It sounds and reads like it's credible and accurate. I just find it a bit odd that EON didn't get out in front of this and announce that there would be a delay on the release date of Bond 25. Unless.......the Rian Johnson film is a relatively quick 4 week shoot and filming on Bond 25 will begin in January instead of December and can still make the fall 2019 release date. This quote from Johnson is interesting "“Then, serendipitously, we heard Daniel might have a small window, and it worked out."
Another thing I noticed is the possibility of EON going for a late spring 2020 release for Bond 25. Just looking at some of the planned releases there are some gaps between the "big" releases that Bond could slip into unlike other late May and early Junes where the box office competition can be crowded and daunting.
The reports say DC is the lead so I can't imagine the shoot being less than 12-14 weeks, that's pretty standard for a 90-120 min movie. That would push B25 filming to the spring. There has to be a delay now.
Tomorrow Never Dies started filming in April 1997, released December 1997. In theory, Bond 25's release date could be put back to December to allow a Jan/Feb shooting date. A December release could result in major competition from other winter big movies such as Star Wars Episode 9. A safer option could be spring 2020.
If this new Craig/Johnson movie is going to happen it seems to suggest Bond 25 is in a mess. Director/writer gone a few months before filming was to start (fired or they chose to leave due to conflict), Craig making a new movie weeks or days before Bond 25 is to start shooting. Craig could go from Knives Out to Bond 25 - Dalton went from Brenda Starr to The Living Daylights - but Craig seems the type of actor that likes some time to prepare for the role?
I dunno, feels like Eon's lost control of the Bond ship. Time to head back to port and delay Bond 25?
Until there is some official announcement other than Boyle departing over creative differences we have no idea.
It would be nice to hear something official soon.
I think Someone's estimate of 12-14 week shooting schedule for a film like "Knives Out" may be a bit on the long side.
8 weeks may be a better estimate. However, no matter, things seem to be pointing to Bond 25 being delayed.
In comparing the release schedule for films in December 2019 and late May/early June 2020 it appears that the latter appears to be much less crowded with big film releases so we may be looking at the first non-fall Bond release since LTK.
Until there is some official announcement other than Boyle departing over creative differences we have no idea.
It would be nice to hear something official soon.
I think Someone's estimate of 12-14 week shooting schedule for a film like "Knives Out" may be a bit on the long side.
8 weeks may be a better estimate. However, no matter, things seem to be pointing to Bond 25 being delayed.
In comparing the release schedule for films in December 2019 and late May/early June 2020 it appears that the latter appears to be much less crowded with big film releases so we may be looking at the first non-fall Bond release since LTK.
And of course a lot of conventional wisdom about when to launch a potentially big film has gone out the window recently. It's no longer a choice of late fall versus late spring. Black Panther came out in February and has made more than $1B. Last year, Beauty and the Beast came out in March and did the same. Bond might actually benefit from premiering during a "slow" season (although I doubt it will).
Very interesting!
"Sources stress that [Knives out] shouldn't interferens with the production schedule of Bond25".
Is that the origional production schedule or a new one?
S. J. Clarkson is an interesting name for director. I actually saw her mentioned on a list of best TV directors, but I assumed she (yes, a female director) wasn't available because of star wars.
Clarkson might be just what Bond needs now.
I haven't seen anything Bart Layton has made, including "American animals", but it look like he's comparable to Yann Demage: - an up and coming director who has shown talent, but hasn't made any big project yet. It's worth mentioning that Layton is a director/writer.
Some info posted elsewhere on the internet. I don't know how legit this is but a chap called Peter claims he has insider sources:
For all those that PM'd me heard the same thing a week ago and one night ago, and today: B25 will not lose their release date, and B25 will be the Hodge's script (just polished by one or a couple of writers)...
Anything can happen in the film industry, of course, but, @ColonelSun and I have been consistent in what the Colonel has reported: what went down with Boyle and EoN (AND Universal):
Great concept; no action.
Eon and Universal want some writers on board to "punch up" the action (as anyone from this storied franchise would). Boyle probably wasn't happy about this.
B25, when it comes out, will be the Hodge script, but punched up with "polishers".
There was, perhaps, a blowout about characterization (but nothing about killing 007, literally), between DC and DB...
