Why Denis Villeneuve is the perfect director for James Bond
It was not the James Bond news we were hoping for. There was no announcement of a new film, nor an answer to the decade-plus old question of which actor will next don the tuxedo.
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But Thursday’s announcement that Denis Villeveuve will direct the next film is perhaps the news that fans need. The Canadian film maker comes aboard with a stellar CV having made a hit of the famously-tricky-to-get-right Dune series and drew a critical lauding for Blade Runner 2049, a huge achievement considering the sanctity with which fans regard the Ridley Scott original.
For die-hards, news of Villeveuve’s appointment was probably met with nothing more than a sigh of relief. Amazon’s unpopular buyout of MGM came with fears of 007 being marketed with a licence to sell, armed with endless spin-offs, reality shows, or a Meghan Markle-level bad docu-series about the real lives of Bond girls. Jeff Bezos (Villeneuve need look no further for inspiration for his villain) did not help calm fears by asking his Twitter followers who they wanted as the next actor. The situation is so tense that just the sight of the word “Bond” in a headline is enough to have one instantly fearing the worst. But this is actually the best news fans could have hoped for.
- Read also: Who could next play James Bond?
Why does the director matter? Bond is perhaps one of the few franchises where the lead actor will come under far more scrutiny than the man or woman behind the camera. To put this in 007 terms, for No Time to Die it might have been Cary Joji Fukunaga playing the roles of M, Q and C, but the operation would have failed without a suave spy in Daniel Craig to lead the mission. As Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s inclusion as a “script polisher” on the 25th instalment shows, Bond is adapting to a changing world (it’s not just about the gadgets becoming increasingly high tech) but there are still rules to obey and a format to follow.
Villeneueve will need to work within the confines of not just the source material and the precedent of 65 years of Bond films, but he will be up against rigid studio forces that will no doubt become even sterner opponents since Amazon’s takeover. The departure of long-time franchise guardians Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will not have made things any easier. It’s not quite Mission Impossible, but Villeneuve will hardly be afforded the space allowed on his fine earlier efforts Arrival and Sicario.
He doesn’t need to take this on to prove himself but he has anyway. And fans should be grateful, because if there is anyone who can take on the pressure of a commercial juggernaut, handle a historically-loved series with care, and put just about the right amount of himself into the recipe it is Villeneuve.
One can only hope that, unlike Danny Boyle, he is able to achieve his vision because it will surely be worth the wait.
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William Mata is LBC's SEO editor.
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