Barbra Broccoli, who runs the money-spinning 007 franchise with her half-brother Michael G. Wilson, has admitted there is a “big, big road ahead reinventing” the iconic role of the suave spy after Daniel Craig’s Bond died in his final outing, 2021’s ‘No Time To Die’.
Speaking to The Guardian, she said: “I go back to [1995’s] ‘GoldenEye’ when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over. “Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace, and now there’s no villains’ – and boy, was that wrong!”
This is despite many actors having been tipped to portray the MI6 secret agent, including Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Rege-Jean Page and Cillian Murphy, to name a few.
Broccoli added: “Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it. I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
The producer was speaking to promote the new Prime Video reality series ‘007: Road to a Million’, which sees nine pairs of normal people take on a series of Bond-style challenges.
‘Oppenheimer’ director Christopher Nolan, 53, recently sparked speculation some of his favourite actors could be the next 007 after he told the ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast it would be an “amazing privilege” to direct a James Bond film – but only if he could choose the star who is playing Bond.
Some of the filmmaker’s favourite stars – including ‘Oppenheimer’ lead man Cillian, 47, and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ star Tom, 46, have been named as bookies’ top picks to step into the 007 part – along with the latest Batman star Robert Pattinson, 37, who featured in Nolan’s mind-bending time travel film ‘Tenet’.
The director was approached to make the next 007 film following the release of ‘Skyfall’, but the follow-up ‘Spectre’ ended up being directed by 58-year-old ‘American Beauty’ filmmaker Sam Mendes. Two years after the 2015 film, Nolan revealed he could “maybe one day” get involved in the franchise.
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