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James Bond producers say they need to find the right villain before casting next 007
"We start by thinking about, 'What is the world afraid of?'"
While it's been less than a year since Daniel Craig closed out his big screen tenure as James Bond in No Time to Die, fans are already beside themselves with anticipation over who will be cast as the next iteration of 007. If you ask the franchise's longtime producers, however, they'll tell you that they're not currently on the hunt for a new super-spy. In fact, the very first order of business is to figure out who — or what — will spur the enduring MI6 operative to defend the world on behalf of King (now) and Country.
"We always sit down with our writers, and we start by thinking about, 'What is the world afraid of?' We start by thinking about, 'Who’s the Bond villain?'" producer Barbara Broccoli explained to The Hollywood Reporter at a 60th anniversary celebration. "We try to focus on that as the sort of uber story, and then we want to also look at Bond’s emotional life, and what he’ll be facing personally that he hasn’t had to deal with before. So he has two big issues in the films — one is the geopolitical one and the other is the personal one."
Until the creatives can hammer out a clear narrative path forward, Broccoli continued, there won't be any specific talk of casting. "We’re not just casting someone for one film. We’re casting someone, hopefully for a decade, at least. It’s a big decision to make, and we’re nowhere near making that decision."
Fortunately, audiences can still get their fill of fresh Bond-related content with The Sound of 007, a documentary exploring the iconic music of the movies, which lands on Prime Video Wednesday, Oct. 5.
Watch the trailer below:
"I think the sound is such an integral part of the films," Broccoli said. "It all started with John Barry — the John Barry sound with Monty Norman’s theme and John Barry’s hands. John created a new genre of film music with the Bond films and then of course went on to do so many other extraordinary scores on different films like Out of Africa. I think the combination of the soundtracks, the scores, and also the songs have been very much a part of the success. Normally when we’re making a movie, everybody wants to know who’s going to play Bond, who’s the villain, who’s the lady and who’s singing the song. It’s very much been a part of the whole mystique of Bond."
Last year, Amazon acquired the coveted 007 IP in an $8 billion acquisition of the MGM cinematic library. Despite this notable change of ownership, Amazon still needs to receive approval from Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson before making any decisions on Bond.
That means you shouldn't expect to see any globe-trotting adventures on your Prime account anytime soon. For the time being, the suave, martini-swigging secret agent can only be found in theaters. "We have resisted that," Broccoli concluded when asked about whether James would ever venture into the world of television. "Many years ago we did do an animated children’s thing, but we’ve resisted doing anything, because you know, we really like to put all of our efforts into the theatrical features."
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