Edward Berger, director of the Oscar-nominated All Quiet On The Western Front, is the latest filmmaker rumoured to be in contention to make the next James Bond film.
Among the various well-known directors whose names have been attached to the James Bond franchise in recent months, we can now add another: Edward Berger. He’s a European filmmaker who broke into wider consciousness with 2022’s All Quiet On The Western Front, the most recent adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s novel about the futility of World War I.
Made for Netflix, Berger’s war film was a success with audiences and with judges at big, glamorous award shows – it received no fewer than 14 BAFTA nominations (and won seven) and nine Oscars (it won four, including Best International Feature Film).
According to World of Reel’s sources, Berger has now been added to a list which includes Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Danny Boyle and Matthew Vaughn. Of these, Berger may be the least pie-in-the-sky name to emerge so far.
Villeneuve has all kinds of projects lined up that will likely keep him busy for years (not least Dune: Messiah, which may be going before cameras as soon as next August). Danny Boyle tried to make No Time To Die but left the production (Cary Fukanaga took over).
Christopher Nolan’s involvement in a 007 movie has long been talked about, but EON has never gone for a filmmaker of his profile before, and Nolan has said in interviews that his films have to be “original to me”, which might rule out the possibility of him making an entry in a long-established spy series.
Read more: Christopher Nolan and James Bond | A sense of deja vu?
Matthew Vaughn might have seemed like a logical fit, but then the reaction to this year’s spy caper Argylle might give Bond producers pause.
Like most successful filmmakers, Berger is quite busy at present. His latest film, a thriller called Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes, John Lithgow and Stanley Tucci, is about a bunch of cardinals investigating the secrets of a dead Pope. After that is another thriller, this one for Netflix: The Ballad Of A Small Player, starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton.
World of Reel reports that a new Bond film won’t emerge until 2027 at the earliest. If Berger does indeed get to make it, he could be getting started on it over the next year or so.
More on this as we get it.
