It’s time to Bond

“Shaken, but not stirred” is how James Bond likes his Martini. If you are a Bond admirer, here’s news that will leave you stirred up for more chills and lots of edge-of-the-seat action. Danny Boyle’s name is picked up from the lot for directing the new James Bond franchise, which will be titled ‘Bond 25’ as it is the 25th film in the franchise and will star Daniel Craig.

The hunt for a new director, which closed in on Danny Boyle, comes in the wake of Sam Mendes, who earlier helmed ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Sceptre’ – two major box-office blockbusters, calling it quits to directing the James Bond franchise. In effect, Daniel Craig is believed to have walked the same path, stating he would never act in another Bond film after ‘Sceptre’. He fervently put across that he’d rather cut himself with glass than play another role of James Bond. However, after Mendes quit, Craig took a complete U-turn and expressed his interest in James Bond’s role. Talk of “Bond” being devious in the real sense.

On the other hand, Boyle, without an iota of doubt, is a top-rung filmmaker, who holds credit for making strange yet impactful movies like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, ‘The Beach’, ‘Trainspotting’, ‘127 hours’, ‘Trance’ amongst others. What piques one’s imagination about the upcoming Bond flick are Danny Boyle’s directional abilities. Introspection into his earlier movies throws light on his unique scene depictions which are inimitably imaginative and often interspersed with eye-catching elements and artistic images.

While his stories are real there’s somewhere the object of surrealism creeping into interweaving with the real. Danny Boyle has the ability to dream on a wider and bigger canvas with multiple happenings taking place simultaneously. A glance at the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony will unravel the multi-dimensional facets that come to play under his supervision. He is a director, who promises to be gifted in portraying Bond at his best. Daniel Craig’s fame is also bound to catapult to further heights as the strength of Boyle is his fast-paced narrative. He is a man who wouldn’t mince words, but deliver results.

On the flip-side of the coin, Daniel Craig has actually stood the test of time. His athletic body and non-confirmative approach to acting initially had everyone bothered whether he would meet Bond expectations or not. However, he pulled the rug under the naysayers and steadied himself in the shoes of James Bond. When ‘Casino Royale’ launched Daniel Craig as Bond, the initial Parkour chase sequence alone had endeared him to the audiences. In fact, Craig’s death-defying crane jump in the flick had recently been voted the best James Bond stunt of all time.

Craig must have acted in four movies, but solidly established his position in Hollywood as a bankable Bond. The trick was he made Bond look fallible and emotional, thereby portraying the character as humane and vulnerable as possible, upping the ante on several relatable factors to real-life characteristics. This created a chord of connects amongst the audiences across continents.

Going by the tone of Danny Boyle’s voice, he’s all upbeat about the ‘Bond 25’. Speaking to a crowd at a New York screening of his new FX show, ‘Trust’, Boyle commented that the new Bond movie script might also include the dimensions of certain issues that besought the Hollywood and other industries in recent times. This is in the wake of questions raised by journalists as to how the Bond film would differ in today’s evolving times of #metoo #timesup issues.

With this deadly combo – Danny Boyle and Daniel Craig - coming together to recreate the magic of James Bond all over again with their next film, which will open to global audiences in November, the air is thick with positivity that the new movie will leave everyone “Shaken” much like how Bond enjoys his martini.

By: Daniel Indrupati