The James Bond franchise has been the most popular and highly successful spy movies for decades. Numerous famous actors have taken up the role of the international spy 007, including Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, and more. Daniel Craig was the last actor to don the role but he called it quits in 2021. Craig’s Bond film, No Time To Die, was directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, however, another director was initially supposed to work on the film.
Reportedly, ace director Danny Boyle was slated to direct the film, however, the production house had some differences with his ideas. The director had ideas for a fresh take on the Bond film, but they were rejected by the studio.
Danny Boyle opens up on his take on James Bond film with Daniel Craig
As per the reports, Danny Boyle was originally contacted for the directorial role for Daniel Craig’s film, No Time To Die. Boyle was doubtful if the prominent studio would give him the creative space and liberty for his direction. He signed up to direct the 25th Bond film in 2018. Talking about his apprehension, he shared with Esquire,
“I remember thinking, ‘Should I really get involved in franchises?’ Because they don’t really want something different. They want you to freshen it up a bit, but not really challenge it, and we wanted to do something different with it. Weirdly — it would have been very topical now — it was all set in Russia, which is of course where Bond came from, out of the Cold War. It was set in present-day Russia and went back to his origins, and they just lost … What’s the word? … They just lost confidence in it. It was a shame really.”
The director had to part ways with the Bond film as he wanted to delve into James Bond‘s origins in Russia, however, the studio was not in favor of the idea.
Danny Boyle lists the reason for leaving the James Bond franchise
As per reports by Variety, one of the main reasons for the conflict between the studio and Boyle was the killing of James Bond. Boyle shared that he wanted to end the life of the James Bond character, but the studio was against it. However, when the film was released, Daniel Craig’s Bond died as per the plot.
Another issue between the studio and Boyle was that he wanted John Hodges to write the screenplay for No Time To Die. However, the studio wanted to hire its screenwriter.
As per Metro, Boyle and Hodges were working on something interesting and Hodges had given the idea to include James Bond‘s child in the story. Boyle shared,
“I learned quite a lot about myself with Bond: I work in partnership with writers and I am not prepared to break it up. We were working very, very well, but they didn’t go down that route with us, so we decided to part company, and it would be unfair to say what it was because I don’t know what Cary is going to do … What John and I were doing, I thought, was really good. It wasn’t finished, but it could have been really good. You have to believe in your process and part of that is the partnership I have with a writer. It is like someone coming and saying, ‘Hey, we are going to give you a different editor.’ Those fundamental partnerships are vital.”
No Time To Die was the twenty-fifth film in the James Bond series. It was produced by Eon Productions. Daniel Craig starred as British MI6 agent James Bond. The film grossed over $774 million worldwide.
No Time To Die is available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
Also read- Danny Boyle Departs ‘Bond 25’
Source- Esquire
