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  1. BAFTA Honours Martin Campbell With Excellence In Directing Award

    By Devin Zydel on 2007-10-31
    Martin Campbell

    GoldenEye and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell

    According to a report from Variety, two-time 007 director Martin Campbell is being honoured tonight at the BAFTA/LA Britannia ceremony with the John Schlesinger Award for excellence in directing.

    Campbell, who introduced Pierce Brosnan to the world of James Bond in GoldenEye and then again with Daniel Craig in last year’s Casino Royale, remembers having second thoughts when he was approached by the producers for Brosnan’s first Bond film.

    ‘The trouble with directing Bond films — or any of these big commercial movies — is, like actors, you get pigeonholed, so people send you nothing but big, big action movies,’ Campbell says. ‘I did GoldenEye because I had not made a film that had taken [in] a dime, quite honestly.’

    ‘I was subsequently offered them all after [the massive success that GoldenEye was],’ Campbell says, ‘but the character’s got nowhere to go. You simply have to repeat yourself.’

    As fans already know, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who were originally impressed by Campbell’s award-winning miniseries Edge Of Darkness, then approached him once again for Daniel Craig’s 007 debut.

    ‘The great thing about coming back on Casino is that the guy was a rough diamond; he had flaws,’ says Campbell. ‘He wasn’t even Bond at the beginning of the movie, so at least there was somewhere to go.’

    ‘We knew he could deliver on all counts,’ says Broccoli. ‘He and Daniel created a new template.’

    So what is next for Campbell? In addition to helming the 2008 drama 36 as well as the action thriller Unstoppable, which is due out in 2009, Campbell has spent the last couple of years developing Edge Of Darkness as a film script along with writer Andrew Bovell.

    ‘You have to show another side of your work, so I’m deliberately trying to choose something character-driven and personal for my next project,’ he says.

    Past recipients of the John Schlesinger Award include Anthony Minghella and Mike Newell.

    Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest James Bond news.