With the next James Bond movie officially set for 2019, the process of locking down a director is underway, with Yann Demange, Denis Villenueve and David MacKenzie all in the running. However, in the decades-long history of the franchise, there has never been a woman behind the camera, but it hasn’t been for a lack of trying.
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Variety reveals that back when Amy Pascal was running Sony, longtime distributors of the James Bond flicks, she “urged” Kathryn Bigelow to direct a James Bond movie. However, the gig wasn’t something that interested the director, who at this stage of her career, prefers tackling material that’s more grounded.
“Those opportunities are out there, and I’m grateful,” she said. “I’m just more drawn to a journalistic aspect of film. That opens up very specific avenues as opposed to more comforting avenues. It’s a responsibility I’m excited to pursue, whereas something that has less content is less compelling to me.”
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Given Bigelow’s last three pictures — “The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” and the latest, “Detroit” — it’s pretty clear what kind of storytelling is compelling to Bigelow at the moment. However, it’s easy to see why Pascal thought the director’s intense realism would be perfect for Daniel Craig era Bond — it’s really a pretty perfect fit. That being said, we’d hate to see Bigelow jump into a franchise machine, only to see her cinematic voice stifled by all the obligations and moving parts; we’d certainly prefer for the filmmaker to pursue her own creative paths.
Thoughts? Would you like to see a Bigelow directed Bond? Sound off in the comments section.