Variety claims that negotiations with director Roger Michell have fallen apart over "creative differences" (happens all the time). Who do you think should step in to direct? And how do you think this might affect the film's May 2, 2008 release date (if at all)? Talk amongst yourselves ...
Relieved it won't be Michell, although I totally agree with crashdrive that he was classic Eon material.
Who do I think
should step in to direct? Any of the following: Je-gyu Kang (director of the 1999 South Korean smash SHIRI [try saying those last four words very fast several times in a row
], which is kind of like Bond meeting DIE HARD on a budget very low by Hollywood standards, but done very stylishly); John McTiernan (even though some of his recent stuff has been poor); Phillip Noyce (a dream pick after the likes of CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER and THE QUIET AMERICAN - I gather he may have been approached for DIE ANOTHER DAY); Matthew Vaughn (probably already "too big for Bond", at least in terms of hype, but LAYER CAKE shows he wouldn't have been the worst choice in the world for CASINO ROYALE, and Eon evidently thought so too). Who I
don't want to direct (even though I like their films): Christopher Nolan or Quentin Tarantino (but why do I get the feeling that they're going to be mentioned a lot on this thread?
).
Who do I think
may step in to direct? Noyce seems the only realistic choice of my abovementioned filmmakers, but even then he doesn't exactly seem a frontrunner.
Will Stuart Baird (currently editing CR) step up to the plate? He fits Eon's UK/Commonwealth "seasoned pro" profile, and was also apparently in the frame to direct DAD (as well as a Harry Potter film). Has directed EXECUTIVE DECISION, U.S. MARSHALS and STAR TREK: NEMESIS. Funnily enough, promoting an editor to the director's chair is also very much in keeping with Bond tradition (Peter Hunt, John Glen), although Baird has, of course, managed to become a successful director without Bond's help.
Caton-Jones seems a very likely choice. Sure, he's given Sony a "flop" with BASIC INSTINCT 2, but then again it'll probably be very profitable on DVD, and SHOOTING DOGS, a very different, more "serious" film made around the same time, shows his versatility (or, if you prefer, his total lack of any kind of signature style
) and will have impressed Eon, which seems to set a lot of snob value by directors who've made at least one or two "worthy" films. Also, I believe that Caton-Jones was all but set as the director of GOLDENEYE.
Finally, none of this will affect the release date, which has been clearly announced not just to the industry but to the public. It's set in stone. Besides, there's ample time to sign a director. Well, not ample, perhaps, but just enough time, I should think.
Stuart Baird (eventhough he'd be too busy editing 'CR' for pre on Bond 22)
Good point, although he'll be finished with CR in November, and I gather that shooting on BOND 22 won't start until May - won't that be enough time? And I'd forgotten about Frears, the intended director of the Jinx spinoff film.