With the sudden departure of director Danny Boyle from “Bond 25” over “creative differences” with franchise producers Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson, and star/co-producer Daniel Craig, what happens now?
Keep in mind that production was scheduled to start in December, with a domestic release date of November 8, 2019 (through MGM). That doesn’t leave much time to find a replacement director, with two UK rising action directors, Yann Demange (“’71,” Sony fall festival entry “White Boy Rick”) and David McKenzie (“Hell or High Water,” upcoming Netflix actioner “Outlaw King”), as the top contenders. The betting money, by the way, is on quirky and well-respected Brit Demange.
Complicating matters, though, is the fact that Boyle brought his own radical twist to the table, working closely with his chum and long-time collaborator, “Trainspotting” series scribe John Hodge, which immediately hooked Broccoli, Wilson, and Craig. Hodge turned in a script they liked, and they fast-tracked the production while scrapping the previous screenplay by long-time Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. This was unprecedented from the Eon team as far as auteur risk-taking.
The story concept was ripped from such current headlines as Russia geopolitical meddling, #MeToo, and #TimesUp. “You write in real time,” Boyle told The Guardian. “You acknowledge the legacy of the world of Bond and you write in the world — but you also write in the modern world as well.”
Danny Boyle
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Added to the intrigue is speculation that the plot involves incarcerating Bond and the threat of imminent death. (A leaked call sheet revealed a Russian villain.) However, Boyle evidently got in over his head trying to maintain that delicate balancing act between the modern world as we know it and the rules of the Bond legacy.
But with Boyle and Hodge out of the picture, journalists are rushing to the conclusion that they’re going jettison the current project in favor of Purvis & Wade’s Plan B. But that doesn’t make sense. The Boyle/Hodge vision belongs to the franchise and has momentum behind it. Abandoning it would mean pushing back production and perhaps losing Craig in the process.
It makes much better sense to see this story through with an edgy but less precious director such as Demange. Better yet, why not let Craig direct? He knows Bond and the franchise inside out and can rely on the veteran production team to help him say goodbye to the series in the most relevant and unpredictable way.
Now that would be the biggest twist of all.
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