It is still not clear whether or not Daniel Craig is officially finished with James Bond, but if the actor who revitalized the character leaves it behind, he’ll have company. Sam Mendes, who helmed two back to back Bond flicks – 2012’s Skyfall and 2015’s Spectre – that collectively earned nearly two billion dollars, has confirmed, as he indicated to Deadline late last year, that he’s done with the 007 franchise.
“It was an incredible adventure, I loved every second of it,” the American Beauty Oscar-winner said today while attending the Hay festival in Wales. “But I think it’s time for somebody else.”
Mendes wasn’t attached to the next Bond film, which is currently in early development, and in an interview with Deadline’s own Mike Fleming last November he all but said outright that Spectre was his last outing with Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
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“There is a sense of completeness that wasn’t there at the end of Skyfall, and that’s what makes this feel different. It feels like there’s a rightness to it, that I have finished a journey,” Medes said at the time. And when asked if he’d return if Daniel Craig did, he was more direct. “I’ll probably be doing something else… What is important is, not doing it is not a negative. It’s not me saying, “I don’t want to do this.” What it would be is me saying, “I really want to do this story.” There are other stories to tell.”
Mendes echoed similar thoughts today in Wales. “I’m a storyteller,” he said. “And at the end of the day, I want to make stories with new characters.”
This marks the second high profile gig Mendes won’t be taking. In December, he bowed out of the job directing the New York production of his hit London stage musical version of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
In the meantime, it’s looking increasingly like Daniel Craig will in fact not be returning. He’s been vocal about wanting out, and has already lined up his first non Bond starring role since 2011’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, finalizing a deal this week to join Katherine Heigl in Steven Soderbergh’s heist film Logan Lucky. Several actors have been talked about as potentials to fill 007’s shoes, among them Idris Elba and The Night Manager‘s Tom Hiddleston — Hiddleston, by the way, was reported this week by film site Birth.Movies.Death to be in early talks to take over the role.
As for Mendes, he’s lined up his next project as well, teaming up with DreamWorks on the screen rights to Gay Talese’s April, 2015 article for The New Yorker, The Voyeur’s Motel. The piece tells the story of Gerald Foos, a lifelong voyeur from Colorado who opened a hotel primarily so he could watch guests having sex (through ceiling vents as it turned out). Foos ended up complicit in a murder after he flushed the drugs of a dealer down the toilet; after the dealer subsequently blamed his on girlfriend, he strangled her.
The Guardian first reported on Mendes’ comments at the Hays festival.
They should’ve figured this all out before Spectre. Don’t introduce Blofeld only to reboot the franchise. Such stupidity.
Excellent point.
They were counting on Craig coming back for his fifth movie he was contracted to do a fifth one now he’s technically in breach. They won’t sue him but he definitely threw a wrench in their well-oiled machine.
We’ll see. It’s always possible Craig could come back for “Never Say Never Again II”.
they only got the rights to use blofeld and SPECTRE back after ‘skyfall’ so were trying to make up for lost time by retconing its involvement with quantum.
Thank goodness. His Bonds have been soooooooo boring.
Said no one ever. I mean you have a point with Spectre, but beyond that naw.
They kinda do.
A few years down the line Skyfall doesn’t hold up that well. It’s a glossier hotchpotch of plot elements reused from earlier Bond films with high production values and a quality director reassembling them well. It’s fine, but it’s not brilliant.
The less said about the mess of Spectre the better though.
I think Skyfall holds up extremely well actually. There’s so much beauty and atmosphere in the cinematography and score that was never even close to being present in any previous 007 adventure. Before this, there were James Bond movies. Skyfall is a James Bond film. It’s nuts how elevated it is above previous Bonds. Seriously, it holds up so well that this has been my movie of choice for over three years now. I keep going back to it. People have mistaken subtlety for boredom with this film and that’s just insane. Skyfall is all class. Every shot has something interesting going on. Every line of dialogue is necessary. You can tell Mendes and Deakins really got a kick out of doing a Bond film and that they wanted to make every scene have something special. It shows. AND it’s the only Bond that makes me tear up every time I watch it (re: a certain beloved character’s death at the end). No other Bond had accomplished these things before Skyfall. I think with Spectre, the producers wanted more Skyfall. Adjusted for inflation, it’s the number 3 money maker of the franchise so it makes sense. In all honesty, I too wanted more Skyfall. But what everyone REALLY wanted was another awesome adventure in the world of Skyfall. There are moments of Skyfall level greatness in Spectre but most of it felt very uninspired. It was meh. I think Mendes said everything he wanted to say with 007 in Skyfall and doing Spectre was either $ motivated or he just failed at what he tried to accomplish. Or both. Spectre was extremely disappointing because Mendes didn’t have anything new to say. But, by God, Skyfall… RESPECT.
Sorry. Skyfall is boring. And take your pretentiousness elsewhere with your “Bond movies/Bond Film” nonsense. Casino Royale was a much better film than Skyfall. And I’d rather watch Goldfinger a thousand times before having to sit through the stupidity of M running away from the mansion. Skyfall does not hold up and will not be looked at kindly through history. Sooooooo boring and dumb.
Mendes directed 2 Bond movies, so when you admit one is boring but “beyond that” the others aren’t, “beyond that” consists of exactly ONE other movie?
I only saw Spectre but I thought it was appalling. Devoid of energy, excitement or an interesting plot. A real snooze.