(there are a couple new names I've never heard of entered into today's Variety).
There were definite claims from the Hollywood Reporter-- and other legit outlets-- that there was a delay, B25 missed release dates... Anyone who PM'd me from the start heard that that was not the case (from over two weeks ago!). And it takes a Variety article (over 2 weeks later) to verify-- guess @ColonelSun knows what he speaks of... maybe??? Or, that's right, what he says is not new and unsubstantiated).
Could a delay happen? Of course. Anything can. But the producers at EoN and Universal are too busy meeting potential replacements for Boyle.
Delaying the release dates has not yet entered the picture...
If any of this is accurate it looks as if the Hodge screenplay will be used (I guess Hodge will have a credit?), the screenplay will be rewritten to include more action, and the film's release date remains. No clear favourite for the director's job.
It's interesting that they are both have heavy TV backgrounds.
I wonder if that's because TV has a much faster turnaround, timescales and schedules are far more pressured in TV and so they would be the sort of people who could get to grips with whatever script is on offer, or needs to be written, in the very compressed time frame they have.
...it says: "After Boyle exited, MGM and Eon, the film’s backers, sent out the word that they are looking for a writer or a writer-director to come on to the film, according to insiders."
Yann Demange has no writing credentials to speak of, while Layton and Clarkson have them in spades and they are British.
I'd prefer Bart as the director simply because he has made a film and it had both critic and audience approval, according to Rotten Tomatoes. As good as it would be to have a female director for Bond, it needs to be someone with film experience. Maybe Clarkson can be a co-writer on the script?
I think it's important to remember that nowadays directing an episode of a big TV show is comparable to directing a small to mid-level movie. Directing the biggest TV shows like Westworld, GoT or Vikings is in many ways closer to directing Bond than making a small thriller like '71.
As Someone just said, TV directors are used to working quickly. I want to add that TV directors are used to aking orders from showrunners, and that's essentially what Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are. None of the three directors mentioned by Variety are known, but the fact that SJ Clarkson is a woman will give the press something else to write about after the Boyle scandal. I hope Clarkson gets the job, but I wouldn't mind if the other two gets the job. Now it's important to hire someone and get the job done.
Some info posted elsewhere on the internet. I don't know how legit this is but a chap called Peter claims he has insider sources:
For all those that PM'd me heard the same thing a week ago and one night ago, and today: B25 will not lose their release date, and B25 will be the Hodge's script (just polished by one or a couple of writers)...
Anything can happen in the film industry, of course, but, @ColonelSun and I have been consistent in what the Colonel has reported: what went down with Boyle and EoN (AND Universal):
Great concept; no action.
Eon and Universal want some writers on board to "punch up" the action (as anyone from this storied franchise would). Boyle probably wasn't happy about this.
B25, when it comes out, will be the Hodge script, but punched up with "polishers".
There was, perhaps, a blowout about characterization (but nothing about killing 007, literally), between DC and DB...
(there are a couple new names I've never heard of entered into today's Variety).
There were definite claims from the Hollywood Reporter-- and other legit outlets-- that there was a delay, B25 missed release dates... Anyone who PM'd me from the start heard that that was not the case (from over two weeks ago!). And it takes a Variety article (over 2 weeks later) to verify-- guess @ColonelSun knows what he speaks of... maybe??? Or, that's right, what he says is not new and unsubstantiated).
Could a delay happen? Of course. Anything can. But the producers at EoN and Universal are too busy meeting potential replacements for Boyle.
Delaying the release dates has not yet entered the picture...
If any of this is accurate it looks as if the Hodge screenplay will be used (I guess Hodge will have a credit?), the screenplay will be rewritten to include more action, and the film's release date remains. No clear favourite for the director's job.
The list of issues that supposedly caused a rift between Boyle and EON is becoming very long: Killing Bond #MeToo, Cold war, casting, action ….
The Variety article puts things in a much clearer and more plausible perspective.
I think Number 24 and Someone really make great points regarding EON mining from TV to find a director/writer. EON being basically like "show runners" is really on point.
While it appears that the company line through anonymous sources is that the original release state for Bond 25 still stands, it is certainly possible that there is still a change in release date but here are some things that make it a bit more realistic that if everything falls into place, a November 2019 release date could still happen:
- Hodge's screenplay (based on Boyle's idea) is still the primary source material and just needs to be polished and the action pumped
up to Bond standards.
