Sam Mendes to direct Bond 23

[The Sweeney]

Cheers guys!

I'm not that old.....38 (nearly as old as Craig, but at least I don't look as old as he does.... )

[James]

Roger Spottiswoode anyone? TND had a ho-hum script/story but I thought it was probably the best directed of the Brosnan films at times.

[Kristatos]

Roger Spottiswoode anyone? TND had a ho-hum script/story but I thought it was probably the best directed of the Brosnan films at times.

I wouldn't mind having him back. I know Stocks will have other ideas.

[Omega]

Was he the one doing the next Narnia movie?
I thought TND, TWIN, and DAD were better directed than GE although GE had a better story. I was pressed on Campbell and how he approached GE and CR I had to admit there was a pacing problem. In talking about Campbell there were a few who think he is the John Glen of this generation of Bonds. Campbell could come back and I think he would do a solid job it's just that maybe somebody else might do a slightly better job. The point of making movies is to make them the best they can be hiring a guy who do a so so job is better than a guy who frankly is not suited to making these kind of movies. I think they are looking in the wrong direction for directors I've list some good ones before. They might be experimental to some but they are solid directors who are not as flaky as Campbell can be.

[FormerBondFan]

What if the last 3 Brosnan Bonds were directed by Campbell?

[Kristatos]

Was he the one doing the next Narnia movie?

No, that was Michael Apted (TWINE).

[Omega]

What if the last 3 Brosnan Bonds were directed by Campbell?

I think he would have made decent movies but not necessarily real good ones. To me he is a workman like director who is good for that, not a real talent just the bricks and motor. He might have done a better job on DAD but let face it the script on that one going to challenge anybody. I don't know TWINE & TND could have been directed better. What problems there seem to have been came from the producer and writers not the directors and actors.

All this Goes back to an earlier question I had about if there weren't the problem for the Moore bonds as well.

[Omega]

Was he the one doing the next Narnia movie?

No, that was Michael Apted (TWINE).

Got them mixed up.
Why does every director who has worked form them in the last 20 years always swear off working form them after one film? I know they tried to get the hack director from Qos back but he swears them off like a bad hobbit. Why does nobody want to work for them for more than one film?
Nobody on the production team gets a productive working relationship with the director, the writers and actors don't know what to expect film to film so they never really find a grove. Maybe that is what made the old Bond films special.

[Kristatos]

Nobody on the production team gets a productive working relationship with the director, the writers and actors don't know what to expect film to film so they never really find a grove. Maybe that is what made the old Bond films special.

Yeah, I like the idea of the Bond "family", where people could work their way up from floor sweeper and bottle washer to the director's chair, but true to form, when I suggested Vic Armstrong (who started as a stuntman on YOLT and was 2nd Unit Director on Brosnan's last 3 Bonds) as a director, the pro-Craigers blew a gasket.

[Blowfeld]

Sam Mendes Off 'Preacher,' Says Producer

Posted 4/9/10 10:01 am ET by Blair Marnell in DC Comics, News, Vertigo

Back in 2008, director Sam Mendes said he'd "love to make 'Preacher,' but there’s no script" — a problem that was solved when screenwriter John August came on board the project.

However, Mendes was reportedly linked to the next "James Bond" film earlier this year, which caused some to question whether he'd still helm "Preacher." Now it appears that Mendes has officially left the project behind.

"We were originally talking with Sam Mendes about doing the movie," producer Neal Moritz told Collider. "Sam Mendes is going to go off and do the Bond movie, so there’s another director that we’re talking to right now."

According to Mendes, August's script is very faithful to Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's epic tale, while leaving enough material to fill more than one film.

"We’ve got a great script," continued Moritz. "John August wrote a script that I think is terrific. The hardest thing was with all the books — the 'Preacher' books —was how to distill it down. And what he made the smart decision instead of trying to cram everything into one, there’s plenty of room for two or three movies. So that’s what he’s done and he’s done a really faithful adaption but made it probably more accessible to a broader audience right now. That movie’s definitely R-rated and it’s an amazing central character."

"I hopefully will be shooting that movie next year," added Moritz.

Moritz also revealed that August has expressed interest in directing the film.

"I had a meeting with [August] recently and we started talking about directors and we were talking about some really lofty directors," said Moritz. "And [August] said, 'You know, if you don’t get one of those [directors], I’d be interested in it.' I said, 'We’ll talk about it.'"

August has previously written and directed a sci-fi drama called "The Nines," which starred Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy.

I am unfamiliar with The Preacher. A renegade Time Lord perhaps

[Kristatos]

According to Mendes, August's script is very faithful to Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's epic tale, while leaving enough material to fill more than one film.

