As soon as news broke that director Danny Boyle was exiting the forthcoming installment of the James Bond series, fans began speculating about who might replace him, with the usual big names filling out the wish list – Christopher Nolan, Denis Villenueve, Edgar Wright, Steven Soderbergh.
While any of these film-makers would bring something unique to the beloved franchise, the reality is that if someone like Boyle – a film-maker with an individual sense of style, but hardly a singular vision – couldn’t overcome “creative differences” with producers, there’s no way someone as exacting as Christopher Nolan would volunteer to take his place.
That’s not to say there are no exciting options available – available being the key word; directors currently elbow-deep in other productions (such as Patty Jenkins and Taika Waititi) or expected to return to their own tent-poles in the near future (like Ryan Coogler) can be ruled out.
With that in mind, here are five directors who should direct Bond 25:
The Safe Bet – Joe Wright
Like preceding franchise helmers Sam Mendes and Marc Forster, Joe Wright, whose credits include Atonement and Darkest Hour, is a well-known European film-maker with a fair share of middle-brow prestige to his name, and plenty of experience with big-budget spectacle.
He’s also a boring choice, or at least he would be, were it not for a weird little entry in his filmography that stands out among the statelier fare: the 2011 spy thriller by-way-of Grimm’s fairytale, Hanna, which proved Wright has legitimate chops as an action director. Plus, if he were to make a Bond movie (he previously expressed interest), perhaps he could bring along current It Girl Saoirse Ronan, who would make a good pupil for the retiring Craig, or even a sharp, younger foil.
The Journeyman – Jaume Collet-Serra
Ever since his 2005 remake of schlock classic House of Wax exceeded everyone’s expectations, the Spanish Collet-Serra has built a reputation for himself as the go-to director of modern day B-pictures. After all this time, he deserves a shot at the A-list.
Collet-Serra would be an exciting choice for Bond 25 precisely because he’s the opposite of guys like Mendes or Forster. His take on the property would be a fun, muscular – and yes, kind of dumb – throwback to the early entries of the Moore or Brosnan eras, when these films had just the right amount of ridiculousness, but before they got completely bogged down in camp lunacy. He could also sweeten the pot by bringing along his regular leading man, Liam Neeson, who would bounce off Craig’s secret agent well as the main villain.
The Up-and-Comer – Coralie Fargeat
Traditionally, Bond producers choose directors with a sturdy CV. However, as many a Marvel movie has proven, picking younger, less experienced film-makers can turn out quite well.
French director Coralie Fargeat only has one feature-length film to her name – last year’s rape-revenge thriller titled (appropriately) Revenge – but as any viewer can attest, she’s more than ready to take on the responsibility of a major production. Her spin on the uber-masculine Bond mythos would prove a welcome (albeit controversial) change of pace for the overall series, even as her talent for eye-popping visuals, kinetic pacing, and gnarly physical violence would all but guarantee she would turn out a real barn burner. Bonus points if she brings along her Revenge lead, Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, the platonic ideal of a Bond girl in the physical sense, but who could also imbue such a character with much-needed steeliness and intelligence.
The Wildcard – Ben Wheatley
Given his penchant for alienating audiences with his Cronenberg-like brand of arthouse weirdness, the English Wheatley is the least likely choice on this list. Yet for as transgressive a film-maker as he is, he’s also a showman at heart, one entirely capable of delivering a crowd-pleasing slice of action cinema, evidenced by last year’s 90-minute shoot ’em up Free Fire (had a crowd actually shown up).
Regardless of previous ticket sales, Wheatley would bring an edge to any 007 adventure, spiking major set pieces with a palpable sense of dread and an “anything-can-happen” vibe. He might also inject the franchise with its first dose of spookiness since the voodoo-themed shenanigans of 1973’s Live and Let Die. Again, he’s a wild card, but one that should be kept in the deck when considering potential replacements.
In the tradition of Odd Job and Jaws, his frequent onscreen collaborator Michael Smiley would make an excellent addition to the Bond series’ collection of grotesque henchmen.
The American – Tom Ford
Last but not least, fashion-designer-turned arthouse auteur Tom Ford already has a history with Bond, having designed Craig’s wardrobe the last time around. It would be fitting for Ford’s relationship with the franchise to mirror his larger career arc: moving from the role of tinker/tailor for the soldier/spy, and into the director’s chair.
Ford would be groundbreaking on a couple of different fronts – not only would he be the first openly gay director in the series’ history, he would be the first American (Irvin Kershner was the closest, directing the “unofficial” entry Never Say Never Again). Should the producers deign to hand the reins over to someone from the colonies, they couldn’t pick a more cosmopolitan choice.
The two films Ford has directed to date – his morose adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man and the pretentious arthouse-exploitation hybrid Nocturnal Animals – betray a penchant for style over substance, but if there is any franchise for which style should trump substance, it’s this one. Ford wouldn’t need help from previous collaborators; his costume design and eye for set dressing are all that he would be required to bring with him. If nothing else, he’d make James Bond look his absolute best, and really, isn’t that the first rule of any good Bond movie?
