Thursday, September 3, 2009

Bond... Jane Bond.

Every so often you hear an idea so good you just can’t help but share it. Over the past few days I watched the last two BRILLIANT James Bond films CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. At some point I will do an in-depth post as to why I think these are not only the two best James Bond films ever made but also one of if not THE single most brilliant franchise reboot in the history of cinema. That’s not the point of this article though.

In bumming around online tonight I came across an article in Empire magazine in which they made a suggestion that I found so staggeringly genius I couldn’t help but pass it on to the rest of my film geek brothers and sisters. Mind you this isn’t a rumor or speculation or something as far as I know is even being discussed, this is just a suggestion they made as to a direction the producers of the Bond franchise should head in.

For years there have been lots of interesting names rumored and suggested as directors for whatever the next Bond film coming down the pike might be. I think the one that got the most press for the longest time was when Quentin Tarantino announced he’d love to take a crack at 007 and every geek in the world went into fanboy overdrive and declared with unequivocal certainty that Tarantino was signed onto make a badass hard “R” Bond film the likes of which the world had never seen. Obviously that never happened and while that would have been interesting it’s probably best for the franchise that it didn’t.

More recently Danny Boyle’s name has been thrown about. Mind you he would be the first ever Oscar winning director to helm a Bond film but it makes sense. Boyle is British, Bond is British and Boyle has had a very eclectic, unique career. He’s never directed the same kind of film twice and he is the kind of Oscar winning director that would tackle everyone’s tuxedo sporting, martini swilling secret agent, simply because he wanted to and he’d think it was fun.

While I would be first in line if either of the above mentioned directors took a crack at Bond, I don’t think either of them could stir up as much excitement at the sheer idea of a certain director taking the reigns of the longest running franchise in film history. Empire threw the name out there; I don’t think it will ever happen but by God would I love it if it did and if you’ve seen this director’s last film I think you’ll understand agree. The name Empire threw out there was Kathryn Bigelow.

If you’ve seen THE HURT LOCKER (EASILY one of the best films of the year) you know why they’ve suggested her. No female has ever stepped behind the camera for a Bond film and I know some of you will argue they shouldn’t because well… it’s BOND, THE man of all men, I’m not sure if I can think of any other director in Hollywood (Save maybe J.J. Abrams or Jon Favreau) who would make a more kick-ass James Bond film than Bigelow. Like I said I highly doubt it will ever happen but with the last two films the Bond franchise has shown it’s once again not afraid to take risks or be cutting edge. One can only hope that they’ll continue the trend and I can’t think of anyone better to do it with.

3 comments:

Megan said...

I would HUGELY support a Bigelow Bond film. She's amazing.

Adam said...

I hope that Danny Boyle never gets the opportunity to direct a Bond film. He's a good director, but I don't really fancy my Bond shown in hyper-kinetic fashion. Also, his signature wipes would look REALLY weird in a Bond movie. Again, I'm not saying he's incompentent or anything. I just think he's stylistically incompatible.

As for Bigelow, the only film of her's I've seen is K-19: The Widowmaker. Based on that, I wouldn't think she's the best choice for Bond either. I still haven't seen The Hurt Locker though. Perhaps those of you that have seen it have evidence to the contrary.

Anonymous said...

Loved Royale not so much Solace.

Point Break is one of my favorite action films and I saw The Hurt Locker over the summer and really enjoyed that too.

If they go the female director route for the next one, they could do worse than her. She has my vote.