The Bond franchise needs some fresh talent. That goes without saying. We recently reported on the departure of Danny Boyle from Bond 25, leaving the series to now, once again, go on the hunt for a new director to take the reins on this shaken-but-not-stirred series.
I recently wrote about my own personal desire to see The Hurt Locker's Kathryn Bigelow take on the film, and that's still the best option. But if we're in the market for other realistic options, I have put together a list of potential directors who actually could handle Bond 25 and deliver it in time for the November 8, 2019 release date. On that note, let's dive in with an Oscar nominee whose name has been lumped in with the Bond franchise several times already.
David Mackenzie
David Mackenzie has quickly become a hot commodity in Hollywood, largely due to the success of 2016's Hell or High Water. The neo-western became a major Oscar contender after its initial debut, and Mackenzie has remained a consistent frontrunner on the Bond franchise shortlist ever since. The Scottish director doesn't have much on his plate aside from promoting November's Outlaw King (with Chris Pine) and prepping the upcoming TV series, Gemstone, so there's room for him to potentially move in and direct the next installment in the Bond franchise. Given his experience working with dark and dreary tones, intense, hyper-violent action, and beautiful camerawork in complex narratives, he seems like a very safe bet to capably step up to the plate of a blockbuster franchise and do something that the series has not seen before.
Steve McQueen
An Oscar-winner for his work on 12 Years A Slave, Steve McQueen has handily turned into one of the film industry's most beloved and talked-about drama directors. He has not really delved into the action world at this stage of his career (though the upcoming Widows has flashes of the sort), but he has more than proven that he has the chops to do something incredibly interesting with the Bond franchise. His films like Hunger and Shame tend to be smaller in scale, with a heavy emphasis on dark and dreary stakes -- with stories that often don't end well for the protagonists. Given the recent rumors suggesting that Daniel Craig and the producing team behind Bond want to shake things up and do something unique with a story centering on the modern conflict between Russia and the western nations, McQueen could be the right guy to deliver that degree of drama.
Christopher Nolan
No list about possible Bond 25 directors would be complete without the inclusion of Christopher Nolan. Over the years, few filmmakers have balanced blockbuster spectacle with a distinct sense of ownership quite like him, which is readily apparent in The Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk, and several others. Nolan has been a fan-favorite choice to take on a Bond movie for years, and he has made no secret of the fact that it's something he's interested in pursuing at some point in his career. Moreover, it's also worth mentioning that Nolan generally does not keep himself overly busy between projects, and his schedule currently looks relatively open at the moment. If ever there was a time for him to get his Bond movie finally, now seems like the time.
