Originally reported by The Sun so we could be as likely to see pigs flying!
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I do agree with this take. Bond has seemingly gone rogue in some way, shape or form in nearly every film since 1989. I will forever be grateful to Purvis & Wade for their contributions to the franchise. But I’d like the next Bond film, even if it’s a full reboot, to adhere to the more traditional style of action scene, M briefing, and then go investigate and chase down the bad guy. Tomorrow Never Dies might be the last time we got a film like this at that was in 1997.
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The big question is: does Amazon see Bond films as prestige?
They know they have to lean into a source material if the target audience can only be reached through that. But Fallout and The Boys are examples for niche audiences which can be expanded on.
Bond films, however, are mass entertainment for the (as most people will call it) lowest common deniminator.
And that’s what Amazon will treat it as. Everybody has an opinion on Bond. It’s just not ours.
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