One of the big issues that was rumored to develop between Amazon and the James Bond producers was the fleets of creatives at the streamer who all thought their personal beliefs needed to be reflected in a new evolution of the character.
This led to meetings where they declared Bond needed radically updating for the mythical “modern audiences”. It didn’t take long to get from there to silliness.
Recasting a female Bond was just one of the ideas that apparently led to Barbara Broccoli referring to her streaming-based colleagues a “fucking idiots”.
When Amazon supreme Jeff Bezos heard of this, he apparently ordered:
“I don’t care what it costs, get rid of her.”
Nobody can confirm if an elevator over a shark tank was ever suggested.
With the $1 billion deal having ben done to pass creative control to Amazon, there were fears that some of this ridiculousness might now be greenlit with no resistance.
There is, perhaps some hope, as multiple reports over the weekend point to a memo that was circulated at Amazon making it clear that 007 is to remain male and British as a character.
The reports say the memo was unambiguous, essentially “stipulating the spy will not change gender or nationality”.
Bezos himself is known to be a big Bond fan so it is thought he may be behind the clear guidance.
Where there is likely to be big divergence from the Brocolli approach is in the realms of spin-offs.
Eon Productions was famously anti-spin offs, aggressively guarding against them to maintain the exclusive quality of the cinematic outings.
007: Road To A Million was thought to be a small concession to Amazon.
According to The Hollywood Reporter Amazon pitched a Miss Moneypenny series and Eon flat-out rejected it.
Now a report at The Insneider says that Alfonso Cuaron may come on board this series if Harry Potter Uber-producer David Heyman joins as showrunner, something Amazon are said to be keen to explore.
Meanwhile, former 007 Pierce Brosnan has been supportive of the changes in leadership, saying that it took bravery for Broccoli and Wilson to step away, but that Amazon can do a good job as long as they are respectful.
The Rings Of Power says “Hold my mead”.