Sam Mendes Makes It Clear The James Bond Franchise Needs A Massive Change That He Can't Provide
The "James Bond" franchise is an exceptionally long-running collection of movies that started way back in the 1960s. Considering how many movies have been based on Ian Fleming's MI6 character, it makes sense that the character has changed many times, and that isn't just because different actors have played the character. According to Brittanica, the first James Bond film starred Sean Connery as the famous martini drinking agent in 1962's "Dr. No." Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced this movie, which proved so successful that an entire franchise was created.
Besides Connery, actors who have played James Bond have been Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, David Niven, George Lazenby, Barry Nelson, and most recently, Daniel Craig. Craig has been involved with five James Bond films to date, being "Casino Royale," "Quantum of Solace," "Skyfall," "Spectre," and "No Time to Die." Sam Mendes directed two of these films, "Skyfall" and "Spectre," but it looks like a recent interview has illuminated Mendes' thoughts on the future of the "James Bond" franchise and how he thinks the movies need to change and adapt with the times.
Sam Mendes believes a woman director for the next James Bond film would be wonderful
It is important to note that even though the actor playing James Bond changes, so do the directors, but there is one consistency across the franchise: a person with the last name of Broccoli is often a producer. As mentioned earlier, Albert Broccoli was the producer of the first James Bond, and these days his daughter Barbara Broccoli is calling the shots. As Variety reported, the last film, "No Time to Die," was Daniel Craig's last time playing the secret agent, so the next film will have an entirely different actor.
Considering that information, in a recent interview with Deadline, Sam Mendes spoke about how action movies are evolving, and the "James Bond" franchise needs to as well. Mendes then said, "I don't envy Barbara having to follow Daniel's five movies. He reinvigorated the franchise but the franchise is so huge that it's very difficult for a younger actor to step into that." Mendes added, "Let me rephrase that. I think that the actor playing Bond is going to evolve, the director has to evolve. I think it would be wonderful to see a woman directing Bond. I think it would be wonderful."
With these words in mind, it seems as if Mendes doesn't want to take up the reins of the "James Bond" franchise again. Mendes believes that the films and their main character must change, and the best way of going about that would probably be to put a woman in the director's chair. Either way, the next director and actor tapped for a James Bond movie certainly has their work cut out for them.