- A director or director/writer is identified and brought on board within the next two weeks. The new director needs to be gifted,
fresh and have the ability to work along with EON and their established/experienced Bond production pro's
- EON and the director will need to settle on a DP quickly. The DP will need to be comfortable shooting in digital as this will
streamline shooting as opposed to shooting on film.
- EON will need to have solid assurances from Craig and the producers of "Knives Out" that DC will be available when Bond 25 begins
filming (and Craig needs to stay in the gym for "Bond shape" during that shoot too ).
It wouldn't surprise me that EON has a "wish list" of directors. McQuarrie is an interesting name, even more so than Edgar Wright (Wright had troubles with Ant Man) in that he was able to write the last MI film pretty much on the fly during production and worked well with Cruise (if fairness, Cruise has a rep as being not hard to work with, quite the opposite). McQuarrie is a writer as well but his greatest attribute is action and if all the Hodge script really needs is some action, McQuarrie would be the man. Plus, it's pretty obvious that McQuarrie understands Bond since he likes to steal from err.....I mean is influenced by the Bond films. ) My only fear is, I just don't want to see Bond 25 become an MI wannabe and with McQuarrie and EON's latter day tendency toward imitation rather than originality it's a possibility.
I would like to see Edgar Wright direct Bond, I don't think hiring Christopher McQuirrie is the right thing to do. He is clearly very good at his job, but hiring the director and writer of the main competition is not a good idea. The Bond movies should cultivate their identity and style, not trying to emulate MI.
Pretty much every tabloid esque news feed I'm getting is claiming bond 25 will be delayed as DC is double booked and starts shooting "knives out" next month. I'm sure this was preplanned into eons time frames
Pretty much every tabloid esque news feed I'm getting is claiming bond 25 will be delayed as DC is double booked and starts shooting "knives out" next month. I'm sure this was preplanned into eons time frames
Particularly when Knives Out doesn't appear to be a massive spectacle. People are saying there will be a delay because Ryan Johnson's last film was Last Jedi and therefore massive, but before that his films had much shorter shoot times. Craig could begin to shoot knives out at the end of October or the beginning of November and still be done to start Bond shooting in January / February. I do think Bond 25s filming may pick up later than planned. But it may not effect the release too much. They could also schedule it to do work without Craig first so that filming isn't held up. Maybe we could see more of the villian and his motivation rather than just seeing them from Bond's perspective. This would then give Craig time to finish Knives Out and then come onto Bond and hit the ground running.
NB. It is only seeing Blofeld from Bond's perspective that I think hurt the 'author of all your pain' reveal the most. If we had seen some of the flashbacks that are in the original leaked script (Young Bond, Obenhausser Sr and young Blofeld playing cards etc, to actually visualise where that jealousy came from) and maybe seen flashbacks involving Blofeld discussing with White, Greene, Silva or Le Chiffre it would have felt far more like he was involved in the events of those movies than what we got.
It's fine to have Bond not care about Blofeld, but they needed to sell Blofled's massive hang ups over Bond and giving it more time without Bond present could have achieved that and given Craig a slightly lighter shooting schedule.
Surely DC has a contract with EON that would prevent him from taking another role that would interfere with the Bond25 shooting schedule. Presumably all parties involved are aware of the parameters. So either the shoot for "Knives Out" will not interfere, or the Bond 25 shoot is already delayed.
It’s a bit disconcerting that Lionsgate has now decided to open it’s big WWII movie “Midway” on the same day Bond 25 currently holds (which is also Veterans Day in the States).
Surely DC has a contract with EON that would prevent him from taking another role that would interfere with the Bond25 shooting schedule. Presumably all parties involved are aware of the parameters. So either the shoot for "Knives Out" will not interfere, or the Bond 25 shoot is already delayed.
Craig said he was tired making SPECTRE, it's why he said he'd only return for the money. Making another film weeks/days before Bond 25 begins shooting is only going to make him more tired, I reckon. The guy doesn't make any sense but hey, he told Barbara Broccoli he didn't even want to play the part (back in 2005) but he took the role anyway. I've given up trying to figure the guy out.
