No Time To Die was supposed to have been in cinemas in 2020. It was delayed for 18 months due to COVID. Everyone knew it was Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond, but even then, this has been a long, long wait for movement on the next iteration of 007.
The producers repeatedly said they would not be rushed. Fans continue to speculate on potential new actors for the various roles, and what the plot or tone could be. However the most important aspect of any selection, and one that would dictate all of the others to a degree, was who would be chosen to direct.
Finally, it looks as if there is some movement.
Normally the British tabloid press has a low hit rate when talking about Bond, usually printing made-up stories simply to fill column inches before entertainment journalists retire to the pub for the rest of the day. Broadsheets tend to do better, and a report in The Telegraph over the weekend is also from Robbie Collin, who is well-connected.
He claims that the earliest movies in the process have now started, with potential directing candidates having their first round of conversations with the producers at Eon. According to the report, these are initial discussions to look at directors who would be able to work within the framework of a Bond movie.
So no Tarantino-types.
The list reported includes David Michod (Animal Kingdom, The Rover), Kelly Marcel (Venom: The Last Dance), Bart Layton (American Animals), and Yann Demange (’71, White Boy Rick). The report claims the favorite so far is Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front).
The article also puts to bed the idea of period adaptions of the Bond novels set back in the 1950s, explaining that simply would not work due to massively increased costs in creating period sets, costumes, and locations. It also discusses how this would remove a lot of product placement opportunities.
So costs up, and the legendarily high commercial income Bond movies generate would go down – simply no dice.
No casting or story development will really progress until a director is chosen. Even if all of this lands in fairly short order across the second half of the year, this means no new James Bond movie will be in theaters before the second half of 2026 at the absolute earliest.
That would be 10 years after development first started on No Time To Die, 8 years since Cary Joji Fukunaga came on board and production started, and 5 years since the last installment was released.
Nobody can say this new Bond has been rushed.