Director Danny Boyle Abruptly Leaves Bond 25 Over “Creative Differences”

It's almost always a shame when a director departs a high profile franchise film, especially when it's a director and franchise you're invested in. Nevertheless, I'm sorry to report that Oscar winning director Danny Boyle is no longer directing the upcoming 25th Bond film, which will be the fifth and final outing for Daniel Craig as 007.

Craig, along with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, announced that Boyle had left the project over those dreaded "creative differences"

Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Daniel Craig today announced that due to creative differences Danny Boyle has decided to no longer direct Bond 25. pic.twitter.com/0Thl116eAd

— James Bond (@007) August 21, 2018

The film is due in theaters on October 25, 2019 in the UK, which gives them roughly thirteen months to find a director, shoot the entire thing, run post on the entire thing, and hope to god that it's even halfway decent. That's why we shouldn't pick release dates in advance of any actual creative work being done, Hollywood.

Lots of names have already been floated as potential replacements, and I think the most likely one here is Martin Campbell, who directed two Top 10 Bond flicks with GoldenEye and Casino Royale. It'd be a nice way to bookend Craig's time as Bond, and he'll do a much better job than he did with Green Lantern. Promise.

As for Boyle, he'll no doubt land on his feet, but it is disappointing we won't get to see what his frantic vision would've brought to the franchise. Something tells me his pitch was probably for a film that ended up being closer to a Bourne film than a Bond film, based solely on my knowledge of Boyle's overall aesthetic. Or maybe not, who knows?

On the positive side of things, this paves the way for the original script to be used, the one that sold Craig on returning one last time in the first place. That script was written by the guys who wrote all the previous Craig Bond flicks, but was shelved when Boyle brought on longtime collaborator John Hodge to write up a new script from scratch.

Either way, I hope they push this thing back another year, at least. But they won't, and then we'll have another Solo on our hands. A capably made film that neither totally thrills nor totally disappoints, and is met with apathy at the box office.