Only IT he walked away from on bad terms, and that was with the financier (if you read the book the contentious bit will jump out quickly) the other two he finished his work on the series. He stepped down the amount he was doing on The Alienist, as he couldn’t commit to directing every episode as initially planned, but was still exec for the series, drafted out the full series breakdowns and co-wrote episode 4 and the finale.
I do slightly wonder why these hot takes that have cropped up, from Variety downwards, think they know how EON and Fukunaga will behave and react better than EON and Fukunaga do. Impressive when you consider EON and Fukunaga know what film they’re making and the hot takes don’t…
I agree with the article writer on this - it’s indeed a brave choice. Fukunaga would seem to have an even more iconoclastic style of commerce than Boyle.
I imagine he’s been promised certain freedoms, as Boyle would’ve been. Fingers crossed that he gets them.
Most importantly for me It signals a determination from BB to persevere with her current direction and i’m grateful for that.
The articles on Variety and The Ringer have been running the same line that Fukunaga does have an “aura” of risk based on track record. But…coming out of the Boyle thing, and that Babs and Mike, for all that some of us (me included) have flung their way, have been in this game a long time, I think the “risks” are overblown somewhat.
Considering some of the names that they might have talked to, I have no doubt “creative agreement” was the first thing settled in dicussions with Fukunaga. IMHO, if Fukunaga had been the original director (an alternate history where the Boyle dalliance never occurred) I’m not convinced these articles pointing out IT etc would even exist. It’s a story because of the Boyle experience. And to be fair on EON, they do not have a track record in the way that the Star Wars producers are quickly attaining one…
A quote from 2015 already has some sites daydreaming that Fukunaga will return to direct Bond 26 and establish his Beasts of No Nation star Idris Elba as 007:
“That would be pretty cool to have Idris and I do a Bond film together. I wouldn’t say no to that.”
Meanwhile, IndieWire got the first quote from him on getting the Bond 25 job:
“I’ve wanted to do one of these [Bond films] for a long time, so that’s not new. So right now it’s just kind of dealing with the shock that it’s real and the honor obviously and now the responsibility.”
I’d like to think a Craig led Bond 26 is possible. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Right now though I’m just extremely grateful we’re getting another Craig Bond in the first place with 25. And the idea Idris Elba, who is already too old for the part, would become Bond #7 years from now, is just ludicrous.
Well played EON… Very shrewd too. Loving the release date. Truly, depending on the story, Bond’s got his heart on his sleeve. I’m feeling good about this. Roll on.
Negotiating with Fukunaga, it is impossible that the problems with Boyle did not come up and were not addressed.
But variety.com and thehollywoordreporter.com unfortunately have become very sensationalistic in the last years, obviously dependent on generating more clicks. Look at their increasing number of opinion pieces on Marvel heroes - something you would never find in these outlets decades ago when it was mainly about hard facts within the industry.
Of course, after Boyle´s departure it is valid to debate Fukunaga´s willingness to work within the EON framework.
But a simple question would be the best answer to end that discussion immediately: Why would he sign on if he did not want to work with EON here? Especially after having experienced many times the pressure from financiers or show runners (“True Detective”) to adhere to their viewpoints.
I have no doubt that Fukunaga contemplated this and even got it in his contract to have certain rights laid down to fulfill his vision - and to also acknowledge that EON and Daniel Craig have veto power.
Yeah - True Detective was seemingly Pizzolato and Fukunaga both jockeying for control with HBO and it ended up how it ended up, S2 where Pizzolato arguably had the ship to himself perhaps showed what would have happened if one of them had got their way over the other.
Fukunaga is an exec producer on The Alienist which is not great but TD and Beasts prove he can do some great work. He is not on the same level like Boyle or Mendes, he is a critically acclaimed rung below, so EON can exert a little more influence over him and he wants to make a Bond movie - win win I think.
Nice that the announcement coincides with the premiere of Fukunaga’s new Netflix series Maniac (21st)
I feel that Bond 25 is about the right time for Craig to depart the role. He’s not getting any younger and I certainly don’t want him going on well past his sell by date like Roger Moore. FYEO would have been perfect for his swansong and yet we still got Octopussy and AVTAK.
I think so, too. But if it takes Craig to get us another film in 2022 I’m all for it.
Interesting, I remember Wilson talking about Craig´s tenure doing press for QOS - mentioning that they (EON) would want Craig to remain Bond for at least the next ten years.
Which at that time, of course, was mainly pushing Craig as THE Bond to reckon with. It also might reveal that the hassle to find and successfully establish a new Bond is something EON dreads and would rather postpone until absolutely necessary.
Still - I get the feeling that they always play the long game. And Craig fit in there. This might also explain why they chose to include him much more than any other actor before. Maybe they decided that keeping Connery back then out of the producer role was a mistake they did not want to repeat with Craig.
Well, I do believe there is a kernel of truth about the rumors of all these candidates. But like the actors mentioned for Bond it probably never went beyond initial conversations. Fukunaga, however, was probably either a well kept secret or a lucky break for EON - or both.
I’m not sure I’d call Craig part of the ‘long game’ at this point. To me the long game would be planning the series future for the next ten years and that would call for a new Bond rather than trying to keep the current one around one film at a time.
Just a random thought, not really connected to the current announcement. One of the names that was floated around as a potential director was Edgar Wright. I’m a huge fan of his but I’m not sure he’d have been right for Bond at the moment in time. Bond 26 however is a different story. If this is indeed the start of a new Bond’s tenure then Wright could be the perfect director to shake up the series (as needs doing from time to time). I feel it’s time to move away from the grittier/ more serious direction and I could imagine Wright delivering a modern Bond film more reminiscent of Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice or The Spy Who Loved Me.
No idea if he ever met with the producers or if it was just speculation but it’s worth thinking about.
