110 replies to this topic

[JimmyBond]

Here's an unlikely name: Guillermo del Toro. He's a self proffessed geek, and a very good director. His recent film: Pan's Labryinth has a great story and is an extremely beautiful film, he also turned Blade II into a gothic action adventure film, showing he can do drama as well as action. He does go for excessive gore, but I'm sure he could tone it down if put on a Bond film.

Though Pan's Labryinth wins any Oscars, he might not want to do Bond.

[K1Bond007]

Surely Matthew Vaughan - touted as a possible for CR, and with a Layer Cake history with DC - is a good candidate for the job? Remember that Eon generally go for Commonwealth-born directors.

I would say that whatever Martin Campbell says, there is still a 60% chance that he'll direct Bond 22.

Matthew Vaughn is my second choice, but I think EON might wait to see how his first big budget film, Stardust - in July, fairs before signing him up.

[Bondesque]

I would be very happy with Mathew Vaughan, Paul Haggis, Doug Lyman, or Greengrass directing the film. I would be shattered if Tamahori was brought back. He may have made Once WE WEre Warriors years ago but the man doesn't understand Bond.

[Scottlee]

If I had to pick a previous Bond director aside from Campbell, I'd go for Apted. I think he had the right idea about the Bond 'tone' in TWINE, I just think he was doing it in the wrong era. Tamahori is not to be trusted with Bond again, and Spottiswoode is too by-the-numbers, I fear.

[tdalton]

If Campbell is not going to return, then I would like to see them go out and find a young, up-and-coming director who would bring a spark of energy to the franchise. I think that Campbell moved the series in that direction, and I think that, in a perfect universe, that he should return to the franchise to continue what he started, but if he's not interested, I'd go with someone who is on the upswing who wouldn't mind doing two or three films in a row and someone who would really bring a certain spark and a flair to the franchise.

[dodge]

If we can't have Martin Campbell, here may be the next best man--to the best of my knowledge a name that hasn't popped up yet:

George Miller: Mad Max, The Road Warrior, etc...and the smashing gremlin-on-the wing segment of Twlight Zone: The Movie. Two bankshot connections to Bond: Produced Dead Calm, a dandy little thriller starring Nicole Kidman, costarring with Dan in Invasion and The Golden Compass. Also: most recently directed "Happy Feet"...CR's toughest competition. The man can do riveting action--and he's terrific with actors. (Check out Sam Neill and Nicole in Dead Calm. Note: I give the producer co-credit, just as I'd credit Spielberg for 'directing' Tobe Hooper in the making of Poltergeist.)

Alas, if we can't have either, I'd like the director to be off-the-wall:
Soffia Coppola, anyone?
Gus Van Sant?
David Lynch?
John Waters?
Roland Joffe?

Edited by dodge, 31 January 2007 - 08:55 PM.

[Publius]

Besides, TOMORROW NEVER DIES is a vastly superior film to DIE ANOTHER DAY, no?

Agreed.

For the record, I did like Spottiswoode's work on TND, and probably even consider it the best of the Brosnan era, but I just wonder if either he or Tamahori (both of whom seem similarly "okay" to my untrained eye) can give us a worthy successor to CR, which I think has considerably upped the ante.

Granted, there was enough new talent (Craig, Haggis, etc.) and solid source material this time around that it's hard to pin down just what made CR so great, but Campbell did seem to be at the top of his game, and I wonder if another past Bond director will be able to do likewise.

CR was definitely a "stars aligned" situation which I hope will repeat itself for Bond 22.

[luciusgore]

TWINE was by far the weakest of the Brosnan Bonds and Apted was to blame. They should do whatever it takes to bring back Campbell. I did think that DAD was well directed but had a nighmarishly bad story. If not Campbell, then Tamahori. Or someone who has never made a Bond film before.

[Doctor Shatterhand]

Alas, if we can't have either, I'd like the director to be off-the-wall:
Soffia Coppola, anyone?
Gus Van Sant?
David Lynch?
John Waters?
Roland Joffe?

To quote Simon on American Idol - "Are you bloody insane?"

I wouldn't trust any of those directors with Bond, especially Van Sant who literally made Hitchcock roll in his grave with his remake of Psycho.

Sofia Coppola would bore us to death with Bond wondering if he should boink the young girl in the next room while he watches Tokyo commercıalısm.

David Lynch would drag the story for far too long and have the Bond girl jump in bed with Moneypenny and a demented midget.

John Waters would have Bond in drag and fighting evil on the streets of Baltimore.

And Roland Joffe would have the villain tie Bond to a wooden cross and send him over a Brazilian waterfall.

Personally I feel Martin Campbell is the best man for the job, unfortunately he sounds like he may be burned out from doing CR. However, I hope he reconsiders and gets his batteries recharged. CR is his best film to date.

Come back, Marty!

[Pal]

Any thoughts on the Matador's director? I believe his name is Richard Sheppard.

[dodge]

Any thoughts on the Matador's director? I believe his name is Richard Sheppard.

Interesting. My immediate reaction, Pal, was this: I liked Matador less as a movie than as a dark star turn for Brozza, showing what he could do. Nothing in the film blew me away. And I thought the film copped out on a couple of scores: shying away from showing the hitman's actual hits was borderline cowardly. No scenes blew me away. And yet the director drew a magnificent performance from Brozza...

