Amazon’s deal to take creative control of the James Bond franchise from longtime producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson may have rocked Hollywood, but the news hasn’t changed director Danny Boyle’s opinions about a potential return to the franchise.
“That ship has sailed,” Boyle told Business Insider, when asked if the recent news would make him reconsider directing a future Bond film.
Boyle famously dropped out of the 25th James Bond movie in 2018 over creative differences with the franchise’s then-shepherds Broccoli and Wilson. The project would eventually become the final movie with Daniel Craig as 007, 2021’s “No Time to Die,” directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
“The thing I regret about that is the script was really good,” said Boyle. “John Hodge is a wonderful writer.”
Boyle signed on to the 25th Bond movie in 2018 and teamed with Hodge, his longtime collaborator who wrote the scripts for Boyle’s feature debut “Shallow Grave,” “The Beach,” and both “Trainspotting” movies. The Oscar-winning director revealed in 2022 that the story would have revolved around a Russian villain, and that Hodge’s script had “embraced” the fact that Bond would die, since Craig had negotiated that in the end of his contract.
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But, according to Boyle, Broccoli and Wilson weren’t enthusiastic about it.
“I don’t think they appreciated how good that script was, and because they didn’t, we moved on, and that’s the way it should be,” Boyle told BI.
In February, Amazon MGM Studios announced that it had taken creative control of the Bond franchise with Broccoli and Wilson stepping aside.
The change in who is running the legendary IP may not have impacted Boyle’s feelings about giving Bond another shot, but he’s also pretty busy at the moment. He’s currently working on a trilogy of “28 Years Later,” films, which are a continuation of his acclaimed 2002 zombie horror “28 Days Later.” After “28 Years Later” opens on June 20, “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” is slated for January 16, 2026. Boyle said he hopes that with a tease of “28 Days” star Cillian Murphy returning in “The Bone Temple,” he can also get a third movie greenlit.
For Boyle, his time with 007 is a distant memory.
“Whatever happens with Bond going forward now is what it will be,” he said.
