Sam Mendes to direct Bond 23

[carl stromberg]

http://www.heatvisionblog.com/2010/01/s ... movie.html

By Matthew Belloni and Borys Kit

It's Mendes. Sam Mendes.

The British helmer is in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the venerable James Bond franchise.

Production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with an eye toward a 2011 release. Plans for the film are moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with MGM.

Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are writing, along with "Frost/Nixon" scribe Peter Morgan. Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as 007.

The film will be Mendes' first action-heavy project, although his 2005 effort "Jarhead" was set amid U.S. war in Kuwait. Mendes' last directorial effort, the road-trip dramedy "Away We Go," grossed $10 million domestically last summer.


Marc Forster directed the previous Bond film, 2008's "Quantum of Solace," which grossed $586 million worldwide.

Mendes is repped by CAA.

[katied]

As I said on another thread..this has set the fanboy boards alight...and not in a good way, either!

Mendes would be prferrable to most of the people being suggested elsewhere!

[bjmdds]

His first real action film attempt. Just great. You cannot make this stuff up.

[katied]

I'm just glad it's not one of the fanboy faves directing. I give Babs and Mikey a little credit for *that* at least.

[Blowfeld]

I would advise taking this with large pinch of salt.

LA Times
The Big Picture
Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture

January 5, 2010 | 4:26 pm

No, this isn't an April Fool's prank. According to both the LAT's Hero Complex and the Hollywood Reporter, Sam Mendes, the wonderfully cerebral and cultured filmmaker who once upon a time won an Oscar for "American Beauty," is in discussions to make the new James Bond film, which could go into production as early as this June. Daniel Craig would be onboard, reprising his role as Mr. 007.

Sammendes While I'm also happy to see filmmakers practicing their craft, this is a bad decision in oh, so many ways, not to mention a depressing example of how hard it is for filmmakers to find any good studio material to work with. Not that I'm letting Mendes off the hook here. His career has been in steep decline, both in terms of critical as well as commercial success. In fact, if you look at the grosses on his five feature films, they form a graph that goes in only one direction -- straight down.

Mendes' biggest-grossing film was "American Beauty," his splashy Hollywood debut that made $130 million. His second film, "Road to Perdition," made $104 million. His next, "Jarhead," topped out at $62 million. "Revolutionary Road" only grossed $22 million while his most recent film, last year's road-trip comedy, "Away We Go," struggled to earn $9.4 million. Many critics would say the quality index on Mendes' films has gone just as precipitously downhill, with "Revolutionary Road," adapted from a brilliant Richard Yates cult novel, being an especially chilly, claustrophobic letdown.

It seems obvious that Mendes -- or more likely, his CAA agents -- decided it was time to grab hold of a commercial piece of material that could not only offer a payday but an opportunity to put up some respectable box-office numbers. But a Bond movie is a Bond movie. There's really no way to put a personal stamp on a series whose fans demand all sorts of familiar fare, from buxom vixens to high-powered action scenes. It's almost by definition hack work, the equivalent of hiring Irving Penn to do a photo spread for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Even if Mendes does a solid, professional job, the resulting film will do little to change anyone's perception of his commercial touch (or lack of it).

I wish Mendes would go back to his roots and spend a year or two refreshing himself in the London theater, where he could work with great actors and regain some of his old bravado. Great directors thrive on challenges. When Martin Scorsese found himself in a rut years ago, he didn't look to Bond for salvation. He rejuvenated himself with a low-budget thriller called "After Hours," which led to "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "GoodFellas." When Darren Aronofsky flopped with "The Fountain," he didn't beg Warners to let him direct a Harry Potter sequel. He found just enough money to get "The Wrestler" made, which reminded everyone of his seemingly limitless filmmaking energy and intensity.

Say it ain't so, Sam. For someone of your talents, doing a James Bond movie is really the worst example of stooping to conquer.

Photo: Sam Mendes. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / For the Los Angeles Times.

This story can be found at Sam Mendes jumps onto the James Bond gravy train

[Kristatos]

This.

[katied]

Netflix sent me Away We Go(his most recent movie). I didn't see it in the movie theater.Haven't watched it yet but in light of the announcement about him directing Bond 23 I am going to watch it.

[Omega]

Is this official seems to me it feels like the slum dog rumors. I think Mendes would be a big huge mistake, the last director they "experimented" with that had no action movie experience was a miserable failure. Eon would rather experiment with artsy directors and writers than actually make a good film. Its not that hard they did it before.

[katied]

The whining about them not hiring(fill in name of overrated/flavor of the month director) has already started elsewhere.

[John Drake]

Mendes, despite his faltering career, seems like a strange person to do a Bond film. Could be like the Danny Boyle story all over again.

[katied]

Mendes, despite his faltering career, seems like a strange person to do a Bond film. Could be like the Danny Boyle story all over again.