Craig is lucky he doesn't have to take every role offered to him. 90 percent of actors aren't in that position. They have to take the work or they're out of pocket and the bills need paying, but Craig is super-rich so he doesn't need to do a film prior to Bond 25.
I honestly don't think things are as much up in the air as some have been lead to believe, Craig shooting another film this year must be part of a plan/ arrangement, surly we don't think eon and Craig have the ability to play fast and loose with tens possibly hundreds of millions of pounds, investors, film companies, let alone the hundreds of people who are involved in two film productions. The initial release date of bond 25 will have taken into account Craig's availability.
It's starting to come accross like eon are just a bunch of bumbling amateurs who are clueless as opposed to a highly successful film company with decades of experience.
The obvious reason why Craig will be in "Knives out" is ..... the project interests him. He doesn't have to make another movie in his life if he doesn't want to. Craig must have found the script, director, character interesting. It's unfortunate that he won't be praparing for Bond25 instead, but there you go.
There have been speculations that Johnson is indeed the director of Bond25 and Knives out is a ruse to hide an early start in filming. Wishful thinking.
There have been speculations that Johnson is indeed the director of Bond25 and Knives out is a ruse to hide an early start in filming. Wishful thinking.
That would probably piss of MRC who committed $40 million to make the movie in what was a record deal for the Toronto International Film Festival 8-)
McQuarrie is an interesting name... in that he was able to write the last MI film pretty much on the fly during production ... McQuarrie is a writer as well but his greatest attribute is action and if all the Hodge script really needs is some action, McQuarrie would be the man. ...My only fear is, I just don't want to see Bond 25 become an MI wannabe and with McQuarrie and EON's latter day tendency toward imitation rather than originality it's a possibility.
please, no, let us not wish for yet another film where they make it up as they go along. If that's the talent a director brings then we definitely don't want him.
Those Mission Impossible films are pretty light on the plot as it is. The Bond refences within them are basically just recognisable images, visual tributes, without anything adding up to a plot, let alone a Bond style plot.
And the recent Craig films themselves have had enough issues with endless action sequences and incoherent links connecting those sequences, little to add up to a greater whole. That's the problem that needs to be fixed.
NB. It is only seeing Blofeld from Bond's perspective that I think hurt the 'author of all your pain' reveal the most. If we had seen some of the flashbacks that are in the original leaked script (Young Bond, Obenhausser Sr and young Blofeld playing cards etc, to actually visualise where that jealousy came from) and maybe seen flashbacks involving Blofeld discussing with White, Greene, Silva or Le Chiffre it would have felt far more like he was involved in the events of those movies than what we got.
It's fine to have Bond not care about Blofeld, but they needed to sell Blofled's massive hang ups over Bond and giving it more time without Bond present could have achieved that and given Craig a slightly lighter shooting schedule.
an interesting take, and I'm glad somebody out there appreciates what they did with this last film. The film made enough money, there must be lots of people out there who actually like the foster brother plot twist, and I'm surprised we don't see more defenders. Thanks for explaining.
I'd be more accepting if the character wasn't named Blofeld. They could have kept him named Oberhauser Jr, and the organisation named QUANTUM, and it would all have made as much sense without contradicting what had been established in Fleming and the classic films. In fact, it would have worked better, the establishing dialog was a confusing digression.
I'm not familiar with the leaked scripts, but the idea of the flashbacks sounds interesting. Like the pre-credits sequences of Goldeneye or Casino Royale, it would help to persuade us of this hitherto unmentioned backstory if we could actually see some of it, and it'd be cool to catch some glimpses of Bond's early days. I think it was upthread we were discussing the use of flashbacks in previous Bond films: there generally has never been one. (The context was discussing the appropriateness of directors like Ritchie or Nolan).
Comments
The reports say DC is the lead so I can't imagine the shoot being less than 12-14 weeks, that's pretty standard for a 90-120 min movie. That would push B25 filming to the spring. There has to be a delay now.
At least I hope for a February release for Bond25.
If this new Craig/Johnson movie is going to happen it seems to suggest Bond 25 is in a mess. Director/writer gone a few months before filming was to start (fired or they chose to leave due to conflict), Craig making a new movie weeks or days before Bond 25 is to start shooting. Craig could go from Knives Out to Bond 25 - Dalton went from Brenda Starr to The Living Daylights - but Craig seems the type of actor that likes some time to prepare for the role?
