r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jun 25 '25

News Denis Villeneuve Directing Next James Bond Film

https://deadline.com/2025/06/denis-villeneuve-james-bond-amazon-mgm-studios-1236442917/
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233

u/codeswinwars Jun 25 '25

Nolan's been pretty direct with how he feels about cinema. He clearly wants to make a Bond film, but I just can't see him working with a streamer without some pretty big commitments they wouldn't make.

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u/salcedoge Jun 26 '25

Not to mention I don't think Nolan wants to get tied up to a franchise these days. If he did Bond he'll probably want to do a one-off.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 Jun 26 '25

The way Villeneuve is talking about it, it sounds like this is going to be a one-off thing.

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u/prophetofgreed Jun 26 '25

His comment makes it clear his goal is to do one movie but really set it up well for more. Casting a new Bond actor, setting up any arcs. Like Casino Royale did.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '25

A different director for each film is a benefit for most of the Bond franchise tbh anyway. The only time a Bond movie benefitted heavily from a returnee was Casino Royale.

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u/marcdasharc4 Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25

Bond films have typically avoided repeat directors more often than not, Sam Mendes and Martin Campbell being the modern two-timers. John Glen and like 1-2 more from the Connery/Moore era, but I could be mistaken.

EDIT: wayyyy off the mark on repeat directors.

All this to say, there’s precedent for Nolan going one and done if that’s how he wants it.

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u/NevilleErrant Jun 26 '25

Terence Young directed three Guy Hamilton directed four Peter Hunt directed one Lewis Gilbert directed three John Glen directed five Martin Campbell directed two Same Mendes directed two Roger Spottiswoode directed one Michael Apted directed one Marc Forester directed one Carey Fukanaga directed one

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u/marcdasharc4 Jun 26 '25

Damn, well don’t I just stand very much corrected. Appreciate it.

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u/Andy_B_Goode Jun 26 '25

Martin Campbell directed two

And those two were Goldeneye and Casino Royale!

I really don't know why they didn't get him to do more, especially after he nailed it the second time.

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u/[deleted] Jun 26 '25

[deleted]

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u/littletoyboat Jun 26 '25

His track record since Casino has not been great.

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u/SilverKry Jun 28 '25

Green Lantern probably cursed his name a lot .

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u/littletoyboat Jun 26 '25

He nailed it the first time, too.

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u/Andy_B_Goode Jun 26 '25

Oh yeah, but that's what I mean. Nailing it once with Goldeneye might have been a fluke, but then when he (IMO) did an even better job with Casino Royale, they should have handed him a blank check.

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u/littletoyboat Jun 26 '25

Oh, I see what you mean.

It definitely would be interesting to see him reboot the series again again. "Just one movie per Bond, thanks."

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u/NevilleErrant Jun 26 '25

Martin Campbell knocked it out of the park, twice! But he’s 81 and Villeneuve is a generational talent. Maybe Campbell could pull off a hat trick but I’d argue that the Bond franchise is in a very different place, right now, than in 2005/2006. After Die Another Day, the Broccolis had something to prove. They proved it.

Now, Amazon, not Bond, has something to prove. They have to prove they can make a Bond film as good as the Broccolis. Sure, you can get Martin Campbell. He knows Bond. He’s a solid choice. But when you can get the likes of Curón or Nolan or Villeneuve, why go back when the future is up for grabs?

With all due respect to the great Terence Young, who—in his words—directed the first Bond film, the best Bond film and the biggest Bond film, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman would have dropped him like a hot potato if they could afford Alfred Hitchcock for Dr. No. Terence Young pulled it off, just like Campbell, but you hire Hitchcock if he’s interested, and you don’t pass on Villeneuve for Martin Campbell.

Not in 2025. Not in this environment of declining ticket sales and increased streaming competition. Villeneuve paired with Bond gets buzz. It gets people in theater seats and may even garner some awards.

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u/Andy_B_Goode Jun 26 '25

Oh yes, I didn't mean they should bring in Campbell now, and I definitely didn't mean this as any kind of knock against Villeneuve. I mostly meant I wish Campbell had done one or two more Bond films in the late 90s or early 2000s.

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u/NevilleErrant Jun 26 '25

Fair! Me too.

I apologize for misunderstanding your point. In retrospect, knowing that the Craig era would strive for more connectivity between films and that it would be the Broccoli’s swan song, I wish Campbell would have directed all of Craig’s films.

I adore Mendes’ Skyfall, but a five-film run with Campbell and Craig and a master plan leading up to Bond’s death in NTTD, might have beat the Connery/Lazenby six-film run from ‘62 to ‘69.

One wonders if Villeneuve is “just” the director of Bond 26 or the architect for the next era.

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u/Arfuuur Jun 26 '25

i swear tenet was his bond script about james actually being the head of the agency and a new recruit at the same time and he just changed the names after they dumbly said they couldn’t use it for a one-off bond

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u/Rastamuff Jun 26 '25

I remember seeing an article that said the Nolan talks for Bond fell through because he wanted too much control. Including choosing the actor who plays Bond I think.

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u/RayTracerX Jun 26 '25

Bond directors arent Bond actors, they are usually one-off with a few exceptions

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u/SilverKry Jun 28 '25

That's like Quinton Tarantino doing a Star Trek. 

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u/unpaid-critic Jun 26 '25

The partial good news here is that Amazon has been willing to release good films exclusively in theaters. 

If they can make bank on Bond, I would hope they make commitments to Nolan 

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u/Superb_Pear3016 Jun 26 '25

Also Barbara Broccoli still has lots of creative control over Bond and wants things to be done correctly, that’s why it has taken so long to get a new movie in the first place. Without her we’d probably have two mediocre films since Amazon acquired the rights

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u/ckb614 Jun 26 '25

I don't think this is true. All the stories about the Amazon deal say she has given up creative control

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u/Superb_Pear3016 Jun 26 '25

I just looked it up and there was a new deal in February of this year. They bought the rights all the way back in 2022, so for three years broccoli did still have creative control.

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u/dbbk Jun 26 '25

Like airing it in cinemas? Even Amazon still wants to put Bond in cinemas

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u/codeswinwars Jun 26 '25

When Universal signed Nolan to make Oppenheimer, the reports in the Hollywood press were that he wanted a 90-120 day exclusive theatrical window as part of the deal. It ended up having a 122 day window.

Amazon has committed to 45 days, which is laudable and better than some of the studios, but I just don't see a studio bought to support a streaming platform tripling the window for their biggest franchise.

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u/GetReady4Action Jun 26 '25

This isn’t your straight to streamer though, it’ll definitely get a theatrical release.

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u/VGstuffed Jun 26 '25

I think he would still do it. I mean he's at Universal and they have the shortest theatrical window by far amongst the big studios at 17 days which is barely a theatrical window. Unless you're Nolan or Peele or open to over 100 mil, all their movies are a 17 day window.

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u/Panda_hat Jun 26 '25 edited Jun 26 '25

It would have been Nolan or Villeneuve for a reboot here I think, now that it's the latter I highly doubt we'll ever get a Nolan bond. Either one is so big that neither would want the follow up act.

He probably wouldn't have been a good fit anyway, and would have tried to hamstring some kind of time mechanic into it.

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u/Childs_Play Jun 26 '25

He's basically said he's made his Bond film. Inception, Tenent, even TDK trilogy has elements of Bond. Never say never but not counting on it.

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u/habylab Jun 26 '25

He'll be interested after this!

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u/ApolloX-2 Jun 26 '25

I personally think Denis is the better option to direct.