Danny Boyle + James Bond = ???
Filed under: Action, RumorMonger, James Bond, Remakes and Sequels
England's irreverent newspaper The Sun is notorious for printing stories that have not been 100% fact-checked and that may well be entirely false. (The Sun was like the blogosphere before the blogosphere existed.) Nonetheless, they get it right now and then, and they ran a particularly tantalizing rumor today: Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle has been asked to make the next James Bond movie. Remember, this is shaky. The best The Sun can do is cite an anonymous source -- and all this alleged source says is that Boyle has been offered the film, not that he's accepted, or is even seriously considering it. It seems reasonable that the offer would be made, though. Obviously he's in high demand after winning the Oscar last week, and at various times all sorts of directors, from Tarantino to Spielberg, have been rumored to be interested in making a Bond film. Furthermore, Boyle is British, which used to be a prerequisite for a Bond director but has not been enforced lately.
The question is, would he be a good fit? One of the things I like about Boyle is that he's proven adept at an astonishing variety of genres, from horror to whimsy to sci-fi to whatever Slumdog was. I have no doubt he could make a full-bore espionage caper if he wanted to, and he could probably dig the franchise out of the Jason Bourne-copying rut it got stuck in with Quantum of Solace.
On the other hand, maybe a director as visionary and talented as Boyle ought to do anything BUT the 23rd entry in a 47-year-old franchise. The Broccoli family, which owns the Bond character and produces the films, is famously skittish about messing with the formula. They generally want a director who will do what they tell him, not get all inventive and visionary on them.
Bearing in mind that it may never happen anyway, join us in a little speculation, won't you? What would a Boyle-directed 007 film be like? Would it be a good or bad move for him and for the franchise? Feel free to speculate on possible titles, too, such as Die Another 28 Days Later.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-03-2009 @ 5:17PM
Jonathan Kuhn said...
According to imdb news he's already passed: http://www.imdb.com/news/ns0000002/#ni0696687
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3-03-2009 @ 5:17PM
katie said...
This has already been debunked .Google is your friend *eyeroll*.
BTW he's been asked to direct a Bond film before and politely refused. Plus, it's fanw*anking... kind of like how a lot of Bond fans want Christopher Nolan to direct a Bond film *eyeroll again*
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3-03-2009 @ 5:30PM
Jeff said...
Though he may not be at the top of my list, I would like to see Boyle direct a Bond film...much much more than Tarantino, Snyder, Ritchie or even Nolan or any of the other big names that get thrown around...looks like he passed already or its just a rumour, though, I guess...
Anyway, Boyle to me is like an English Steven Soderbergh, meaning he can direct any genre of film he puts his mind to. He's a polymath and he directed Trainspotting and Slumdog, so why not?
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3-03-2009 @ 5:39PM
Brian said...
Terry Gilliam and Bond anyone??
Now that would be visionary.
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3-03-2009 @ 5:53PM
Jeff said...
Wow, interesting suggestion. A Gilliam-directed Bond would have to be about a bizarre villain who tortures 007 with some kind of LSD and the whole film he's having relapses and visions and isn't sure what's real or and imagined, he stops trusting M and MI6, even himself.... Making Bond the "unreliable narrator" would be a really cool and new approach, even if someone other than Gilliam tried it.
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3-03-2009 @ 6:13PM
Tim said...
Honestly, I'd like to see them just pay whatever they need to to keep Martin Campbell on the franchise, make him THE Bond director like John Glen was from '81-'89. GoldenEye and Casino Royale were the two best of the last two decades of Bond movies by a mile. He obviously works well with Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, so bring him in the loop and make him one of the series masterminds.
After all, Marc Forster was supposed to be an edgy, visionary sort of Bond director and we ended up with a Bourne-choked 007 that rejected all the flamboyance and romance that makes the series entertaining.
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3-03-2009 @ 8:22PM
teenagertc said...
I resent your implication that Quantum of Solace was a bad movie.
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3-03-2009 @ 8:28PM
katie said...
The best thing EON could do is ask Martin Campell back.But I think that has about as much chance of happening as Boyle or Nolan directing(IOW, none.)
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3-22-2009 @ 3:27PM
santalivenow said...
I think Mr. Doyle should get his hands on "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE ON 34TH STREET"
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