James Bond has lost his way. Slightly. The franchise has been chugging along for decades, but the current stint of stories presided over by Daniel Craig have suffered from a Good One-Bad One pattern, with the most recent one (Spectre) being an example of the "bad" ones. Bond 25 has had its own ups and downs, shuffling its director decks a few times before landing on a new hire in Cary Fukunaga, and that has us very excited.
In a statement confirming the hire, producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli Tweeted:
Cary Fukunaga steps into a director seat that most recently was occupied by Danny Boyle, yet another exciting hire that promised to take the James Bond franchise to new heights -- and in new directions. There was word that Boyle wanted to tell a standalone Bond story (still structured around Daniel Craig) that wouldn't look to continue any of the narrative presented in Spectre, the way that all four Craig Bond movies -- Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre -- seemed to be telling chapters of the same story. Now, though, the storyline goes back to being a mystery.
Deadline suggests that the "creative differences" that led to Danny Boyle's departure was a big swing of a story that would have been written by Danny's longtime collaborator, John Hodge. Instead, with Cary Fukunaga in the seat, the Bond franchise will go back to the story that they wanted to tell originally, with regular screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade handling scripting duties.
This also means that Bond 25 will get a new release date. Once due to reach theaters in November of 2019, the sequel has now been shifted to February 14, 2020. Spending Valentine's Day with The Spy Who Loved You? Priceless.
Cary Fukunaga is an exciting hire because he has brought grit and style to his previous projects, and demonstrates a storytelling skillset that should fit the James Bond franchise like a custom-designed suit. Anyone who watched his entire first season of HBO's True Detective knows that he can coach incredible performances out of damaged actors, so there's a strong chance he will push Daniel Craig in ways that Sam Mendes did for Skyfall -- but not for Spectre. And then there was that BRILLIANT single-cam shot in True Detective that still has us gawking, wondering how Fukunaga and his team pulled this off.
What do you think of the hire? Does this make you more, or less, excited for Bond 25? Let us know in the comments section below.
