Roger Michell Discusses Turning Down 'Bond 22'
‘I didn’t feel comfortable with the Bond process…’
CBn reported previously in March that Roger Michell had turned down the chance to direct Daniel Craig’s second James Bond film because there was not a possible way to make all parties involved happy with the script.
In a new interview posted in The Times, Mitchell further explains why he walked away from Bond 22.
‘Well, I did give up directing the Bond film. And it wasn’t quite $8 million but it was a lot of money. It was because in the end I didn’t feel comfortable with the Bond process, and I was very nervous that there was a start date but really no script at all. And I like to be very well prepared as a director.’
The Bond people–who are lovely–are used to going into these massive productions in quite a chaotic way: ‘Oh, we’ll fix that later.’ I panicked about this. And it was starting to make me feel very, very unhappy about what I was doing and who I was. The more the money went up, the worse it made me feel,’ he says.
‘I felt a bit like the character in Landscape with Weapon [a weapons designer who pulls out of a massive payday after he gets cold feet about his work] and a little bit like Doctor Faustus, and just decided eventually that I’d be doing it for the wrong reasons. I’d be doing it for my friendship with Daniel Craig. I’d be doing it for the money. And not really because I yearned to do it.’
Previously, Michell commented that the director’s chair for Bond 22 was ‘absolutely up for grabs.’
CBn will keep you updated with all the latest news, rumours and details regarding Bond 22.