James Bond Producer Confirms Character And Films Will Be Reinvented For The Modern World
John F. Trent
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James Bond producer Barbara Broccoli recently confirmed that future James Bond films will reinvent the character and stories for the modern world.
LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 28: (L-R) Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson at the World Premiere of “NO TIME TO DIE” at the Royal Albert Hall on September 28, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Universal Pictures)
In an interview with The Guardian to promote the Prime Video reality series 007 Road to a Million, Broccoli informed the outlet that there are plans for the character to be “reinvented for the next chapter” albeit she and other executives “haven’t even begun” that process yet.
The Guardian’s Tara Conlan added, “She added that the next film would have to reflect the way the world has changed in the two decades since Craig was confirmed as the sixth 007 and pointed out that Bond has often been reinvented.”
Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions presents Daniel Craig as James Bond in the 007 action adventure CASINO ROYALE, from Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Columbia Pictures through Sony Pictures Releasing.
Photo by: Jay Maidment
Broccoli went on to justify why she believes the character needs to be reinvented for the modern era pointing to Pierce Brosnan’s GoldenEye film as well as the recently concluded Daniel Craig era.
As for GoldenEye, she said, “I go back to GoldenEye when everyone was saying ‘the cold war is over, the wall is over, Bond is dead, no need for Bond, the whole world’s at peace and now there’s no villains’ – and boy was that wrong!”
Conlan also added that Broccoli informed her “that modernisation is necessary whenever a new actor plays the part.”
Michael G. Wilson, Daniel Craig, and Barbara Broccoli Nicola Dove/Rushard Weir © 2019 Danjaq, LLC and MGM. All Rights Reserved.
To that point she discussed Craig’s era of James Bond noting she and other Bond producers “wanted to focus on what a 21st-century hero would look like.”
“Daniel gave us the ability to mine the emotional life of the character … and also the world was ready for it,” Broccoli said. “I think these movies reflect the time they are in, and there’s a big, big road ahead reinventing it for the next chapter and we haven’t even begun with that.”
Finally, Broccoli reiterated that she no plans to take James Bond to television outside of the reality program, “We make the Bond movies for the big theatrical screen and everything about the Bond movies is for audiences to see around the world on that format, so we’ve not wanted to do television.”
Sean Connery as James Bond in Dr. No (1962), Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Pictures
Broccoli previously shared her plans for future Bond films with an interview with Variety back in September 2022.
She informed the outlet, “It’s an evolution. Bond is evolving just as men are evolving. I don’t know who’s evolving at a faster pace.”
James Bond (George Lazenby) finds some light reading to pass the time in
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), United Artists
She had also already posited the idea that Craig’s Bond figured out the emotional arc of Bond saying, “The films over his tenure were the first time we really connected the emotional arc.”
Furthermore, she also told Variety the franchise would not be heading to television, “Well, we’re gonna keep it theatrical. We’re not going to try; we’ve got to do it. It’s just a theatrical franchise.”
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in GoldenEye (1995), MGM
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The most recent James Bond film, No Time to Die, grossed $759.9 million globally, which was good for fourth on the top grossing films of 2021 behind Spider-Man: No Way Home, Chang jin hu, and Ni Hao, Li Huan Ying. The movie had a reported production budget between $250 million and $300 million. However, it also racked up costs due to the fact it was delayed over a year.
One report from Variety claimed the film needed to make $900 million to break even and that the movie lost around $100 million.
Daniel Craig stars as James Bond in NO TIME TO DIE, an EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios film Credit: Nicola Dove © 2021 DANJAQ, LLC AND MGM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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