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Search For 'Bond 22' Director Continues

[sub]Negotiations fall through for Roger Michell[/sub]

Variety claims that negotiations with director Roger Michell have fallen apart over "creative differences" (happens all the time). Who do you think should step in to direct? And how do you think this might affect the film's May 2, 2008 release date (if at all)? Talk amongst yourselves ...

Well, since I wasn't all that excited about Roger Michell directing Bond 22, this news doesn't bother me. In fact, I like it.

Does this affect the release date of Bond 22? I don't think so--for now. However, if EON doesn't have a director signed by say November, then there are problems.

My top two choices for Bond 22 director remain John McTiernan and Wolfgang Petersen.

Ok, eventhough he didn't get the job, Michell still is the kind of director EON is interested in. So we can cross Michell off the Bond Director Prediction List and look whether the next candidate will be either Frears (who just wrapped his new film 'The Queen'), Jon Amiel (who despite the announcement of 'Angel Makers', isn't in preproduction), Stephen Hopkings (who is still available), Roger Donaldson (also available), Stuart Baird (eventhough he'd be too busy editing 'CR' for pre on Bond 22), Michael Caton Jones (also still available), Mick Jackson (although he isn't getting any younger) or Antonia Bird (yes a woman, but a very exciting choice). Time will tell.

Of those, Donaldson or Caton Jones would be my choice.

Relieved it won't be Michell, although I totally agree with crashdrive that he was classic Eon material.

Who do I think should step in to direct? Any of the following: Je-gyu Kang (director of the 1999 South Korean smash SHIRI [try saying those last four words very fast several times in a row ], which is kind of like Bond meeting DIE HARD on a budget very low by Hollywood standards, but done very stylishly); John McTiernan (even though some of his recent stuff has been poor); Phillip Noyce (a dream pick after the likes of CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and THE QUIET AMERICAN - I gather he may have been approached for DIE ANOTHER DAY); Matthew Vaughn (probably already "too big for Bond", at least in terms of hype, but LAYER CAKE shows he wouldn't have been the worst choice in the world for CASINO ROYALE, and Eon evidently thought so too). Who I don't want to direct (even though I like their films): Christopher Nolan or Quentin Tarantino (but why do I get the feeling that they're going to be mentioned a lot on this thread? ).

Who do I think may step in to direct? Noyce seems the only realistic choice of my abovementioned filmmakers, but even then he doesn't exactly seem a frontrunner.

Will Stuart Baird (currently editing CR) step up to the plate? He fits Eon's UK/Commonwealth "seasoned pro" profile, and was also apparently in the frame to direct DAD (as well as a Harry Potter film). Has directed EXECUTIVE DECISION, U.S. MARSHALS and STAR TREK: NEMESIS. Funnily enough, promoting an editor to the director's chair is also very much in keeping with Bond tradition (Peter Hunt, John Glen), although Baird has, of course, managed to become a successful director without Bond's help.

Caton-Jones seems a very likely choice. Sure, he's given Sony a "flop" with BASIC INSTINCT 2, but then again it'll probably be very profitable on DVD, and SHOOTING DOGS, a very different, more "serious" film made around the same time, shows his versatility (or, if you prefer, his total lack of any kind of signature style ) and will have impressed Eon, which seems to set a lot of snob value by directors who've made at least one or two "worthy" films. Also, I believe that Caton-Jones was all but set as the director of GOLDENEYE.

Finally, none of this will affect the release date, which has been clearly announced not just to the industry but to the public. It's set in stone. Besides, there's ample time to sign a director. Well, not ample, perhaps, but just enough time, I should think.



Good point, although he'll be finished with CR in November, and I gather that shooting on BOND 22 won't start until May - won't that be enough time? And I'd forgotten about Frears, the intended director of the Jinx spinoff film.

Absolutely my choice too, and in that order.

I don't think McTiernan will be doing it as he is waiting to find out if he is going to jail for perjury in the Pellicano case.

How about John Glen? I think picking different directors for each film is a great IDEA but the potential for a disappointing film is quite high.

My no.1 choice is Vic Armstrong or Ian Sharp (he did second unit on Goldeneye).

Sharp is an excellent action director (Who Dares Wins) and Armstrong knows Bond inside out and is a great action director too. Case in point, most of the best scenes in TWINE and Die Another Day were directed by him.

In fact, I think the second unit directors on the Bonds are so important that they deserve a co-directing credit or at least a more prominently placed credit on the main titles.

Maybe Campbell will be persuaded to return, after all. Would like to see that. Or Philipp Noyce. I don´t think that Armstrong or any action director will suffice these days - they need and will want to have someone who also can do layered character work.

Roger Moore should be the director, can you imagine the media frenzy ???

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Search For 'Bond 22' Director Continues

[sub]Negotiations fall through for Roger Michell[/sub]

I'm hoping that Campbell is persuaded to do a second one. I'd like to see the same director do two in a row again.

Michell's gone? That's good news.

Me too. Doesn't seem likely though (at this point).