We’re all for reinventing James Bond.
But as it stands, Bond is the least flexible, most anachronistic movie franchise still running … albeit on fumes.
So having Danny Boyle take a shot at it is great news.
The shift won’t happen that soon. The Trainspotting director is currently putting together a musical with Richard Curtis and about to debut the FX series Trust. But as he recently told Metro: “We are working on a [Bond] script right now … [filming] Bond would be right at the end of the year.”
The only other information we have beyond that is that Boyle is working with longtime collaborator John Hodge.
Why this is good news: Boyle can inject some visual flair into the proceedings. He’s British and was born just three years (1956) after Ian Fleming debuted 007 in the book Casino Royale, so he certainly gets the setting, history and character. And the soundtrack is gonna be bonkers (hey, Danny, your friends Underworld and Sunshine collaborator John Murphy have some free time).
Reasons for worry? Daniel Craig might be in this only for the (ridiculous amounts of) money. Boyle’s a great director who’s not necessarily known for action films. But Hodge’s contributions to the Boyle oeuvre — outside of ‘90s classics Shallow Grave and Trainspotting — have been on the director’s lesser end (A Life Less Ordinary, Trainspotting 2). And having an Oscar winner as your director hasn’t necessarily improved or changed the Bond formula (looking at you, Sam Mendes).
All that said, we are cautiously optimistic that Boyle’s direction is better news for Bond than any new actor could be.
The franchise will surely be shaken — and stirred — into life.
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