Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men”) sat down for a wide-ranging conversation at the Marrakech Film Festival. I’m very curious what his next project might be, but judging from the numerous interviews he’s done for his recent Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer,” it doesn’t sound like he’s really chosen his next project.
Regardless, it turns out that what he definitely won’t be helming next is a James Bond movie as Cuarón told the Marrakech audience that he was once offered to direct a 007 movie, but was convinced not to do it by none other than Joel Coen (via Variety).
“Ages ago I was offered a Bond film,” he revealed. “And I said, ‘Yeah, cool. Maybe Bond. I am going to do one.’ And then when the process started and I was going to shoot all the dialogue and stuff, there was a [separate] team doing all the action scenes. It kind of felt very weird.”
The reason he didn’t do it? “I was troubled about the idea of doing it,” Cuarón explained. “I had dinner with Joel Coen, and I said, ‘Joel, what do you think of Bond?’ And he said, ‘Oh cool, I enjoy Bond.’ I said, ‘Would you do a Bond film?'” According to Cuarón, Coen replied: “It probably falls into the category of a film I want to watch but not do […] There I learned the lesson that some films I prefer to watch and not do.”
This is the first I hear of a separate team being in charge of action scenes in a Bond movie. This is usually how the MCU operates on their movies. It strikes me as completely insane. However, it does adhere to recent comments from Sam Mendes, who himself directed two Bond movies, when he stated that Bond producer Barbara Broccoli was looking for more “controllable” filmmakers to helm the movies.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if the offer Cuarón got was during Craig-era Bond; So, either “Casino Royale,” “Skyfall,” or “Quantum of Solace.” I doubt it was for 2021’s “No Time to Die.”
Cuarón isn’t the first A-list filmmaker to have been offered James Bond and either declined or dropped out during pre-production. Off the top of my head, the others include Alfred Hitchcock, Danny Boyle, Steven Spielberg, Steven Soderbergh, Jon Woo, and Peter Jackson.
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.