I dunno, feels like Eon's lost control of the Bond ship. Time to head back to port and delay Bond 25?
It would be nice to hear something official soon.
I think Someone's estimate of 12-14 week shooting schedule for a film like "Knives Out" may be a bit on the long side.
8 weeks may be a better estimate. However, no matter, things seem to be pointing to Bond 25 being delayed.
In comparing the release schedule for films in December 2019 and late May/early June 2020 it appears that the latter appears to be much less crowded with big film releases so we may be looking at the first non-fall Bond release since LTK.
And of course a lot of conventional wisdom about when to launch a potentially big film has gone out the window recently. It's no longer a choice of late fall versus late spring. Black Panther came out in February and has made more than $1B. Last year, Beauty and the Beast came out in March and did the same. Bond might actually benefit from premiering during a "slow" season (although I doubt it will).
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/bond-25-director-danny-boyle-replacement-1202927240/amp/
"Sources stress that [Knives out] shouldn't interferens with the production schedule of Bond25".
Is that the origional production schedule or a new one?
S. J. Clarkson is an interesting name for director. I actually saw her mentioned on a list of best TV directors, but I assumed she (yes, a female director) wasn't available because of star wars.
Clarkson might be just what Bond needs now.
I haven't seen anything Bart Layton has made, including "American animals", but it look like he's comparable to Yann Demage: - an up and coming director who has shown talent, but hasn't made any big project yet. It's worth mentioning that Layton is a director/writer.
If any of this is accurate it looks as if the Hodge screenplay will be used (I guess Hodge will have a credit?), the screenplay will be rewritten to include more action, and the film's release date remains. No clear favourite for the director's job.
It's interesting that they are both have heavy TV backgrounds.
I wonder if that's because TV has a much faster turnaround, timescales and schedules are far more pressured in TV and so they would be the sort of people who could get to grips with whatever script is on offer, or needs to be written, in the very compressed time frame they have.
As Number24 points out, Layton has writing credentials, but so does Clarkson.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1717925/ - Layton
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1237416/ - Clarkson
Layton's writing is mainly documentaries, while Clarkson created and wrote for her own TV drama, Mistresses.
In Justin Kroll's (and Brent Lang) earlier article...
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/bond-25-release-date-danny-boyle-1202915388/
...it says: "After Boyle exited, MGM and Eon, the film’s backers, sent out the word that they are looking for a writer or a writer-director to come on to the film, according to insiders."
Yann Demange has no writing credentials to speak of, while Layton and Clarkson have them in spades and they are British.
I'd prefer Bart as the director simply because he has made a film and it had both critic and audience approval, according to Rotten Tomatoes. As good as it would be to have a female director for Bond, it needs to be someone with film experience. Maybe Clarkson can be a co-writer on the script?
As Someone just said, TV directors are used to working quickly. I want to add that TV directors are used to aking orders from showrunners, and that's essentially what Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are. None of the three directors mentioned by Variety are known, but the fact that SJ Clarkson is a woman will give the press something else to write about after the Boyle scandal. I hope Clarkson gets the job, but I wouldn't mind if the other two gets the job. Now it's important to hire someone and get the job done.
The list of issues that supposedly caused a rift between Boyle and EON is becoming very long: Killing Bond #MeToo, Cold war, casting, action ….
I really wonder what's correct.
I think Number 24 and Someone really make great points regarding EON mining from TV to find a director/writer. EON being basically like "show runners" is really on point.
While it appears that the company line through anonymous sources is that the original release state for Bond 25 still stands, it is certainly possible that there is still a change in release date but here are some things that make it a bit more realistic that if everything falls into place, a November 2019 release date could still happen:
- Hodge's screenplay (based on Boyle's idea) is still the primary source material and just needs to be polished and the action pumped
up to Bond standards.
- A director or director/writer is identified and brought on board within the next two weeks. The new director needs to be gifted,
fresh and have the ability to work along with EON and their established/experienced Bond production pro's
- EON and the director will need to settle on a DP quickly. The DP will need to be comfortable shooting in digital as this will
streamline shooting as opposed to shooting on film.
