Slowly but surely, the pieces of the next James Bond adventure are coming together. Daniel Craig is coming back and now the next Bond officially has a director. After the last few weeks of speculation, Danny Boyle has now confirmed that he will direct the 25th James Bond movie. The script is currently in development with expectations to begin filming at the end of the year. According to Boyle...
We are working on a script right now. And it all depends on that really. I am working on a Richard Curtis script at the moment. We hope to start shooting that in 6 or 7 weeks. Then Bond would be right at the end of the year. But we are working on them both right now.
Danny Boyle also confirmed to Metro that the script that is currently being worked on is being written by his frequent collaborator John Hodge. Hodge previously wrote both Trainspotting movies as well as several other projects directed by Boyle. This means that the script that was previously being written by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade, who had written every other Bond movie in the Daniel Craig era, is apparently being set aside for this new idea, something conceived by Hodge and Boyle.
So now we have a star, a screenwriter, and a director. After all the questions of when and how we'd see the next James Bond movie, we finally have our answers and things appear set to move forward. Danny Boyle will be directing a new film written by Love, Actually's Richard Curtis in a few weeks, and then it will be all about getting to work on the next James Bond movie at the end of 2018. The film is already set for release on November 8, 2019.
For the longest time, the Bond franchise was sitting in limbo waiting for a decision from Daniel Craig as to whether or not he would reprise his role as the famous spy. He made it clear following the production of Spectre that nothing was further from his mind, but, with distance, it seems he slowly began to come around. The "will he/won't he" rumors seemed to be going in both directions, and nobody knew what the truth was, but eventually Craig decided to come back for at least one more run.
Spectre seemed to close a chapter for James Bond, bringing a seeming conclusion, however ham-handed, to events that began with Casino Royale. With a new director and a new writer on board, it's probably safe to assume that the idea being worked on will be something entirely new, which is probably the best place for the franchise to go. Danny Boyle and John Hodge have made some great movies together and the James Bond franchise has been home to some stellar films. Together, hopefully, they can make something special.
