The next James Bond movie recently had its release pushed back, and now we may have some more details as to why. Originally set to bow in February 2020, the film has now been pushed back to April and the reason appears to be that there is a general feeling that the script needs work. It also is getting a set of fresh eyes as The Bourne Ultimatum writer Scott Z. Burns has reportedly been handed rewrite duties.
According to the Playlist, this isn't a simple polish of the existing script by longtime Bond script writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but a major overhaul that, assuming no other changes are made after Scott Z. Burns is finished, is likely to net him the top screenwriting credit for the new movie.
The 25th James Bond movie has had a long road already, and it seems that things are far from over yet. For the longest time it seemed that the only important question regarding the next Bond film was whether or not Daniel Craig would return to the lead role. After numerous rumors in either direction, and the betting odds perpetually shifting between one potential new candidate and another, Craig did agree to return.
However, that, as it turned out, was actually only beginning. Danny Boyle was brought in to direct the film and he brought his frequent collaborator John Hodge to pen the script. Boyle eventually left the production following creative differences and Hodge's script apparently went with him.
Cary Fukunaga is now directing the next Bond film and the script being used was written by Purvis and Wade, who have been involved in the Bond franchise since Pierce Brosnan was in the lead for The World is Not Enough.
It's unclear exactly what the issue is with the current script so it's impossible to know exactly where Scott Z. Burns is focusing his efforts, but it does sound like the problems are significant.
Bond 25 was set to go before the cameras next month, but that start date has been pushed back to April along with the revised release date. Either way, that still doesn't give Burns a great deal of time to whip Bond 25 into shape. He's only got a couple of months to apparently completely overhaul the script from something that's apparently not good enough into something that everybody is happy with.
On the plus side, Eon Productions picked the right guy for the job. Burns is an accomplished script doctor who has done uncredited work on numerous films to punch up existing projects. He's certainly got the skill, though it sounds like this movie requires a lot more work.
Among other things, this means that everything we've heard about what the new Bond movie might be about is completely in flux. Even if all the previous rumors were accurate, all of those details may have changed once the new version of the script is ready.
If filming begins as scheduled in April we can assume the new script was a success, otherwise, we might be in for more delays before it's all said and done.
