Danny Boyle has walked away from directing the 25th James Bond film.
The Oscar-winning director of Slumdog Millionaire had been officially attached to the as-yet-untitled adventure but in a tweet from the franchise’s official account, he has now departed over “creative differences”.
“Michael G Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig today announced that due to creative differences Danny Boyle has decided to no longer direct Bond 25,” it read.
It had been confirmed in May, after months of rumors, that Boyle would both write and direct the follow-up to 2015’s Spectre, the second Bond film from Sam Mendes. “We’ve got an idea,” he said at the time. “John Hodge, the screenwriter, and I have got this idea, and John is writing it at the moment. And it all depends on how it turns out. It would be foolish of me to give any of it away.”
A script for Bond 25 had originally been completed by franchise veterans Neal Purvis and Robert Wade but it was reportedly put aside after Boyle and his Trainspotting co-writer came onboard. In July, a leaked call sheet suggested that the story would include a “charismatic, powerful, innovative, cosmopolitan, bright, cold and vindictive” Russian villain. It’s unclear what script will now be used.
While Spectre received mixed reviews, it was a global hit, making $880m worldwide, although it fell short of Skyfall’s franchise-best $1.1bn haul. The next chapter, set to be released in 2019, was also due to be Daniel Craig’s last outing as the secret agent. “I just want to go out on a high note, and I can’t wait,” Craig said to Stephen Colbert in 2017.
Craig had previously said he would “slash his wrists” rather than play the role again but has since explained himself. “Look, there’s no point in making excuses about it, but it was two days after I’d finished shooting the last movie,” he said. “I went straight into an interview and someone said would you do another one and I went ‘No!’”
Boyle had previously worked with Craig in the opening to the 2012 Olympics, including 007 in a brief cameo alongside the Queen.
Recent weeks have seen increased buzz around Idris Elba, long touted as a contender for Bond’s next iteration, after rumors that longtime Bond producer Barbara Broccoli wanted to bring some diversity to the role.
“I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there haven’t been any talks between me and the studio about any of that,” Elba said in 2016. “Running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible.”
Boyle’s most recent credit was Trust, a miniseries based around the infamous Getty kidnapping, following on from his long-awaited sequel to Trainspotting. He also recently wrapped a new musical comedy written by Richard Curtis set in a world where only one person can remember music by the Beatles.
