Denis Villeneuve

The wheels are beginning to turn because we now have a director for the first film of the new Amazon era of Bond. Denis Villeneuve, who was allegedly courted for No Time to Die but too busy at the time, has signed on to direct. The final shortlist is said to have been Villeneuve, Edward Berger, Paul King, Jonathan Nolan, and Edgar Wright. I don't know what happened to Alfonso Cuarón in the end but he obviously dropped out. Villeneuve has just begun shooting the third Dune film so Bond 26 will presumably be shot in 2026. Denis Villeneuve is one of the most acclaimed and respected film directors working today but is he a good fit for Bond? That's difficult to say.

I like his films Prisoners and Arrival though neither are what you would call Bond auditions. One is a drama and the other is science fiction. I found Blade Runner 2049 rather dull though would concede it is an amazing looking film. The crime thriller Sicario (which is a bit overrated but a decent film all the same) indicates that Villeneuve is adept with action. Villeneuve will assuredly give us an amazing looking Bond film and we know he's a fan of the franchise. He isn't taking this job because he has nothing else to do. He's taking it because he wants to make a Bond film. So what are the concerns with Denis Villeneuve? The main concern is that his films do tend to come across as aloof, ultra serious and humourless. You would imagine (and fear) that a Denis Villeneuve Bond film would probably be in the vein of the Daniel Craig films. You could imagine him directing something like Skyfall or even (groan) No Time to Die. I might be completely wrong though. We'll have to see.

Villeneuve is frequently a screenwriter on his films so one would presume he has his own 007 pitch and story. Though the idea of an Edgar Wright Bond film is fun you can't really fault them for picking Villeneuve because along with Christopher Nolan he is just about the most respected director around at the moment. Villeneuve mentioned the Sean Connery films in his press release - which is encouraging because if you ask me the Bond series could do a lot worse than look at those early films for inspiration. We now have a director but we are no closer to knowing who will play James Bond. The leaked shortlist of recent days appears to have already been debunked as complete nonsense. The idea of Tom Holland playing Bond is so laughable it could only have been fake news. If they want a superhero actor as Bond they'd be much better off going for Robert Pattinson. There is no actor in the Denis Villeneuve repertory company who is suitable to play Bond so there seems little point rummaging around for clues there. The actors he's used the most are Dave Bautista, David Dastmalchian, Josh Brolin and Timothée Chalamet. Unless the world has gone completely mad I think we can safely rule out Timothée Chalamet playing Bond.

- Jake

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