James Bond 25 Delayed as New Director Search Continues?

The increasingly complex road toJames Bond 25just got a little more bumpy. Director Danny Boyle recently exited the project after running into creative differences with producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, as well as star Daniel Craig, who has a good deal of creative control on the upcoming entry in the franchise. He’s also said to be getting a payday in the neighborhood of $25 million for his services. Now, the search for a new director is on, but that will likely mean production is going to be delayed, ultimately resulting in a new release date.

BeforeDanny Boyle bailed, production was scheduled to begin in December on the follow-up to 2015’sSpectre. Unfortunately, according to a new report, the producers are now looking for a new writer or writer/director to board the project, which means that a serious rewrite, or possibly an entirely new script is going to be commissioned. Bond movies have notoriously complex and elaborate productions and they require a ton of pre-production work. It seems highly unlikely that a new writer and/or director could come in, get a script done and do all of the pre-production work needed to meet the previously planned production schedule.

Insiders say that unlessJames Bond 25manages to go in front of cameras by January 2019, there is almost no way it can meet the previously announced June 23, 2025 release date. Dating back to Pierce Brosnan’s 007 debut,Goldeneye, every single movie in the franchise has hit theaters in the winter. If the producers want to stick to that, we’re likely going to have to wait until late 2020. That would make for a full five-year gap between installments, making it by far the longest gap between sequels without a change in actors within the franchise.

So far, there have already beentwo different scripts commissionedforJames Bond 25. Franchise regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have worked on the last six movies in the franchise, dating back to 1999’sThe World is Not Enough, previously wrote a draft. That was shelved when Danny Boyle came on board, as he wanted to write his own script withTrainspottingscribe John Hodge. It’s possible that one of these drafts could be rewritten by whoever comes on board. The Purvis and Wade draft would seem to be the more likely candidate in that scenario, given their history with the series.

At the present time, there’s still no real indication as to who could step in to direct. Christopher McQuarrie, who wrote and directed this summer’sMission: Impossible - Falloutis rumored to be on the creative team’s radar. Though, McQuarrie has indicated that he would prefer to tackle something smaller and original for his next project and Bond is about as big as it gets. Other previous candidates for the job, such as David MacKenzie (Hell or High Water) and Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049), have moved on to other projects. This news comes to us courtesy ofVariety.