Will James Bond deliver next-day parcels? What can we expect from Amazon’s 007?
It didn’t come with a huge amount of surprise that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, after decades of overseeing the cinematic adventures of James Bond, would finally call it a day. Nor was it a surprise that following Amazon’s purchase of MGM (in 2021), giving them co-control of the franchise on streaming and the premiere of the last outing, No Time To Die, Eon Pictures have decided to hand the reigns entirely to Amazon to take Bond forward.
The truth is, Broccoli and Wilson had hit something of a creative brick wall with Bond. Daniel Craig’s era fizzled out somewhat disappointingly with a well below-par Spectre (now a decade old) before the hiring and firing of Danny Boyle, and subsequent hiring of Cary Fukunaga (as well as a late ‘rescue’ job on the script by an ill-fitting Phoebe Waller-Bridge) resulted in a solid if messy final outing for Craig.
Rumours were persistent even before No Time To Die, going back to Spectre (when Craig’s participation seemed briefly in doubt) about who might be next to wield the PPK. Not exactly helped by the Covid fallout, audiences also seemed to desert the franchise with drops from the record takings of Skyfall (just over a billion), to Spectre (around 800 million) and a comparatively disappointing turnout for No Time To Die (if you can call three-quarters of a billion disappointing).
Can James Bond, a character inimitable for many things and notorious for his flagrant misogyny, be tempered for a Gen Z audience? It’s a question that usually riles old-school fans. The term “go woke go broke” was often fired out almost comically by those of a rage-induced purple-faced complexion but as the last couple of years of flops and antipathy toward anything with clearly cynical, forced diversity box ticking (at the expense of coherent plot and interesting characters for example) shows, the Gammons had a point.
Anyone with a right-wing leaning and a James Bond VHS boxset somewhere in their attic lives in terror that Bond may be reinvented as black, female, trans or worst of all, a liberal. Although Amazon doesn’t have quite the same frequency of cynically trying to appeal to perhaps the broadest audiences possible (which is to say, potentially at the expense of their core audience) as Disney or Netflix, they do have previous. That said, Amazon as a company, regardless of whether he throws much weight in their entertainment wings, do have an actual Bond-esque supervillain in charge.
Lex, sorry, Jeff even put the question out to his followers on social media too. Who should be the next Bond? Henry Cavill was the resoundingly popular choice. He’s got a perfectly rugged image that may suit the character. Some may complain he’s too old on paper now, but let’s face it he looks younger than Connery on his debut, than Moore was, than Dalton was, maybe Brosnan. Dudes just generally seem to look younger now. In Connery’s era, despite being a fairly youthful 32, he looked a decade older. Plus, if Bond is too young there’s a danger he might have that poodle haircut that’s popular among the Gen Z crowd. Let’s not go that route.
Are we that fussed about a lengthy stint? Is there anything inherently wrong about a one-and-done? Or a fleeting dalliance with the character, like T Dalt. I like Cavill, although one thing about Bond historically, has been that the actor hasn’t often come from such iconic movie roles. Cavill was Superman, whether you’re a Snyder-ite or not. It’s hard to shake that image. For Roger Moore conversely, he was synonymous with The Saint, but that divide between TV and movies back then offered a useful buffer. My two cents is that Cavill would do a good job but he’s not my preference.
At one point the mere suggestion that Theo James could play Bond, might have seemed daft. Perhaps too model-like, or boyishly (disgustingly) good-looking. The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie’s series spinoff of his gangster movie comeback, ended up being a great audition piece for James. Suave, cool, intelligent and just a touch more rugged than in his breakout roles before. He’d make an excellent Bond, that is of course if Amazon decide to stay true to the character as envisioned in the book and as he’s been seen in the movies.
We may yet get Jane Bond which at the very least would be entertainingly infuriating to many. I do love to see people enraged about franchises (they feel they have some direct ownership of), being maltreated in their eyes as if they’ve forgotten they have the simple choice of not watching. For all I care you could make Bond a cartoon Unicorn. I won’t watch it (okay, maybe I would) but I won’t lose sleep or urinate steam over it.
Given Amazon’s penchant for churning content and a questionable track record with their Original Movie productions, I wouldn’t be entirely confident they’d make something great in the same way Martin Campbell twice reinvigorated the franchise (with arguably two top fivers). Will there be a marketing suite full of execs just waiting like coiled cobras to interfere? Will Bezos go full-blown nuts and cast himself in the role, or his buddy Elon? You can’t have Bond with a perfectly cuboid head, although we’d undoubtedly begin with a Moonraker reboot. I don’t even think the odds would be as long as you think. We also have the prospect of a content-churning machine, but Disney’s furious wringing dry of the Star Wars (and Marvel) franchise flannel should teach them oversaturation haemorrhages viewing numbers.
A Bond series given the budgetary heft of even something like Reacher, could also be a good way to reinvent Bond on screen. After all, is there enough big screen fervour to maintain Bond as a tentpole fixture? There’s so much good source material to adapt and certain novels that were glossed over in places in the condensed movie versions could be fleshed out across at least a mini-series per book. Still, all it takes is a hit or two until we suddenly get the Q-Files, Moneypenny’s Summer Vacation, Pussy Galore and the Red Arrows and many more spinoffs. Control yourselves Amazon!
If I was running the show however, I’d love to see Tarantino tempted back to have a stab at his Bond (at one point he fancied bringing Pierce Brosnan back). Could Brosnan’s Bond go Unforgiven? I’d watch Old Man Bond (hell, I liked View to a Kill after all). I’d love to see Bond be period set at the same time as the novels, if we’re sticking to the age in the books. Throw in some prescient Cold War paranoia for good measure. Amazon also has the luxury of limitless cash and the kind of bucks that could tempt someone like Chris Nolan to ensure the franchise sticks to its old-school and practical-focused approach to action and stunts.
What do you think Amazon will do with Bond? What would you like to see? Who should be the next 007? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Meanwhile be sure to check out former Bond girl Maryam d’Abo in Flickering Myth’s new film The Baby in the Basket, which is streaming now via Tubi in the US and via Prime Video, Apple TV and Sky Store in the UK as well as in stores and on Amazon and HMV on DVD.
Tom Jolliffe
