French actress Léa Seydoux is in a unique position, having been part of the Daniel Craig era of the James Bond era (appearing in “Spectre” and “No Time To Die” as Madeleine Swann, the mother to Bond’s young daughter) and also having previously worked with “Bond 26” helmer Denis Villeneuve on “Dune: Part Two.” As one of the few actors chatting up the transition with Bond, Seydoux is already sharing her optimism of the French-Canadian filmmaker taking the franchise reins as it were, after a moment of sadness when the rights had been sold to Amazon MGM Studios (longtime producers at EON Productions were also given their walking papers with a buyout to give the company full creative control).
“I was a bit sad when I heard that it was sold,” she said of the IP rights shake-up, “but now that it’s Denis [Villeneuve], I was like, ‘Oh, at least it’s him, so it will be cinema,'” Seydoux told Variety in a recent profile interview as both “Gentle Monster” and “The Unknown” are debuting at the Cannes Film Festival. “He’s super cultured, he knows so much about cinema, but not only cinema.”
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We don’t really know much about what this next movie is going to look like (penned by Steven Knight), other than on-the-rise actor Tom Francis (“You,” “The Misquito Club”) being the first official name revealed over the weekend as auditioning to play the next James Bond. Also, Comos Jarvis of “Shogun” and “Warfare” is being named as reported hopeful among many, although he hasn’t auditioned just yet (as others like Jacob Elordi and Callum Turner are simply names being tossed around online as contenders).
However, given that Francis is on the younger side, 26, this could signal that the folks behind the next movie will want to skew 007 to be closer to the recent video game adaptation, “007 First Light,” where gamers get to play more of a rookie take on the MI6 Agent as he navigates the dangerous world of global espionage. This likely won’t be confirmed until we hear about other actors auditioning and if they’re in a similar age range (not like we haven’t had our fill of older takes on Bond).
Sadly, despite the big casting search announcement from last week, we don’t have an idea about concrete production dates or when “Bond 26” is expected to arrive in theaters. However, once the release of “Dune: Part Three” is out of the way in December and he’s completed the global press tour round, we’ll likely hear more. That’s if Amazon and newly minted franchise overseers/producers (Amy Pascal and David Heyman) don’t make that known when they officially announce who will be playing James Bond in the 26th installment.
Previously, we saw Judy Dench make the jump as M for both the Pierce Brosnan and Craig tenures, but it remains to be seen if Amazon is going to keep that tradition going by having some of the supporting cast carry over to the reboot (Q actor Desmond Llewelyn famously appeared in 17 films), or simply recast the lot of them as a hard reboot allowing Villeneuve to help with building the main supporting cast for the sequels (even if he doesn’t direct them).
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