You can’t blame Sam Mendes for not wanting to return to direct the next James Bond film, Bond 24. After all, Skyfall is not only the highest grossing Bond film ever (by a wide margin — it grossed nearly double the worldwide take of Casino Royale, the previous champion), but it is generally regarded as one of the best, if not the best, Bond film in the series’ fifty-year history. It would seem the only place for Mendes to go with Bond is down.
In fact, Mendes has already said he would not direct the next film despite longtime Bond producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli desperately wanting him to. Mendes cited his theater commitments — he is slated to direct a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical adaptation and a production of King Lear — as his next priorities. The Bond team seemed to move on without him and pursued other names to direct the John Logan script (who co-wrote Skyfall), including reportedly Ang Lee, Nicolas Winding Refn, and Christopher Nolan (more on him later).
Except Deadline is reporting that Mendes is in talks to direct after all, with producers willing to wait until he fulfills his other commitments. Perhaps Mendes cannot resist trying to outdo himself. So although producers really wanted to get the next Bond film moving as soon as possible — producers were keen to have Bond 24 out in late 2014, and Bond 25 out in 2017, which would be the 55th anniversary of the first film, or 2018, which would be the 65th anniversary of the character’s debut in literature. But they’re willing to wait if Mendes is going to come back to direct Daniel Craig again.
Now all this has sent Christopher Nolan fans into a frenzy. Nolan has expressed interest in directing a Bond film, and his very loyal fanbase — you know, the ones who like Inception WAY more than you do — will have no one else but him direct Bond 24. The original report on The Daily Mail that reported Nolan was in talks is filled with comments from people already declaring Nolan’s Bond the best Bond movie ever made. But once Deadline reported that Mendes is back in talks, their comments are filled with how Skyfall was the worst Bond ever made — with many also pointing out how Nolan would have done so much better if he somehow found time to direct Skyfall while he was directing The Dark Knight Rises. I normally stay the heck away from comment sections on websites, but these are rather entertaining.
So in the end here’s what you need to know: Mendes is likely going to direct the next James Bond film and some people REALLY like Christopher Nolan.
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