Sam Mendes doesnāt rule out a return to James Bond, but for James Bond 26, he reckons they want a more controllable director.
Well, James Bond day came and went over the weekend with a 283-word article on the official 007 website, and no sign whatsoever of the next movie. The wait continues, with it now being half a decade since a James Bond movie was shooting, and no announcement yet as to who’s going to succeed Daniel Craig as 007.
One man who directed two of Daniel Craig’s James Bond adventures is Sam Mendes, who hit big with Skyfall, and admitted after Spectre he wasn’t in a rush to do another 007 film. He’s now involved in the new HBO show The Franchise, and spoke to Inverse as part of the promotion for that. Unsurprisingly, James Bond came up in the conversation.
While not slamming the door on a Bond return completely, Mendes talked to the outlet about the fact you need a lot of energy to direct a 007 film, and that “it was very good for me at that moment in my life”.
Still, pondering the currently-vacant James Bond director’s chair, Sam Mendes reasoned that “they want slightly more malleable people who are earlier in their career … who perhaps are going to use it as a stepping stone, and who are more controllable by the studio”.
This is a theme picked up on by The Franchise show, so the conversation was also in the context of that. The programme is a series that lampoons the making of cinematic universes effectively, and it’s hard to think that Mendes didn’t bring some of his insight making big films to the process.
The hope remains that James Bond 26 – whatever it ends up being called – will start moving forward this year at least. But for the minute, James Bond remains in limbo, and there’s just a new advent calendar to show for things…