Advertisement

Why Cary Fukunaga is the wrong choice for Bond 25

From Digital Spy

It's official: almost a month to the day since Danny Boyle quit Bond 25, leaving the director's chair vacant, his replacement has been named – Cary Fukunaga, best known for his work on the first season of HBO's True Detective and for the Netflix war movie, Beasts of No Nation, will be calling the shots on 007's next outing.

The switchover means that Bond 25 will miss its intended October release, with a new date of February 14, 2020 now in place. Which gives us 17 whole months to ponder... is Fukunaga the right man for the job?

Well, any concerns about Fukunaga's suitability for the job, it should be said, are no reflection on the quality of his back catalogue. That first season of True Detective was some of the most inventive and visually stunning television we've seen for years.

Beasts of No Nation was a difficult watch, but those with a strong stomach were rewarded with a powerful film about the grim realities of war. And his new Netflix series Maniac – dropping on Netflix tomorrow (September 21) – is every bit as genre-bending and unpredictable as you'd hope.

But we just can't shake the feeling that Fukunaga's hiring feels like an odd decision given the alleged reasons behind Boyle's exit.

Photo credit: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images
Photo credit: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images

Related: James Bond 25 news, plot, cast and everything you need to know

In a tweet published on August 21, a statement attributed to "Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig" announced that the Trainspotting director would be stepping aside "due to creative differences" – and while it was no surprise to see long-time 007 producers Wilson and Broccoli named, eyebrows were raised at the mention of Craig.

Fans have speculated that it was disagreements between he and Boyle over the path that Bond 25 would take that eventually led to the latter's departure. That's unsubstantiated, but Craig has had a say in the overall creative direction of the franchise – certainly more so than any actor to play Bond before him. (He even reportedly rewrote portions of his second movie, Quantum of Solace, himself, during the Writer's Guild Of America strike of 2007/08.)

Photo credit: MGM / Sony
Photo credit: MGM / Sony

Related: Which Bond movie is best? The definitive 007 film ranking

If Fukunaga is anything, he's a director who always has a very specific vision. So given that Boyle is confirmed to have quit Bond over "creative differences", is it a risk to hire another auteur type?

Won't the Emmy winner similarly want to bring his own ideas to the franchise, which could again clash with the vision being put forward by Craig, or Wilson and Broccoli, or by long-time Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade – who, if the latest reports are to be believed, were brought back on to the project following Boyle's departure?

Photo credit: Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic - Getty Images
Photo credit: Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic - Getty Images

For better or for worse, the Bond films already have their own style, their own formula, and don't really suit idiosyncratic filmmakers. Looking to put their own stamp on a project, they more often than not end up stifled by the franchise's production line set-up.

The trend of hiring 'name' directors is a relatively recent one for the 007 movies, and it's rarely worked out. Michael Apted's The World Is Not Enough was divisive but decent enough, but no-one would argue that Lee Tamahori's Die Another Day was on a par with his acclaimed film debut Once Were Warriors, while Quantum of Solace doesn't even come close to Marc Forster's best work, 2001's Monster's Ball and 2007's The Kite Runner.

Photo credit: MGM / EoN
Photo credit: MGM / EoN

Even Sam Mendes, who did manage to bring a little of his trademark emotion and familiar themes of redemption and longing to 2012's Skyfall, couldn't pull the same trick off twice, delivering a disappointingly generic outing with Spectre three years later.

The template that the Bond films always follow means that so much is already in place before a new director even signs on. What the franchise needs then, particularly in a time of uncertainty, is a safe pair of hands who won't rock the boat – a Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Casino Royale) type.

Cary Fukunaga is a great director, but helming a Bond film and working within that rigid framework is a very singular task. For all Fukunaga's impressive qualities as a filmmaker, it's no sure thing that he'll be able to pull it off.


Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.

('You Might Also Like',)