Peaky Blinders creator will write the script!
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Iâve not seen Peaky Blinders. Is it good?
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Yes, pretty damn good.
I like this choice. Some heavy hitting talent attached to this project.
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Itâs very good - but itâs different from a Bond film in the way The Wire is different from a police drama. EASTERN PROMISES is perhaps a better reference as to Knightâs potential for Bond.
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From the article:
When talking about The Immortal Man in 2023, Knight name-checked 007. âThe biggest difference between a film and TV series is the budget,â he said to the Mirror. âWhen you do stuff for TV, you often have to ask people to imagine it. But with a film, you can really do it. You can blow stuff up. Will Tommy be giving James Bond a run for his money? Maybe. There are parallels. We always thought of Peaky as very cinematic, so we are finally finding a screen big enough for what we want to do.â
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I am so excited by this. Heâs a fantastic writer!
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Agreed. Itâs also another reminder that Amazon are full steam ahead with getting Bond 26 off the ground, which pleases me a lot. Iâll judge their work when the time comes, but so far the creative talent has me excited.
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I recall liking DIRTY PRETTY THINGS.
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Weâre inching ever closerâŚ.
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Weâre in business!
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Great choice in Steven Knight!
I know nothing of Steven Knight and, perusing his Wikipedia page, it seems like I havenât seen anything he has written or directed. But new writing talent for the Bond franchise just may be the shakeup the series needs right now (even though I enjoy the Craig era immensely). So Iâm excited by this news, especially as a number of you have already vouched for Knightâs talent.
Now we have a studio, producers, a director, and a screenwriter. Does this mean casting Bond is next?
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There wouldnât have been any reason for there to have been, since they didnât have creative control of the franchise. Even with EON dragging their heels, Iâm going to assume that it took Amazon a while to talk them into selling their creative stake in the franchise. Since that deal has been announced, I think theyâve been moving quite rapidly. Theyâve, in just a few short months, gone from not having creative control to having put into place a seasoned team of producers to oversee the project, theyâve gone into negotiations with one very well known director before that fell apart and then very quickly replaced him with one of the best directors working today. And now they have a writer on board to flesh out the story that was pitched to them by Villenueve.
Iâm not really sure that it matters what Amazon does with this Bond film. It could be the greatest Bond film of the whole lot and there will still be the sentiment that the next one canât possibly be any good becauseâŚAmazon.
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So, Steven Knight.
Like I said yesterday, Amazon has the money to buy talent and is eager to position itself as âweâre so seriousâ.
Nothing Knight has done so far makes me think he is perfect for Bond. And humour is not his strong suit, so thatâs what aligns him with Villeneuve.
Of course, he will be replaced during development, but the trend is clear: the next Bond will be dreary and sinister.
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Iâve never heard of Steven Knight and the only thing heâs done that Iâve seen is Eastern Promises, but itâs been so long ago, I donât remember much of it. I liked the film, but I didnât think it was anything special. However, I do know that Peaky Blinders is considered to be pretty good stuff, so this news gets my approval. And so Amazon seemingly gets another solid hit. They have yet to make a misstep so far. Hopefully that continues, especially since their next move very likely will be to cast the next James Bond 007. 
(Though that might still be three to five months away at the earliest. 
)
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Mr Knight has just been interviewed on Radio 5 Live in the UK. I didnât hear the bit about Bond, although it was briefly mentioned in wrapping it up, but he appears to have produced an interesting documentary about Birmingham City FC (âŚuck, spit, kill it with fire) for Amazon Prime.
Accordingly, not unknown to them. He appears to be something of a polymath. And a Birmingham City supporter, therefore possibly not in possession of a standard number of fingers.
Given his track record, I suspect weâre not getting Diamonds are Forever, which is probably good news both for those who donât think much of it and those who would not wish to see its threadbare majesty diluted.
EDIT: Have just listened to the start of the interview on playback thingy - still all sounds pretty fledgling, although the phrase âsame, different, better, bolder, strongerâ was freely used (accordingly it really wonât be Diamonds are Forever). Presenter twerp volleyed âRemind me, who is the new Bond?â which was kicked into the undergrowth.
At least he didnât say âWeâre going back to Flemingâ. Yet.
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Oh I donât know, SAS rogue heroes is really quite funny.
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Not sure how that came up twice
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They were never going to hire someone who was going to turn in an overtly-comedic Bond film. As it is often preached, theyâre going to do what makes them money. The straight-faced, no-fun version of Bond that the Craig films brought us made EON a lot of money. They crossed the billion dollar mark for the first time and would have done it again if it werenât for the pandemic. What was working in their favor to make them all of that money will continue until it stops making them money.
Thereâs also things to be said for audience expectations. Much like how weâre not allowed to have a James Bond film without Q or Eve Moneypenny, because those things have now come to define James Bond through sheer repetition, the same is true of the approach to the films. This is what Bond has been for going on thirty years now. James Bond is now that. The one time they tried to go a bit more in the other direction (DAD), they were crushed by critics and audiences alike, even if the film did do well at the box office. Accordingly, there was never any chance of them changing the stylistic course of the franchise.
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Indeed, they have in effect achieved to arrive in much the same place Eon was before, which is impressive, congrats. Our understandable excitement about progress on BOND 26 apart, would we have been in the least surprised about Pascal (as Amazon liaison), Villeneuve and yes, even Steve Knight without the buyout? I donât think so. We would probably have assumed the usual procedure of a rough script by Knight then being reworked by P&W and/or polished by some third party/Villeneuve himself.
I get that over the years there has piled up some animosity, frustration and hyperbole towards Broccoli, based on everything from perceived disappointments with productions to the general lack of output. But I also wonder whether the elated spirits of some about BOND 26 at the moment isnât largely due to the fact it wonât involve Broccoli/Eon any more. Which would also be perfectly legit, mind you. Fresh blood is a necessary ingredient when a series runs so long and shows so obvious signs of been-there, done-that. I just wonder what makes us think BOND 26 will be significantly different from the last few films. And what our reaction will be when itâs not.
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