Our friends at
Empire Magazine nailed a pretty interesting piece of "non"-news early this morning when they ran this piece indicating (quite clearly) that
Sam Mendes will not be returning to the 007 franchise after kicking some serious box office butt with
Skyfall.
The eclectic director (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead) has been offered the job directing the next Bond, but has opted to focus on his commitments in the realm of theater for a little while. He of course mentions that he'd be thrilled to return to Bond-age at a later date, but it will definitely not be for Bond 24. Series producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli had this to say:
"We thoroughly enjoyed working with Sam, he directed our most successful Bond movie ever, Skyfall. We would have loved to have made the next film with him but completely respect his decision to focus on other projects and hope to have the opportunity to collaborate with him again."
And now for the fun part! WHOM would you hire to direct the follow-up to
Skyfall? I threw the question out
on my Twitter and got some great responses from across the pond. Danny Boyle! Kathryn Bigelow! Duncan Jones! My suggestion of Neil Marshall! Stephen Frears? Well, that'd certainly be interesting too! Joe Wright! Ben Affleck! Christopher Nolan! Joe Carnahan! (I have some great movie geeks on my Twitter feed.) Someone even said Spielberg!
We want to hear your "fondest wish" director for Bond 24. Reply below in the comments or, better yet, do it on the Twitter @
moviesdotcom.