Christopher Nolan says he’s not directing the next James Bond film
Christopher Nolan has said that he will not be directing the next James Bond film.
The Oppenheimer director has long been linked with a possible involvement in the British spy franchise, and has spoken multiple times in the past about his admiration for the films, even expressing direct interest in becoming a part of it.
In a new interview with Associated Press, however, he has formally distanced himself from Bond. When asked whether that might be his next project, he said: “No, sadly no – no truth to those rumours.”
In July, Nolan had said that it would be “an amazing privilege” to direct a Bond film.
“The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent. It would be an amazing privilege to do one,” Nolan said. “At the same time, when you take on a character like that you’re working with a particular set of constraints.”
The five-time Oscar nominee went on to stress, however, that any filmmaker attempting to take on the Bond legacy must approach it with the “right attitude”.
“It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong,” he said.
In 2017, the filmmaker told Playboy he would “definitely” make a Bond film and that he keeps an open dialogue with the producers.
“I’ve spoken to the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson over the years. I deeply love the character, and I’m always excited to see what they do with it,” he said. “Maybe one day that would work out. You’d have to be needed, if you know what I mean. It has to need reinvention; it has to need you. And they’re getting along very well.”
Earlier this month, Bond producer Greg Wilson confirmed that they are not yet working on the next film at this stage. “There will be another Bond some day, but we’re not actively developing it,” he said.
And with rumours flying around about who might play the next Bond, series producer Barbara Broccoli addressed the new phase of the story following the character’s death at the end of No Time To Die by saying, “It’s gonna take a while for us to get – you know, it’s a whole new reinvention. So it’ll take some time.”
A poll conducted over the summer by William Hill Vegas found that the UK’s top choice for the next James Bond is Idris Elba, just ahead of Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill.
Broccoli also recently commented: “There’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
Recently, the Amazon Prime Video series 007: Road to a Million series launched, which sees contestants take on Bond-inspired challenges around the world for a chance to win a £1million cash prize.
Succession’s Brian Cox hosts the show, and he recently admitted that he thought he had signed up to be the next Bond villain when he agreed to the show.
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Max Pilley
NME
