News on NO TIME TO DIE (no spoilers)

Exactly, just look at Craig confirming his involvement in it. He was to announce on Steven Colbert so spent the day lying about what he knew.

I think we’ll get director announcement soon(ish) but otherwise it’ll be in the latter half of the year before we are officially told anything.

I’m DYING to know the director announcement. I want Nolan. It’st just so quiet at the moment.

I didn’t know that bit about Boyle and Harris, thanks @Orion for that little bit of insight.

I am curious why you think that Villenueve is one of the “small few who could actually come in and save this franchise”? As I see, the problem is not with the films but with the struggle to have them get made.

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Indeed, the quality of the films are, overall in a better place than any time since the 60s, IMO.

They’re just too few and far between

Ah MGM, the gift that keeps giving.

I agree - its not that the Bond films desperately need some A-list director. They need someone who wants to make them and loves them dearly.

Absolutely! But if that someone happens to be an A-list director then great :wink:

Paul McGuigan or David Mackenzie would be my preference of the names seriously mentioned, but tbh, I look at the director announcement as an opportunity to get to know a whole new set of films as I work my way through their back catalogue to get an idea of what story is likely to unfold in their Bond movie.

I´m more curious about the announcement of the acting ensemble, quite frankly. And the locations.

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In the Naughties i was a supporter of McGuigan to direct a Bond movie - after the terrific Gangster No. 1 and the underrated Lucky Number Slevin.

But after his truly appalling Frankestien movie i 'd like to see him get his mojo back before being handed the Bond chair. Though i haven’t seen it, i don’t imagine the acclaimed Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool will be a sign of this, since the genre isn’t remotely close to Bond (unlike the 2 great aforementioned movies).

Whereas Mackenzie has shown with ‘Hell and High Water’ and ‘Starred Up’ he can deliver on drama, action and violence (the latter being in keeping with the story and characters, rather than sensationalised 'violence for violence sake).

His Robert The Bruce movie The Outlaw King is pending so i hope it doesn’t do for him what Frankenstien did for McGuigan…

I’d prefer Denis V, but it’s not happening. I don’t see Nolan accepting the Bond gig until he can recast and rebrand. After that i think Mackenzie is the most interesting choice (with Yann D on his heels).

However, Yann’s forthcoming crime movie White Boy Rick could turn all of that on it’s head if it’s good enough, but it’s not out until August (Eon will probably get a preview if wanted). IMDB has nothing else lined up for Yann after White Boy, which is odd for a Director on an upward trajectory - wonder if he’s been asked to hold back that information?

Btw, i’ve noted before that 2 of these directors have worked with actor Jack O’Connell, so if either get into the Bond fold could they possibly bring him in as Craig’s successor? Sure he’s 5’8" tall, but with his talent i’d let that pass - imo he’s the next Tom Hardy, in terms of critically recognised acting chops and the slew of roles that will follow this snowballing recognition.

Because of that i doubt he’d want to be Bond at this stage in his burgeoning career, but it would be a coup if Eon could sign O’Connell and both Yann and Mackenzie may make that possible.

I wonder what the solution to the distribution problem has been / will be.

It seems crazy that this has not already been decided upon and made public. Seems like too many cooks in the kitchen going for their stab at the prime beef.

It´s been almost a year since the news about Purvis & Wade starting work on their first draft - which means they will have a rather clear view now on what the story is, who the villain will be and which action sequences in which locations will have to be planned out.

If not, the release date of 2019 with Craig really returning one last time will be in jeopardy.

It’s reasonable to assume around this time last year the distribution issue must have looked like a fairly low hurdle the project would take in no time at all. Otherwise, nobody would have hired P&W to cook up a script.

Right now we are obviously not yet where expectations lead us to believe we’d be. So what has changed between early 2017 and early 2018? Well, there are a couple of major deals in the industry that may or may not influence BOND 25. Then there seem to be suitors for distribution from left field - and possibly even an in-house solution, though that might face opposition from the financial side of affairs.

The most likely reason for this prolonged state of stasis is still a tug of war over investments and the spoils of Bond. And since it’s taking now considerably longer than a done deal would be expected, at least one side of the opponents seems comfortable enough to even risk Craig pulling back. Either because they know he won’t. Or because they’d be ready to replace him.

In any case, when even such basic considerations are subject to extensive politicking, we can only guess how things will proceed once actual creative decisions are on the line…

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I always want to applaud Waltz stance on criticism - he’ll only criticise his own performance.

But yeah, this does fit with what Mendes said regarding Blofeld, that he was meant as a one off, his not being killed being a narrative choice for SPECTRE, not to set up sequels like many assumed.

Well, if true, it continues the ‘one and done’ nature of cinematic Blofelds. They probably wanted to move on and give the audience someone new. I’d love it if they went in the Bunt direction while Ernst was chilling in jail.

Perhaps it was even a clever solution to have Blofeld in prison, alive but out of the way. They can pull him out of the hat whenever they want, with whatever actor they choose. Had Craig not returned - as it must have looked like during SPECTRE’s production - Blofeld’s comeback in a later film could be ambiguous enough to be read as both reboot or sequel. And now that Craig will be back Blofeld can act as McGuffin without the need to mention the cheesier side of the backstory.

I hope, however, that with the next actor there will be a reboot of the Blofeld/Spectre arc. This one seems too tied to CraigBond´s personal history.

If Waltz´ quote is not used as a smokescreen I guess BOND 25 can at least go to a fresh place.

So, Bond has taken down the author of all his pain, left the service to try a life with Madeleine. Spectre has been disbanded. Mi6 and the 00-section have proven themselves to be relevant.

What now?

Bond, of course, has to be called back and take over one last mission (ugh, that old story cliché).

I sincerely hope that they will not try to end the CraigBond arc with him actually sacrificing himself. Somehow I get the feeling that this is what Craig would love to go out with. Kind of a Han Solo-end to his mark on Bond.

I’m thinking the same: what’s left other than Bond sacrificing himself? The rumors from last year around a Logan type script lead you in that direction: Bond’s one-off with Monica Belucci leads to a love child, blah blah. Would top and tail the Craig era, and allow another reboot but without the origin story and a new SPECTRE/Blofeld story arc. The entire Craig series has been about setting up and introducing all the key elements of the Bond series as almost prequels to the Connery era, I’m just not sure what’s left to be done at this stage. So 25 May just be an original one-off. Or they stay the course and we get a YOLT/Shatterhand with a re-cast Blofeld and Irma Bunt but seems unlikely as it strays too far into Connery territory rather than setting it up.

I’d be very surprised if they went down the road of having Bond die or sacrifice himself down the road is a direction that the series probably shouldn’t go at this point. Once you do that, you’re forcing another extended hiatus and a reboot when you finally do cast the next Bond and get things going again.

Given how poorly MGM is run and how few films we get anyway, I don’t think I’d be up for a hiatus that is only brought about due to a narrative decision made by the producers and writers.

I don’t think a hiatus would be necessary in this case, people do get that Craig’s Bond is its own beast, like how people were ok with Christian Bale’s Batman being its own thing.

I mean there will be a hiatus as MGM keep being caught by surprise that they have to renegotiate at the end of a contract, but i don’t see anyone choosing for Bond to go on a break.