Will “Skyfall” director Sam Mendes return to helm the next James Bond installment?
While there’s been no confirmation either way (though with nearly $670 million in worldwide box-office thus far, Sony is likely hankering for Mendes’ involvement), five-time Bond screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have hinted that he just might be considering it.
“I know that John Logan and Sam Mendes have come up with a plot for another one, which takes the pressure off because these films take up a lot of time,” said Wade, being quoted in a press release for a master class he and Purvis gave at the 4th annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar recently (thanks to Coming Soon for the heads-up).
Logan, of course, is the three-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter (for “Hugo,” “The Aviator” and “Gladiator”) who has been hired to write the next two entries in the Bond franchise, so hearing that he and Mendes have collaborated on an outline for the next installment is heartening news for those who enjoyed the director’s first 007 effort. That said, this is by no means a confirmation that Mendes is on board to direct – only an intriguing hint at the possibility of him doing so.
As for Purvis and Wade, the writers confirmed that “Skyfall” will indeed be their last stab at the series, after writing the last five installments in the franchise beginning with 1999’s “The World Is Not Enough.”
“We”re very happy to have done five Bond movies, I think we”ve gotten it to a good place,” Wade was quoted as saying in the same press release. It was a sentiment seconded by Purvis, who added: “We were going to stop with ‘Quantum of Solace,’ but it”s good to go out on a high with ‘Skyfall.’”
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