As you know, back in 2018, Danny Boyle was originally set to direct the 25th installment of James Bond, which ultimately ended up being No Time To Die. He was developing the film his screenwriting partner John Hodge, but ultimately he parted ways with the project due to creative differences.
Well, now we have a little insight on the story that Boyle’s James Bond movie would have told. He shared the details during a recent interview with Esquire UK, and says that it would have been set in Russia:
“Weirdly—it would have been very topical now—it was all set in Russia, which is of course where Bond came from, out of the Cold War. It was set in present-day Russia and went back to his origins, and they just lost, what’s the word… they just lost confidence in it. It was a shame really.”
That is a shame, while I thought No Time To Die was great, I love the idea of Bond going back to his origins, and Russia would have been an incredibly interesting setting.
When talking about his departure, Boyle explained that he would not have been able to make a film that challenged the franchise, which is what he was looking to do, “They want you to freshen it up a bit.”
When asked if he’d ever again want to take on a big IP like Bond again, he responded, “I don’t think so … I learned my lesson that I am not cut out [for franchises], otherwise you’re digging in the same hole. I am better not quite in the mainstream franchise movies, is the honest answer. I learned quite a lot about myself with Bond, I work in partnership with writers and I am not prepared to break it up.”
We need filmmakers like Boyle to continue to make great films that tell original stories. While it would have been interesting to see him take on Bond, in the end, we all won because he went onto to make the wonderful film Yesterday and the upcoming Sex Pistols series, Pistol.