Director Steven Soderbergh, who is perhaps best known for the Ocean’s trilogy, has revealed that he once had talks with Eon Productions co-head and 007 franchise overseer Barbara Broccoli about directing a James Bond movie.
In a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via The Playlist), Soderbergh discussed how he and Broccoli “were at odds about some things” which resulted in the director not moving forward with the project.
“Absolutely, I love that world. We were at odds about some things that were important. We had some great conversations. It was fun to think about, but we just couldn’t… the last ten yards were, we just couldn’t do it, we couldn’t figure it out,” Soderbergh said.
Although Soderbergh never got the chance to make his James Bond movie, the director revealed that he did incorporate some of his ideas into his other movies, specifically 2011’s Haywire.
“Aspects of it have shown up elsewhere. I would say, there are things in Haywire, in terms of its approach to the character, and it’s not a big movie, but there’s a little bit of activity in it. That’s a hint of the kind of attitude I was looking for.”
However, it seems like Soderbergh doesn’t hold any hard feelings about how things turned out as he discussed that he’s looking forward to the next Bond movie, No Time to Die – which is directed by Cary Fukunaga: “I hope they’re able to figure out the release of the new one.”
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Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology.
No Time To Die stars Daniel Craig (James Bond), Ralph Fiennes (M), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Rory Kinnear (Tanner), Léa Seydoux (Madeleine Swann), Ben Whishaw (Q), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter) and Christoph Waltz (Blofeld), while new additions include Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Ana de Armas (Blade Runner 2049), Lashana Lynch (Captain Marvel), Billy Magnussen (Velvet Buzzsaw), Dali Benssalah (A Faithful Man) and David Dencik (Top of the Lake).