Christopher Nolan: Directing James Bond would be a privilege
The name could be Nolan. Christopher nolan.
The acclaimed ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Inception’ director has just confirmed he’s ready to direct part of the iconic James Bond series, calling the opportunity “an incredible privilege”.
“I love these films. The influence of these films on my filmography is embarrassingly obvious. There’s no need to shy away from that,” Nolan said on Thursday’s episode “Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast. “It would be an incredible privilege to do one.”
However, the British filmmaker – who previously addressed speculation about his involvement in the world of 007 back in 2017 – was again reluctant to go all out, pointing out that when dealing with a character as famous or a legacy franchise as 007, directors must “work within certain limitations”.
“You have to have the right attitude. It’s got to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really delve into something within the confines of that, because that’s something you would never want to take on and do wrong,” he told podcast host Josh Horowitz. The five-time Oscar nominee explained that he felt a similar responsibility when he adapted Batman for the Dark Knight trilogy in the late 1990s.
“You don’t want to venture into a film where you’re not fully committed to what you’re creatively bringing to it. So as a writer, the casting – everything – is a total package,” he said. “But I kind of stick with my previous answer: one would have to be really needed. You really have to be willing to give a character the fullness of what you bring to it. Otherwise, I’m really excited to be first in line to see what they do.”
For years, the director of Batman Begins and Memento has been in talks about taking over the 007 franchise, which has been the case helmeted by Terence Young, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Guy Hamilton, Sam Mendes and John Glen, among others. In 2017, Nolan told Playboy that he was “definitely” interested in directing the films and had a candid dialogue with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.
“I absolutely love the character and I’m always excited to see what they make of it,” he says said then. “Maybe one day it would work out. You would have to be needed if you know what I mean. It needs to be reinvented; it must need you And they get along very well.”
Meanwhile, the future leading role of the franchise is still unknown to the fans: Daniel Craig, who most recently embodied the enigmatic super spy, announced his departure from the franchise after five films. There were rumors that Idris Elba and Henry Cavill could take on the role, but the latest frontrunner rumored to be playing Ian Fleming’s literary sleuth is English actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who has starred in ‘Nocturnal Animals’, ‘Bullet Train’ and the upcoming ‘Kraven the Hunter.’ (However, production and further details are likely to be further hampered by the two Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes currently hampering Hollywood studios.)
Sean Connery founded 1963 as a charismatic secret agent in “Dr. Dr. the blockbuster James Bond series. No,” and since then George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have impersonated the character.
