Propositions for the New Bond (Part 1)

 

So apparently, Daniel Craig just isn't interested in playing Bond anymore.

 

If this becomes a reality, who should replace him?

 

What style should the series take?

 

Who should direct in it, star as Bond girl/villain, etc.?

 

Should it be canonical to the Craig series or not?

 

 

1. Chiwetel Ejiofor

Plot: Think The Spy Who Came in From the Cold with a twist. Tone like the Craig series but on a much smaller scale, though there will be action setpieces too. Ejiofor plays a retired 007 who finds himself drawn back into the spy game when told by M to a oversee a MI6 agent's faked 'defection' to a mysterious underground organisation, Spectre, in order to gain intel on them. All is not what it seems, however, when the defection proves to be genuine, and it's up to Bond and the guilt-riddled, drug-addled CIA agent in charge of the defection to figure out how to stop her before she implodes the MI6 from within, and brings about the rise of Spectre. Meanwhile, in the shadow lurks a certain Blofeld...

Director: Steve McQueen. He'd be an inspired choice, having worked with Ejiofor before, honing his knack for stylized long takes and brutal, unsparing visceral impact of shots into action scenes. I'd imagine this film to be set in a very bleak, noir-esque setting so it'd be fascinating to see how McQueen would handle this sort of tone.

007: Chiwetel Ejiofor
MI6 Defector/Bond Girl: Emily Blunt
Henchman: August Diehl
CIA Agent (Felix Leiter, perhaps?): Paul Dano
M: Tom Courtenay
Q: Benedict Wong
Miss Moneypenny: Jessica Brown Findlay
Blofeld: Viggo Mortensen

Budget: USD 80M

2. Ewan McGregor (originally Damian Lewis)

 

 

Plot: Think In Bruges meets The Quiet Man and not wholly deprived of its comic bent either. 007 goes into hiding after a mission goes awry, in M's small Irish hometown. Keeping an eye on him is his boss' secretary and ex-lover, Madam Monepenny. Bond slowly adapts to his surroundings, finding a romantic love interest with a local Irish girl. All good things can only last so long, however, when it is revealed that M hasn't been very forgiving of whatever errors 007 made in his last mission and commands Moneypenny to assassinate Bond...it all turns darkly comic as the little Irish town is turned upside down by a series of unfortunate shootouts and double-crosses.

Director: Martin McDonagh. I hate to be predictable but since this is a Bond film more about the dialogue than action scenes (although as he showed in Seven Psychopaths he can make violence quite compelling in itself too) then he'd be the perfect choice to manage its darkly comic tone.

007: Ewan McGregor
Madam Moneypenny: Kristin Scott Thomas
M: Mark Rylance
Henchman: Nathan Jones
Local Irish Girl: Saoirse Ronan
Q: Toby Jones
The Quirky Irish Populace: Bring out ye English, Irish, Scottish character actors

Budget: USD 25M

3. Henry Cavill

Plot: This would definitely have the lightest tone of them all. Think the Roger Moore films but with a bit more dramatic heft, or the Sean Connery ones with an even breezier tone. Some campy moustache twirling villain, M and Q as a comic duo, beautiful locations, and a trio of Bond girls. I'm thinking Debicki against type as the 'supportive' Bond girl who aids Bond in his mission while being a bit quirkily off-kilter, Traue as the villain's moll, and Binoche as a mole within the villain's organisation.

Director: Matthew Vaughan. After watching Kingsman it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to suggest he would do a good job with a more toned down approach to the 007 series.

007: Henry Cavill
The Bond Girl 1: Elizabeth Debicki
The Bond Girl 2: Antje Traue
The Bond Girl 3: Juliette Binoche
The Villain: Jean Dujardin
The Henchman: Matthias Schoenaerts
M: Hugh Laurie
Q: Stephen Fry
Miss Moneypenny: Claire Foy

Budget: USD 140M

4. Idris Elba

 

Plot: Sort of a sequel to On Her Majesty's Secret Service a gritty conspiracy thriller, supplanted by the central plotline of Elba's Bond undertaking a very personal mission to avenge a former lover's murder. He soon realises that extends to something much bigger than his own personal vengeance, his nemesis Blofeld having infiltrated the ranks of the British government, and teams up with a framed, disgraced politician looking to bring down Spectre for her own reasons.

Director: Alfonso Cuarón. Elba has a very Clive Owen-esque sort of appeal and the way Cuarón utilised him in Children of Men as well as just being an all-round fantastic action director when he wants to be, makes him an ideal choice.

007: Idris Elba
The Bond Girl/Disgraced Politician: Ruth Wilson
Blofeld: Liev Schrieber/Jeff Goldblum
Henchmen: Michael K. Williams
M: Brendan Gleeson
Q: Noah Taylor
Miss Moneypenny: Bella Heathcote