Armie Hammer with U.N.C.L.E. movie director Guy Ritchie in 2013
Guy Ritchie is in talks to direct Bond 25, the tabloid Mirror said in a story this weekend.
The director purportedly had meetings with Michael G. Wilson, co-boss of Eon Productions, according to the tabloid.
As you might expect, the only person quoted isn’t identified.
“Guy has moved up the shortlist and is now the front runner,” the Mirror quoted an unidentified source as saying. “He’s meeting Michael (Wilson) this week to try to do a deal and see if they can agree on a shared vision for the film.”
The Mirror first raised the notion of Ritchie directing Bond 25 in a December story.
Reasons for the Caveat Emptor label concerning this newest story:
–The Mirror says, “Following on from the success of last year’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E, Guy caught the attention of the Bond team.”
What success? The $75 million production had worldwide box office of less than $110 million. Does Eon check out directors of flops as future Bond directors?
This blog had a positive review of the U.N.C.L.E. movie. But it was still a flop at the box office.
–The story depicts Michael G. Wilson as being actively involved. Given his status at Eon, that should be expected. However, over the past year, Barbara Broccoli has been depicted (by Sam Mendes, among others) as the driving force at Eon. Wilson hardly gets mentioned any more.
The Mirror story is a deviation from a story line that has taken hold for some time now. Wilson is concerned with the vision of Bond 25? Again, that shouldn’t be a surprise. However, supposedly, Barbara Broccoli deals with vision and is the only one who selects Bond actors.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Barbara Broccoli, Bond 25, Guy Ritchie, Michael G. Wilson, The Mirror |
The Spy Command 
Unfortunately, there are sufficient reasons to believe this is fake. I just want to get away from this Nolanized Bond. Ritchie would be a candidate for bringing back some fun into the series.
But on the other hand, there are sufficient reasons to believe this might actually become true.
First of all, despite “UNCLE” being a financial flop (it grossed only $110 Million worldwide), critically it has been received much better. On par and sometimes even better than “SPECTRE”:
–> 67% on RottenTomatoes (vs. 65% for “SPECTRE”)
–> 57% on Metacritic (vs. 60% for “SPECTRE”)
–> 7.3 on IMDB (vs. 6.8 for “SPECTRE”)
–> 3,32 stars on Moviemeter.nl (vs. 3,31 stars for “SPECTRE”)
Then there are practical reasons to hire Guy Ritchie. Ritchie is mainly doing Warner Borthers productions. “Sherlock Holmes 1”, “Sherlock Holmes 2” and “UNCLE” all were Warner productions. So Guy Ritchie might be part of a larger ‘umbrella deal’ that includes the settlement of the distribution rights with Warner Bros. as well.
Also, since new Bond directors generally bring in their own crews with whom they previously worked with, movie score composer Daniel Pemberton (“The Game”, “Steve Jobs”, “UNCLE”) could very much be brought onboard as well.
Lastly, signing up Guy Ritchie might be a serious attempt to bring down the production (and casting/crew) budget of Bond #25, since Ritchie, after his ‘flop’ with “UNCLE”, is a relatively cheap director.
To round it up, I actually think hiring Ritchie might be quite inspired really. He could bring BACK that ‘Guy Hamilton’-esque zest and stylish action, without being compared too much with the tech-driven Brosnan films. Even Daniel Craig might like the idea, as he never worked with Ritchie in a movie where he’s starring in the leading role.
I saw The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and I’m a little disappointed to hear that it didn’t do well at the box office because I thought it was funny. I was just browsing my Recommendation list and I saw your site’s name and I really like it. That’s it! Have a good rest of day. X)