Bond 23: Is Barbara Broccoli making her imprint?

A notion is taking hold in 007 fandom that half-siblings Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli take turns being the primary producer in the Bond series. If that’s the case, it may be Ms. Broccoli’s turn.

Ms. Broccoli, the daughter of Albert R. Broccoli and Dana Broccoli, supposedly takes the lead on the odd-numbered Eon films, according to this fan theory. There were accounts she sought Michael Apted, a director with no real action-movie experience to helm The World Is Not Enough, No. 19 in the series from Eon Productions. Eon entry No. 21, Casino Royale, rebooted the series and went in an even more character driven direction.

By contrast, the even-numbered Eon movies, are supposedly the responsibility of Wilson, son of Dana Broccoli and stepson of Cubby Broccoli. If so, these films including Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace are more action-driven. It’s not a perfect theory. The first half of Die Another Day had some character development and Casino Royale certainly had plenty of action scenes.

In any event, according to AN ARTICLE in The Sun newspaper in the U.K., Ms. Broccoli is seeking Danny Boyle, director of Slumdog Millionaire, to direct Eon Bond No. 23. A sample:

A source said: “Danny is the man of the moment and he is being bombarded with offers from studios.

“He has been offered the chance to direct the 23rd Bond film by Barbara. The EON team love his vision and think that it would work perfectly for the new look of Bond.

We’ll see. Meanwhile, a tip of the hat to the CommanderBond.net web site, where we first spotted The Sun story on Bond 23.

UPDATE: CommanderBond.net ran a follow-up story where Danny Boyle shoots down the Bond 23 talk. You can see it by CLICKING HERE.