Danny Boyle says he is directing the next James Bond film

On to the next one

If you haven’t been paying attention to the rumors this might come as a bit of a surprise, but Danny Boyle has confirmed he will be co-writing and directing the next James Bond film. There have been rumors swirling about this for a while, but it’s official now. The directing part I can totally see as pulling in a more auteur director worked wonders with Sam Mendes, but the writing part is quite surprising. That could bring a very interesting edge to the next Bond installment as Boyle is well known for his layered, weaving plots, that often jump back and forth in time. 

He’s working with John Hodge (Trainspotting), who will probably be the primary screenwriter, but considering the two have a solid history together it should turn out feeling like a Boyle film. 

“We are working on a script right now,” the director told Metro. “And it all depends on that really. I am working on a Richard Curtis script at the moment. We hope to start shooting that in 6 or 7 weeks. Then Bond would be right at the end of the year. But we are working on them both right now.”

“We’ve got an idea, John Hodge, the screenwriter, and I have got this idea, and John is writing it at the moment. And it all depends on how it turns out. It would be foolish of me to give any of it away.”

So no official contracts have be signed yet, but if whatever idea Boyle has pans out then it sounds like he’s pretty much in. What’s interesting is that Spectre left us with a bit of a cliffhanger ending with Bond walking away, so one assumed that the producers had an idea of where they wanted to go with the story, but this sounds like Boyle and Hodge had their own plans that they want to run with. Maybe those will fit into the overall story from the previous films or maybe we’re just going back to the days of Bond films only loosely connecting. Either way Boyle should bring something very interesting to the franchise, and allow him to tackle a true blockbuster.

Danny Boyle confirms he is directing ‘James Bond 25,’ will shoot at the end of the year [Metro]