So, I checked my trusty film guide and found that Shepard directed a little flick called Oxygen with Adrien Brody. Now, there was a wild ride!

Conclusion: Don't know if he's Bond material...yet. But I'll be keeping my eye out on him.

[K1Bond007]

If I had to pick a previous Bond director aside from Campbell, I'd go for Apted. I think he had the right idea about the Bond 'tone' in TWINE, I just think he was doing it in the wrong era. Tamahori is not to be trusted with Bond again, and Spottiswoode is too by-the-numbers, I fear.

I disagree. Apted is a very capable director, but his decisions were rather questionable IMHO. I truly dislike how they cut the opening then tacked on the boat chase. That's one of my biggest issues with the film. Had they stuck to the script, it would have been more like Casino Royale in that it has a simple down to Earth PTS (Bond escaping from the building) then a rather large action set piece following the title sequence. That would have been fine, but they fell into all the cliches of Bond in the 1990s with bigger and bigger action pieces in the PTS. The flow of the film is greatly disrupted by this change in my opinion and other parts of the action - the boat chase itself - becomes ridiculous because it's not explained (why was she there? - deleted in the final cut). The screenplay was weak, but his decisions further hurt it.

I have other problems with it, Apted mostly to blame.

He'd be better than Tamahori. I don't care what anyone else says, Tamahori does not understand Bond. Spottiswoode wouldn't be a terrible choice, but I still much prefer Martin Campbell and Matthew Vaughn to any of them. If not Martin then someone new. I'd rather they not go back to any of the previous directors.

[Four Aces]

He's busy and has a workload? What workload? What else is he doing?

[Bondian]

How about bringing back John Glenn?. Didn't he do good with a new Bond a long time ago?.

Or better still. Go for someone who's pulling at the reigns to direct a Bond. Someone who can enhance what was good about Casino Royale, and make it good for a couple of more movies.

[deth]

Besides, TOMORROW NEVER DIES is a vastly superior film to DIE ANOTHER DAY, no?

No.

what about Benicio del Toro? After seeing Children of Men... I think he could pull off Bond

Well, he was good as Dario in LICENCE TO KILL, but....

wha..... DAMN! lol I didn't mean Benicio Del Toro.... I meant Alfonso Cuar

[Orion]

I'm praying that Matthew Vaughn gets the job for Bond 22, than if i had my way Christopher Nolan for Bond 23

[Mr_Wint]

I've had enough with hard gritty directors with only one good film behind them. "Yeh. He's an intresting choice bla bla bla". That wasn't very successful during the Brosnan films.

Bond 22 needs an experienced action-director. Someone who can handle big films like Bond. For Craig's era they should hire more talented script-writers and focus more on the scripts. Then all you need is a good solid director/editor/cinematographer and the film will be fine, without any 'forced' visual flair.

I'll vote for John McTiernan.

[Harmsway]

Here's an interesting choice for director: James McTeigue. V FOR VENDETTA was hardly the greatest film ever made, but its flaws lay mainly in its script before anything else. Otherwise, McTeigue's direction was rather well-handled. The one drawback is that he's a relative young 'un in the cinema business, but then again, so is Matthew Vaughn. I'd be happy with him.

[JimmyBond]

I've had enough with hard gritty directors with only one good film behind them. "Yeh. He's an intresting choice bla bla bla". That wasn't very successful during the Brosnan films.

Afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you here. With the exception of Apted's TWINE, all the of Brosnan's films have been compotently directed. The fault in those films lies in the scriptwriting stages, not the direction.

[K1Bond007]

I'll vote for John McTiernan.

I thought he was in jail or something?

Here's an interesting choice for director: James McTeigue. V FOR VENDETTA was hardly the greatest film ever made, but its flaws lay mainly in its script before anything else. Otherwise, McTeigue's direction was rather well-handled. The one drawback is that he's a relative young 'un in the cinema business, but then again, so is Matthew Vaughn. I'd be happy with him.

Well McTeigue has been around the cinema block as an assistant director, however, he's only just directed the one film. I'm less sure of him than Vaughn. Vaughn has a really cool style going for him (that I've seen thus far), while McTeigue - due to the obvious connection - came off as Wachowski-lite (which post-Matrix1 is a good thing, but still not something all that grand). An interesting candidate though.

[RazorBlade]

Actually QT could do it.

1) I don't know if he's part of the DGA or not. It doesn't matter since that affects American prodco anyway. A few years ago, George Lucas who isn't a member of a guild, wanted Frank Darabont to write the new Star Wars films. But Lucas didn't want a WGA member to write. The solution? Have FD deal with an offshore, British, prodco.

2) The autur thing. QT has worked on big budget action movies, KILL BILL anyone?, so I'm sure he can handle the demands of letting a 2nd unit do their thing.

3) The autur thing again. Getting EON to allow him creative freedom would, I admit, be a chore. But if you're going to hire someone like QT or Steven Speilberg, I say let 'em have it.

For myself, I'm not hung up on who is going to direct Bond 22 as much as I am a much more descriminating viewer in my old age. Sure I want action (violence) and romance (sex) but I want a spy thriller with strong character work. We've had lots of great Bond movies but so many of them haven't worked as decent films. CR is a step in the right direction. I hope EON hires creative people who will push the franchise, not into more and greater stunts, but into more and deeper parts of Bond's psyche.

My 2 cents, for what they're worth.