The director of the now Amazon-controlled 007 franchise can do action spectacle with art and integrity – the question now is who will he want to wear the tux …
At last. Something. Something has emerged from the vast opaque corporate entity that is Amazon MGM, which swallowed up the James Bond brand from Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli – the latter being reportedly discontented (though presumably very much richer).
White smoke has emerged from the funnel marked “director” – though still nothing from the funnel marked “star” – and it’s a really big hitter. Denis Villeneuve is the Canadian film-maker who gave us the excellent science-fiction movies Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and Dune Parts One and Two, and has demonstrated a real flair for big-budget action thrillers in Sicario and Prisoners, with plenty of the ambient sexiness in hardware and spectacle. (Perhaps Villeneuve will now get the ultimate corporate blessing of being a last-minute wedding guest at the Bezos wedding in Venice this weekend, precisely the sort of event that tends to feature as a Bond film opening scene, to be disrupted by helicopter attack, explosion, kidnapping etc. Mr Bezos himself needs a white persian cat on his lap to stroke.)