I’m sorry, lemme get this right: because an actor chooses to do other work, in between franchise pics, means he’s done with the role??? I don’t get that logic.
Did anyone say RDJ was done with Tony Stark when he did Sherlock or The Judge? Daniel Craig is as much the face of 007 as RDJ is of Iron Man.
Because they choose other roles to play probably has more to do with the fact that they are actors, not proof they are “done” with a franchise role.
Jeez…
He said he would rather slit his wrists than play Bond again. That is either a hardball negotiating tactic or a cry for help.
“I’m sorry, lemme get this right: because an actor chooses to do other work, in between franchise pics, means he’s done with the role??”
nope. you got nothing right.
lemme get this right for you: because an actor repeatedly and consistently said they would not continue the role and multiple times joked they preferred a violent suicide to doing so, means he’s done with the role??
to that, the answer is a resounding yes.
@Datrick and Josh:
DC had just finished a gruelling eight-nine month shoot where, in the midst of it, he blew out his knee and had to have surgery. The promotional tour was about to kick in. If you take his slashing wrists quote literally, then you’re both being fools.
Sam Mendes described his remarks succinctly: it’s like asking a marathon runner, close to the end of the race, do you want to do another?
God guys, grow up.
Craig has been such a loyal and integral part of resurrecting 007 from the ashes of DIE ANOTHER DAY, so much so, that he was given a co-producing credit on this latest film (which, in all honesty, shoulda come sooner).
Is “Birth.Movies.Death” a breaking news kind of site for movie news?
Spectre should have been great as it had all the ingredients cast-wise but the finished product was probably the worst James Bond. You could tell just watching the movie that Daniel Craig was bored out of his mind doing it so I don’t think many people would be too upset if he did leave. He was the equivalent of the dinner guest who sulks at the end of the table all night. Plus his dissing of the franchise isn’t exactly endearing the fans either. I hope he saved his Bond money because he hasn’t had a hit outside of the franchise. Timothy Dalton’s career awaits.
SkyFall was great, no doubt but SPECTRE was a huge missed opportunity and just flat as a movie. They should have waited to do the Blofeld/SPECTRE for the next actor and have it been his arc, that was a big mistake.
I realize I’m in the minority regarding Daniel Craig’s four Bond films when I say this. But in all sincerity I enjoyed Casino Royale & Quantum Of Solace a great deal more than both Skyfall & Spectre. I personally like the idea of serialized 007 films, at least an occasional two or three parter. I felt Craig’s third & fourth James Bonds weren’t nearly as clever as they’ve been made out to be (especally Skyfall). That said, I’d like to see Blofeld & Dave Batista’s character return for at least the next Bond film, maybe more, factors determining. Most especially I Really, REALLY want a newly motivated Craig to return for a Fifth & Final film–giving his tenure a Proper & Publicized send-off. Anyone else for that?
I could handle that and totally agree with you. But I think Craig definitely ended his tenure when he threw down his gun at the end of Spectre. That was his way of walking away from the series and I don’t think he has any intention of coming back.
Agree about Casino and Quantum. They should have saved Spectre and Blofeld for the next Bond.
Pierce Brosnan needs to come back for a 5th Bond film, the real Bond 21. No trashing of 20 movies and acting like they never existed.
I pretend Pierce Bronson Bond movies don’t exist. He’s trying to play Sean Connery but doesn’t realize he’s in Roger Moore scripts. One mis-fire after another, with the exception of Goldeneye, which gets murdered by its score, performed by my grandson on his Casio keyboard.
SKYFALL was SOOOOOO amazing. A great acton pic. SPECTRE bored me to tears (except for the Mexico City opening, of course). Good luck moving on!
I bet if they present Craig with a good script and a new director he’ll stick around for maybe one more Bond flick…maybe. I just hope to Christ they don’t bring in J.J. Abrams, he busy screwing up “STAR TREK”
JJ hasn’t done a Star Trek movie since 2013.
Get Steve McQueen to direct.
#NolanFor007
Thank God. They’ve ruined Bond. Quantum and Skyfall were horrendous. On that basis, haven’t even bothered with Spectre. Please don’t replace Craig with Loki. And no Idris, let’s have a Luther movie instead. Fassbender please. And get the old 007 writers and directors back who are still alive, thank you. Later for this sensitive PC Bond.
Fukunaga directing Idris Elba please.
Maybe they shouldn’t have lost Dench…(har, har..)
Loved Skyfall—it and Craig will always be one of my faves.
Speaking of how they do comic book movies…
Why not have multi universes in terms of “Bond?”
There could be 008 (Elba) and 009 (a female “Bond”) movies done at the same time—then link them all back to the 007 character. The other characters could have different names that jive with Bond’s name…
Might need to partner with other companies I guess, but that can be done in the world of film, yes? This might not be such an “alien” idea when they start thinking about the amount of dough that could be made… (Adore J.J. Abrams and his Star Trek movies btw.)
Another question might be whether the next 007 (etc.) characters will run and jump around as much as Craig’s did. That’s gotta give the character a shorter life I think—how many actors want such a grueling experience? Of course, that’s what today’s audiences seem to want…
Or perhaps just 008 and 009 could be more cerebral in their approach & then make light of how much 007 ends up running and jumping around?
I 🍩 think he finished. I personaly like his acting and the Director is Awasome.The next movie will be spactular and nail bitting to core. The movie will use a lot of Quardum Phisic to move James Bond to place he never experance before. Sandra Cullen’s Xxopkkklol