Forget the question, “Who will play the next James Bond?” Arguably the more urgent one is, “Who will produce the next James Bond film?”
Ever since Amazon MGM Studios paid a reported $1bn to take full creative control of the James Bond franchise from producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson and their Eon Productions, the international industry, particularly in the UK, has buzzed with speculation over who may now take up the mantle.
“They have got to be British. I would hate the idea of Bond going to an American producer,” says Zygi Kamasa, CEO of True Brit Entertainment. (Broccoli and Wilson may be American but have long since become part of the fabric of the UK film industry.)
Potential new producers of Bond whose names are being bandied about include heavy-hitters such as Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan’s Working Title Films, Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich’s DNA Films, and Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin’s Blueprint Pictures, to female-led (thus more outfield) companies such as Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley’s LuckyChap Entertainment (presumably with Emerald Fennell to direct).
But with only a handful of producers likely to be capable of taking on a project of this scale (and justifiable qualms over Amazon’s spotty track record so far with powerful IP, eg The Lord Of The Rings series), David Heyman is the name on everyone’s lips as best placed to guide the series into a new era. “You can’t argue with his pedigree,” Kamasa says of the producer who made his reputation with the Harry Potter franchise and has gone on to produce films including Gravity, Wonka and Barbie.
Kamasa also suggests Matthew Vaughn, with whom he worked at Marv Studios and whose credits include the Kingsman series and Rocketman, as someone who “might” give it a go. “He’s a brilliant producer and is able to take commercial movies and do interesting things with them,” says the executive.
No time to waste
However, it is not a given the producer will be British nor that the films will be made in the UK. Some fear Amazon founder Jeff Bezos may take the opportunity to stay on the good side of Donald Trump and fast-track a visa for James Bond to the US.
Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London and the British Film Commission, is one who remains confident Bond will stay in the UK. “[Amazon MGM Studios] has got infrastructure here and has demonstrated a long-term commitment to the UK,” he notes. “I believe they will want to carry on the Bond franchise here.”
When it comes to the director, some would like to see Sam Mendes as the showrunner for the Bond universe. He is British, an Oscar winner, directed two of 007’s biggest box-office hits (Skyfall and Spectre), and is seen to have the creative flair to oversee the films, series and whatever else Amazon might be hatching from the Bond IP. Mendes, however, is busy with his quartet of feature films about The Beatles, and it would be a stretch to pivot quickly from John, Paul, George and Ringo to Q, Moneypenny and co.
Christopher Nolan is a well-known lover of Bond but his epic The Odyssey is likely to take him out of the running for now. And with 2027 the earliest a James Bond film could reach global screens, it is also not clear who would release it. Amazon may distribute 007 content itself through its mooted new international theatrical distribution arm, but Universal, which distributed 2021’s No Time To Die, is understood to have rights to release the next 007 film too.
“There are agreements in place but they can be bought out or altered,” says one veteran distributor of arrangements that pre-date the Amazon takeover and may now need to be unpicked.
Matthew Field, co-author of Some Kind Of Hero: The Remarkable Story Of The James Bond Films, suggests that despite the uncertainty about the franchise’s future, audiences and the industry could be on the brink of a new golden era for Bond.
“I’m not opposed to the spin-offs,” enthuses Field. “When you look at the other characters in the Ian Fleming novels, there are many exciting things you could do. Amazon has the money and the power, it just needs the talent.”
But the clock is ticking. In 2035, Fleming’s original James Bond novels will enter the public domain.
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