Filmmaker Cary Fukunaga unfortunately already had history releasing a feature during a pandemic well before his newest film, “No Time to Die” was delayed from its original April date to closer to Thanksgiving. As he explained in a new interview with Empire, his reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic and how it altered the plans for his new ‘Bond’ film is tempered by the fact that he’s already gone through this whole pandemic thing before more than a decade ago.
“My first movie, ‘Sin Nombre,’ came out during swine flu [pandemic in 2009], and it came out in cinemas in Mexico right when the President of Mexico said, ‘Do not go to cinemas,’” said Fukunaga. “So I had trauma from that experience, and as I was following the news of this, almost every day I was asking [the producers], ‘What’s the plan, guys? Because this isn’t stopping.’”
He added, “I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how the world came to a complete standstill, but I did think audiences would not be going to cinemas.”
As for whether or not the film’s delay gave the filmmaker more time to fine-tune his feature, Fukunaga explained he’s reluctant to tweak it at all because “No Time to Die” was pretty much already finished.
“You could just fiddle and tweak and it doesn’t necessarily get better,” he said. “For all intents and purposes, we had finished the film. I had mentally finished the film. Mentally and emotionally.”
So, those concerned that the filmmaker is going to ruin the film by working too hard on it, it’s clear that Fukunaga understands that artists have to step away at some point and not continuously cut and later the finished product. Hopefully, that means “No Time to Die” will be yet another great installment in the ‘Bond’ legacy and will end Daniel Craig’s run as the character on a high note.
For now, “No Time to Die” is scheduled to arrive in theaters on November 20.