This Week In Bond (June 21st, 2022)

Third time's the charm

Martin Campbell is the only man for the job whenever Bond 26 gets the green light. He was the director tasked by Cubby Broccoli with bringing the James Bond series out of hiatus and rebooting with a new lead actor in a new decade for a new generation amongst a skeptical media, and Campbell hit it out of the park with ‘GoldenEye.’

With Cubby’s sad passing in 1996, the decisions on directors transitioned to Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and the producing duo is yet to really find a creative partner they can rely on. They thrust Roger Spottiswoode into the rushed chaos of ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ and somehow the director managed to salvage a film, but he had no desire to return. They next plucked Micahel Apted from relative obscurity as a TV documentary maker for ‘The World Is Not Enough’ to mixed results. Then came the crazy train of Lee Tamahori, who after all the controversy of using CGI instead of stunts in ‘Die Another Day’, was arrested in LA on sex offence charges. In retrospect, it’s not hard to see why producers called Martin Campbell back for their 2006 reboot with Daniel Craig: a safe pair of hands when the stakes were high again.

Campbell told us in recent years how he was asked back for every Bond film until after ‘Skyfall’. He declined each time except for ‘Casino Royale’ when the challenge to do something new was too tempting. Broccoli & Wilson then shifted to art-house choices. Marc Forster brought in his own creative team for ‘Quantum of Solace,’ kicking out some Bond regulars with a troubled and rushed production (ala TND) with writer Paul Haggis - who now also finds himself facing sex offence charges. Next up was Sam Mendes, who after scoring a big win with ‘Skyfall,’ tried capturing lightning in a bottle and ended up at logger-heads with the studio on ‘Spectre’, ultimately bowing out of most of the promotional work for the film. Finally, the recipe for disaster with Danny Boyle, where neither side had agreed a vision for the film before work started, ended in a ‘creative differences’ split and the rushed hiring of Cary Fukunaga with an up-ended script that was not complete when shooting started on ‘No Time To Die’. If you have been reading the news lately, you will know why Fukunaga is unlikely to ever return to the Bond franchise.

So where does that leave Broccoli & Wilson’s strike rate for hiring Bond directors? One could argue that Mendes for ‘Skyfall’ was the only big success out of all of them. That’s why it might be best for them to defer to the wisdom of the late Cubby Broccoli and pick up the phone to Martin Campbell one more time.

What do you think? Hire Campbell for a third introduction of a new James Bond, or risk going with a new face that might work out and helm several films in a row?

News

Kids and big kids alike have reason to celebrate as a new Aston Martin DB5 will be released by Lego in August. It’s a much smaller set than the one launched in 2018 and is expected to retail for only $19.99 / £17.99 / €19.99 - a far cry from some of the usual 007 Store prices. Lego confirmed with us that the new set’s James Bond figure is indeed modeled on Daniel Craig’s appearance in ‘No Time To Die.’ It will be the first-ever release of a James Bond minifig. But do not expect any Lego PPKs. EON have been adamant for years that toys based on Bond should not feature any guns. This is what scuppered original plans for 007 Lego back in the mid-2000s. Lego went on to produce a spy theme anyway, simply calling it ‘Agents’ and using none of the Bond intellectual property.

‘Spectre’ and ‘No Time To Die’ co-stars Lea Seydoux and Naomie Harris both gave interviews recently exclaiming how susprised and saddened they were to learn of how Daniel Craig wanted to end his tenure as Bond when they first read the script. Harris perhaps channeled the feelings of many fans when she said: “I just thought... this doesn't happen. Bond doesn't die. It's sacred that Bond should never die.”

Listen

It will be a couple of days before we get the official UK box-office numbers for this week’s big screen Bond re-release, but if commentary on social media is anything to go by, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ may be one of the most successful of the 60th-anniversary celebrations so far. Reports of packed screenings were frequent! We called on Mark Edlitz, Dr. Lisa Funnell, and Ben Eslinger to share their thoughts on Roger’s third outing, or perhaps the first movie of his second era?

Watch

Back in 1971, a documentary film crew went behind the scenes of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ to capture the production wrapping the climactic scenes onboard the cruise ship. Watch carefully and you can see Mr Kidd’s catch fire! That’s dedication.

MI6 Archives

Thanks to @writingbond for reminding us of this great interview with Richard Maibaum back in 1983 in Starlog, just before ‘Octopussy’ was released. You can read the entire thing courtesy of Archive.org. Many a movie blog post could be written about dozens of lines from Maibuam here. It is one of the most candid interviews from a Bond creative since those banned Criterion laser disc commentaries.

Exit Through The Gift Shop

Have you subscribed or renewed to MI6 Confidential for 2022 yet? Issue #64 has been out for a couple of weeks and we’ve just sent issue #65 to the printers. On top of a slew of exclusive interviews with creatives from the Bond films, this next issue also features a couple of fantastic articles by Edward Biddulph and David Leigh that delve in to Fleming content. We also have a very special announcement on a highly sought-after limited edition lithograph that will be available again after more than 20 years.

More Bond

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