- EON will need to have solid assurances from Craig and the producers of "Knives Out" that DC will be available when Bond 25 begins
filming (and Craig needs to stay in the gym for "Bond shape" during that shoot too
The author of the article has tweeted some important info that wasn't included in the article:
https://twitter.com/krolljvar/status/1037493074484592640
Bond on the Box - Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | LetterBoxd | YouTube
It wouldn't surprise me that EON has a "wish list" of directors. McQuarrie is an interesting name, even more so than Edgar Wright (Wright had troubles with Ant Man) in that he was able to write the last MI film pretty much on the fly during production and worked well with Cruise (if fairness, Cruise has a rep as being not hard to work with, quite the opposite). McQuarrie is a writer as well but his greatest attribute is action and if all the Hodge script really needs is some action, McQuarrie would be the man. Plus, it's pretty obvious that McQuarrie understands Bond since he likes to steal from err.....I mean is influenced by the Bond films.
https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1011209/James-Bond-25-Dave-Bautista-Mr-Hinx-Spectre-Daniel-Craig-Final-Score
Particularly when Knives Out doesn't appear to be a massive spectacle. People are saying there will be a delay because Ryan Johnson's last film was Last Jedi and therefore massive, but before that his films had much shorter shoot times. Craig could begin to shoot knives out at the end of October or the beginning of November and still be done to start Bond shooting in January / February. I do think Bond 25s filming may pick up later than planned. But it may not effect the release too much. They could also schedule it to do work without Craig first so that filming isn't held up. Maybe we could see more of the villian and his motivation rather than just seeing them from Bond's perspective. This would then give Craig time to finish Knives Out and then come onto Bond and hit the ground running.
NB. It is only seeing Blofeld from Bond's perspective that I think hurt the 'author of all your pain' reveal the most. If we had seen some of the flashbacks that are in the original leaked script (Young Bond, Obenhausser Sr and young Blofeld playing cards etc, to actually visualise where that jealousy came from) and maybe seen flashbacks involving Blofeld discussing with White, Greene, Silva or Le Chiffre it would have felt far more like he was involved in the events of those movies than what we got.
It's fine to have Bond not care about Blofeld, but they needed to sell Blofled's massive hang ups over Bond and giving it more time without Bond present could have achieved that and given Craig a slightly lighter shooting schedule.
Banking on Bond 25 moving, perhaps?
Craig said he was tired making SPECTRE, it's why he said he'd only return for the money. Making another film weeks/days before Bond 25 begins shooting is only going to make him more tired, I reckon. The guy doesn't make any sense but hey, he told Barbara Broccoli he didn't even want to play the part (back in 2005) but he took the role anyway. I've given up trying to figure the guy out.
Craig is lucky he doesn't have to take every role offered to him. 90 percent of actors aren't in that position. They have to take the work or they're out of pocket and the bills need paying, but Craig is super-rich so he doesn't need to do a film prior to Bond 25.
It's starting to come accross like eon are just a bunch of bumbling amateurs who are clueless as opposed to a highly successful film company with decades of experience.
That would probably piss of MRC who committed $40 million to make the movie in what was a record deal for the Toronto International Film Festival 8-)
Those Mission Impossible films are pretty light on the plot as it is. The Bond refences within them are basically just recognisable images, visual tributes, without anything adding up to a plot, let alone a Bond style plot.
And the recent Craig films themselves have had enough issues with endless action sequences and incoherent links connecting those sequences, little to add up to a greater whole. That's the problem that needs to be fixed.
I'd be more accepting if the character wasn't named Blofeld. They could have kept him named Oberhauser Jr, and the organisation named QUANTUM, and it would all have made as much sense without contradicting what had been established in Fleming and the classic films. In fact, it would have worked better, the establishing dialog was a confusing digression.
I'm not familiar with the leaked scripts, but the idea of the flashbacks sounds interesting. Like the pre-credits sequences of Goldeneye or Casino Royale, it would help to persuade us of this hitherto unmentioned backstory if we could actually see some of it, and it'd be cool to catch some glimpses of Bond's early days. I think it was upthread we were discussing the use of flashbacks in previous Bond films: there generally has never been one. (The context was discussing the appropriateness of directors like Ritchie or Nolan).