‘Time was not afforded to me’: Spectre Director Sam Mendes on Why His James Bond Movie Was a Flop While No Time To Die Was a Smashing Hit

Spectre Director Sam Mendes
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The 007 films have been one of those film franchises that are considered the premiere silver-screen establishments within the industry. With films going back as far as the early 1960s, it will be no exaggeration when to call this franchise one of the greatest of all time. In every James Bond film, starting with Sean Connery’s Dr. No, the franchise has incorporated many exceptional superstars into its roster of Bonds that have all elevated the benchmark for the next one who would succeed the previous and raise the bar even higher.

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Idris Elba rumoured to be the next James Bond.
All the actors that have played 007.

Though almost all the past 007 films have been nothing but blockbusters, it doesn’t always mean that they might never falter.

In an interview with James Bond director Sam Mendes, when asked about the reason for Spectre‘s downfall, he revealed that it was due to tight time constraints during the writing process that ultimately lead to the downfall of the installment.

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Why Did James Bond Film Spectre Flop?

After big names like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan had left their marks as the British superspy of MI6, it came upon Daniel Craig to shoulder the legacy of his predecessors as the new James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale, which was considered one of the best 007 films till date. With the success of the films that followed after, it was clear that these were here to solidify Craig as one of the best Bonds in the industry.

Daniel Craig as James Bond
Daniel Craig as James Bond

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With the huge success of 2012’s Skyfall, it marked the status symbol of all the films that came before it, earning a whopping $1.1 Billion, the highest among all the 007 films of the franchise. With this amount of success, Eon Productions wanted another smashing hit, and this duty fell into the hands of Skyfall’s director Sam Mendes yet again. But this time, the only limitation to the project was the main reason why his next film Spectre bombed. Mendes said:

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“These movies are very difficult to write. Those 10 months of downtime [for Skyfall], that’s when the script really turned around, because we had the time to go down blind alleys and try things like the [Bond/Silva team-up]. And that time was not afforded to me when we made Spectre, And you can see the difference in the script.”

Although Spectre turned out to be a success at the box office the main reason why it’s not held in high regard is due to the audiences’ dissatisfaction with the film. James Bond films have the reputation of being some of the most well-written and executed stories of any series in the industry, but with Spectre, they dropped the ball by a pretty wide distance.

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Why Was No Time To Die Such A Success?

Daniel Craig left the franchise after starring as James Bond in No Time To Die (2021).
Daniel Craig left the franchise after starring as James Bond in No Time To Die.

The latest James Bond film is considered one of the best films in the franchise due to its excellent writing, as well as the epic conclusion of Daniel Craig’s saga as agent 007. No Time To Die brings back the charm of Skyfall, while also showing a new emotional and broken side of James Bond that audiences had never seen before. All these factors culminated in a film that marks the end of one of the greatest depictions of Bond by an actor.

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No Time To Die is streaming on Prime Video.

Source: CBR

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Written by Deepak Bisht

Articles Published: 1394

Deepak Bisht is a writer at FandomWire who has vast expertise in films of many genres, a hardcore anime nerd along with two years of writing experience. After completing his Bachelor's in Business Administration, he became part of the company in hopes of providing accurate, informative, and exciting articles to the world.

Apart from his contributions to FandomWire, the rest of his time is spent either reading quality works of literature, listening to vintage music, or playing any video games he can get his hands on.