Bond producer Barbara Broccoli has responded to some brief questions posed to her about the future of 007 and the EON franchise, and about the selection process for a new actor to replace Daniel Craig.
According to Deadline, the well-known entertainment industry website based in America, Broccoli, who was quizzed at an event in the UK, indicated that an ambitious reinvention of James Bond post-Craig could take at least two years.
She also called for patience as the casting search begins to slowly take shape and the producers reflect on what approach they will adopt for the next stage in the franchise: ‘We’re working out where to go with him. It’s a reinvention of Bond. We’re reinventing who he is and that takes time. I’d say that filming is at least two years away’.
Broccoli also emphasised that she did not have a shortlist of actors who could replace Craig, who played 007 in five smash-hit movies: ‘Nobody’s in the running’, she said.
The Bond producer’s comments to Deadline were made at a special ceremony held in London where she was presented with a prestigious Fellowship by the British Film Institute (BFI). Interestingly, also present to witness the well-deserved award were Ralph ‘M’ Fiennes and Naomie ‘Moneypenny’ Harris. Fiennes took the opportunity to quip that they were the people to ‘fix’ Bond after 007’s dramatic demise at the end of No Time To Die: ‘You find him and we’ll train him’, he told Broccoli (it is perhaps worth noting that Fiennes has said previously that he remains keen to continue as ‘M’ if possible).
Broccoli’s latest comments echo similar views she expressed earlier this year. Interviewed in the UK’s Times newspaper in March, Broccoli and her 007 co-producer Michael G. Wilson said ‘no decisions’ had been made yet about casting a new actor and about the future. Broccoli commented: ‘We have to decide what the films are going to be like’.
The JBIFC will bring you further updates as soon as they happen, but – as the 007 producer herself has emphasised – patience is required. It is doubtful there will be any major news about the next Bond film for at least the rest of 2022. In the meantime, however, there are still plenty of opportunities to catch Bond on the Big Screen, as part of the 60th Anniversary re-releases.
You know the name, and you know the number.
