Sam Mendes plays coy on Bond 23 reports

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes has spoken out about reports he is attached to the 23rd James Bond film.

Sam Mendes

Mendes told the Wall Street Journal, “It’s only speculation and, you know, at the moment there isn’t even a studio to make the James Bond movie, because MGM is for sale.”

The comments are in line with claims by Hollywood blogger Nikki Fenke that Mendes is in negotiations to board Bond 23 not as a director but as a “consultant”, due to the impending sale of MGM.

Meanwhile, actor Simon Russell Beale further connected Mendes to Bond 23 in an interview with The Independent. Beale passed comment that he and Mendes are planning an adaptation of King Lear in the near future, which led the paper to ask whether he’d like a part in a Mendes-directed Bond film.

“YES! Of course! Every actor wants to be in Bond. I’d love to be a baddie. I saw Sam just before Christmas and dropped a hint – and he just looked wearily at me.”

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the latest James Bond news.