That doesn't answer the question on everyone's lips - did he include the armadillo-f**king scene?

[Blowfeld]

More Medes rumours

Sam Mendes in James Bond mystery
After Sam Mendes started work on the new James Bond film, Peter Morgan, the writer of The Queen, is rumoured to be no longer working on the script.


By Richard Eden
Published: 10:58PM BST 10 Apr 2010
Sam Mendes in James Bond mystery: Sam Mendes and Kate Winslet before their split


Sam Mendes caused astonishment when he announced the end of his marriage to Kate Winslet, which had been seen as one of the most solid in showbusiness. He is now provoking intrigue in his professional life.

Barbara Broccoli, the producer, confirmed to Mandrake recently that Mendes, 44, would be the director of the next James Bond film. Now, I hear that Peter Morgan, the screenwriter of The Queen, who had been announced as one of the writers on the 007 film, is no longer working on the script.


Patrick Marber, the acclaimed playwright, is understood to be wanted by Mendes as his replacement.

"It is a mystery worthy of a Bond script," says my man with the clapperboard.

A spokesman for the Hollywood studio MGM tells me: "The film-makers say the Morgan / Marber switch is just speculation."

Oscar-winning performance

As a whippet-thin model, Georgina Chapman, 33, makes an incongruous wife for the roly-poly Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, 58.

The couple have, though, been blissfully happy since they married in 2007 and I am happy to announce that Georgina, the British co-founder of the fashion label Marchesa, is four months' pregnant with their first child.

"They are very happy," confirms a spokesman for the Weinstein Company.

One of Georgina's chums adds, a touch unkindly: "Let's hope the baby inherits her looks and his money."

[katied]

Shame that Morgan may no longer be working on Bond 23. I'd liked to have seen what he could do- this is the guy that wrote The Queen, Notes On a Scandal and The Last King Of Scotland after all. Maybe we would have had Bond going to Uganda to sort out their dictator president!

It'd be close to the true spirit of the Bond films than the "ripped from the headlines" plotline of QOS.

[JackWade CIA]

They got it all backward Mendes should have been allowed to leave and Morgan given more authority over shaping the story.

[katied]

They got it all backward Mendes should have been allowed to leave and Morgan given more authority over shaping the story.

This. As I've said before, I would have liked to see what Morgan could do.As it is, we'll get something churned out by a couple of simplet..sorry, Purvis and Wade.

[Captain Nash]

My guess is that Peter Morgans story will remain, (he did apparently finish a first draft late last year), and that Purvis & Wade have messed around with it, and now Patrick Marber is coming on board to do a polish.
Though doesn't that tell you something about P&W. The last two Bond scripts have needed a polish. Someone to go back over their work and make it shine.
Lord only knows what happened to QOS then, because the script and story were atrocious.
Please can we have a new writing team for Bond 24?

[katied]

My guess is that Peter Morgans story will remain, (he did apparently finish a first draft late last year), and that Purvis & Wade have messed around with it, and now Patrick Marber is coming on board to do a polish.
Though doesn't that tell you something about P&W. The last two Bond scripts have needed a polish. Someone to go back over their work and make it shine.
Lord only knows what happened to QOS then, because the script and story were atrocious.
Please can we have a new writing team for Bond 24?

Amen to getting a new writing team.


It'll be interesting to be able to spot Morgan's handiwork(he's got such a varied resume, script-wise!)

[Omega]

P&W may not be the problem. I think the names like Morgan and Haggis were brought in for their notoriety rather than actually contributions. If the goal was to have them write a Bond then they should have written the Bond movie not polish it.

[Kristatos]

Though doesn't that tell you something about P&W. The last two Bond scripts have needed a polish. Someone to go back over their work and make it shine.
Lord only knows what happened to QOS then, because the script and story were atrocious.

From what I understand, hardly any of P&W's script for QOS made it onto the screen. And no, the fact that their scripts have been rewritten doesn't really tell us anything, for the simple reason that all studio pictures go through multiple rewrites. it's not something confined to "tentpole" movies either. Spielberg sent Steven Zaillan's superb screenplay for Schindler's List to Tom Stoppard for a rewrite. Stoppard, to his credit, just sent it back with a note reading "Don't change a word". Rewriting is just seen as a normal part of the process of moviemaking in Hollyweird.

[katied]

Spielberg sent Steven Zaillan's superb screenplay for Schindler's List to Tom Stoppard for a rewrite. Stoppard, to his credit, just sent it back with a note reading "Don't change a word". Rewriting is just seen as a normal part of the process of moviemaking in Hollyweird.

Spielberg should have sent the last Indiana Jones movie out for a little script rewrite!