"I am just hammering it [the script] out now. It’s gruelling but it’s fun,” director Sam Mendes said last month at a Films Without Borders event at Windsor Castle, talking about the "Skyfall" followup (via Screen Daily). But it turns out the process of finishing that screenplay was more arduous than expected.
Baz Bamigboye reported last week that after being pushed aside for John Logan, "Skyfall" writers and franchise veterans Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who also penned "The World Is Not Enough," "Die Another Day," "Casino Royale," and "Quantum Of Solace") answered a "five-alarm call" to come in and punch up Logan’s work and add more "thrills." The script was reportedly in such bad shape that Purvis and Wade’s work is "substantially different" than what Logan brought to the table. But it seems whatever issues there were have been rectified, and filming has been given the go-ahead to start in late November or early December. And so that means….casting!
And that also means….rumors! As it goes with every Bond movie, a ton of names tend to emerge before anything is official, so take this with a grain of salt. Schmoes Knows reports that Léa Seydoux is the "top choice" for an unspecified role opposite Daniel Craig in the movie. We’ll see if this happens, but Seydoux did the spy movie thing already with her turn in "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," where the actress even got to mix it up with a fight sequence. So, we’ll see how this plays out.
As for Mendes, he’s already hinting that "Bond 24" may be his last turn with 007, saying, “after the next one, I’m not going to do any more spy movies.” But never say never….
More to come in the months ahead we’re sure. "Bond 24" opens on November 6, 2015.