It was quite the nail biter while we waited to find out who would be direction Bond 24 (even Christopher Nolan was in the mix), but eventually Skyfall‘s director, Sam Mendes, did decide to return. He’s been a bit mum on why other than scheduling being ironed out, but in an interview with Charlie Rose he opened up and gave us our first ideas on what the movie is going to be about.
He initially turned down the director’s chair, but said that the stories he started with a new M, Moneypenny and Q were stories he wanted to finish and the fact that they’d only be making one more isntead of two helped. “I felt there was a way to create the second part of a two-part story,” he said. This doesn’t mean that Bond 24 is a direct sequel though as he flatly denies it being connected by narrative saying, “What we tried to do, and what audiences seemed to embrace in Skyfall was for the first time, characters were allowed to age, and they were allowed to acknowledge the passing of the years. And they could acknowledge the history in a kind of sly, mischievous way.”
Basically Bond back to being a one off adventure, but we’ll probably see a bit more connection between the films than in the pre-Craig era. Actually referencing the past is a great way to go, and should set up future directors with a strong platform.
[via Mi6]