I'd LOVE for Boyle to do a Bond film. But I'm realistic-he's never going to do it. I don't go around suggesting him every time the subject of potential directors comes up,like Bond nerds at the fanboy boards do.

[Kristatos]

The whining about them not hiring(fill in name of overrated/flavor of the month director) has already started elsewhere.

Yawn. You know, if people here want to know what's going on elsewhere, we're perfectly capable of checking other forums out for ourselves. Speaking for myself, I don't feel the need to be updated 20 times a day as to what people are posting at "the fanboy boards".

[katied]

^Just sayin'. But IMO it's not surprising that the fanboys aren't happy that it's not Spielberg/Nolan/Boyle(delete as applicable..or not) directing.

[Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry]

The whining about them not hiring(fill in name of overrated/flavor of the month director) has already started elsewhere.

Yawn. You know, if people here want to know what's going on elsewhere, we're perfectly capable of checking other forums out for ourselves. Speaking for myself, I don't feel the need to be updated 20 times a day as to what people are posting at "the fanboy boards".

Yes katie you should stop trying to reignite your feud with the MI6 forums.

Martin Campbell would be a good choice if he is still on good terms with Eon.

[katied]

I'm realistic about directors as I said. fanboys have a list of directors who they would like to see direct.Most if not all of them are hacks/overrated,IMO.

[007]

If I really cared about Bond 23 I would prefer to see an action director personally rather than Mendes.

[katied]

Another knock against Mendes:apparently he's "anti-American". I'm a patriotic person,and not sure how true the anti-American thing is but people are entitled to their opinion. *shrug*

[Terry]

I would advise taking this with large pinch of salt.

LA Times
The Big Picture
Patrick Goldstein on the collision of entertainment, media and pop culture

January 5, 2010 | 4:26 pm

No, this isn't an April Fool's prank. According to both the LAT's Hero Complex and the Hollywood Reporter, Sam Mendes, the wonderfully cerebral and cultured filmmaker who once upon a time won an Oscar for "American Beauty," is in discussions to make the new James Bond film, which could go into production as early as this June. Daniel Craig would be onboard, reprising his role as Mr. 007.

Sammendes While I'm also happy to see filmmakers practicing their craft, this is a bad decision in oh, so many ways, not to mention a depressing example of how hard it is for filmmakers to find any good studio material to work with. Not that I'm letting Mendes off the hook here. His career has been in steep decline, both in terms of critical as well as commercial success. In fact, if you look at the grosses on his five feature films, they form a graph that goes in only one direction -- straight down.

Mendes' biggest-grossing film was "American Beauty," his splashy Hollywood debut that made $130 million. His second film, "Road to Perdition," made $104 million. His next, "Jarhead," topped out at $62 million. "Revolutionary Road" only grossed $22 million while his most recent film, last year's road-trip comedy, "Away We Go," struggled to earn $9.4 million. Many critics would say the quality index on Mendes' films has gone just as precipitously downhill, with "Revolutionary Road," adapted from a brilliant Richard Yates cult novel, being an especially chilly, claustrophobic letdown.

It seems obvious that Mendes -- or more likely, his CAA agents -- decided it was time to grab hold of a commercial piece of material that could not only offer a payday but an opportunity to put up some respectable box-office numbers. But a Bond movie is a Bond movie. There's really no way to put a personal stamp on a series whose fans demand all sorts of familiar fare, from buxom vixens to high-powered action scenes. It's almost by definition hack work, the equivalent of hiring Irving Penn to do a photo spread for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. Even if Mendes does a solid, professional job, the resulting film will do little to change anyone's perception of his commercial touch (or lack of it).

I wish Mendes would go back to his roots and spend a year or two refreshing himself in the London theater, where he could work with great actors and regain some of his old bravado. Great directors thrive on challenges. When Martin Scorsese found himself in a rut years ago, he didn't look to Bond for salvation. He rejuvenated himself with a low-budget thriller called "After Hours," which led to "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "GoodFellas." When Darren Aronofsky flopped with "The Fountain," he didn't beg Warners to let him direct a Harry Potter sequel. He found just enough money to get "The Wrestler" made, which reminded everyone of his seemingly limitless filmmaking energy and intensity.

Say it ain't so, Sam. For someone of your talents, doing a James Bond movie is really the worst example of stooping to conquer.

Photo: Sam Mendes. Credit: Ringo H.W. Chiu / For the Los Angeles Times.

This story can be found at Sam Mendes jumps onto the James Bond gravy train

The author is rather patronising to the Bond series and Bond fans in general but he makes some fair points despite Sam Mendes not exactly setting the world alight of late after American Beauty won all the Oscars. It's like hearing Woody Allen is in negotiations to direct a Harry Potter film.

[katied]

Or(god forbid!) Woody Allen directing a Bond film.

[007]

The author is rather patronising to the Bond series and Bond fans in general

He seems to be talking in the past tense when Bond was meant to be fun.