Now that Amazon MGM has creative control over the James Bond franchise, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos wants to know who they should cast as Bond
A few years ago, Amazon, the parent company of Amazon Studios, bought the legendary Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) – and, as a result, we now have a studio called Amazon MGM Studios. One of their top IPs is the James Bond franchise, which was set up at MGM before Amazon came into the picture. A couple of months ago, we heard that Amazon MGM and the production company behind the James Bond series, EON Productions, were locked in “a bitter feud” over which direction to take 007 in – and then, this morning brought the shocking news that EON heads Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli have decided to take a step back and let Amazon MGM have creative control over the Bond films going forward. When the news was announced, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos quickly took to social media to ask, “Who’d you pick as the next Bond?” Leading the folks at Deadline to wonder if Bezos is actually crowdsourcing the casting decision, with the most popular actor among fans being the top actor to be considered for the job.
As part of their new arrangement, EON Productions will still retain ownership of the franchise, but Amazon MGM’s Jennifer Salke will be making the creative decisions. Salke began her career in the entertainment industry at Aaron Spelling Productions in the 1990s. She joined 20th Century Fox as the Senior Vice President of Drama Development in 2002, then became the Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs at 20th Century Fox Television. Later, she served as the President of NBC Entertainment for seven years, where she was the head of comedy and drama development and oversaw the operations of Universal Television. She became the head of Amazon Studios in 2018.
The most recent era of the James Bond films, the Daniel Craig era, came to an end in 2021, and we’ve been waiting to hear who will be the next to take on the role of James Bond. A Wall Street Journal report in December said that the casting was one area where EON and Amazon MGM disagreed, as EON was open to casting an unknown, while Amazon MGM was pushing for someone recognizable, like Aaron Taylor-Johnson of The Fall Guy and Kraven the Hunter. There were rumblings that Taylor-Johnson was being officially offered the role last March, but they didn’t pan out – presumably due to the disagreements between EON and Amazon MGM. Now that Bezos is asking the public who they would like to see as Bond, he’s likely to see a lot of people suggesting former Man of Steel Henry Cavill. Others who have come up in speculations include James Norton (Happy Valley), Damson Idris (Snowfall), Theo James (The Monkey), Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Tom Hardy (Venom), and Idris Elba (Luther).
But, it might still be a while before we hear any news on the next James Bond movies. Deadline has been told by Amazon MGM insiders that “no decisions have been made on future Bond films, including who will star, direct, and write the next feature. It means another installment is likely years away.“
The Wall Street Journal report also mentioned that, as soon as Amazon and MGM merged in 2022, “Amazon pitched various 007 TV spinoffs, with all concerned eager to get the Bond train rolling as soon as possible.” EON blocked those ideas from happening, only agreeing to let Amazon MGM go ahead with the reality competition show 007: Road to a Million.
I have to admit that, while it’s sad to hear that the days of Broccoli family members calling the shots are over, I didn’t have great hopes for the future of the James Bond franchise even before this morning’s news that EON Productions was giving up creative control. I was a Bond super-fan for a couple of decades, but the most recent movies – Spectre and No Time to Die – really killed my enthusiasm, as I felt that there were some seriously bad decisions being made behind the scenes. For me, Bond was at its most exciting and fun when the movies were formulaic adventures released every 18 to 24 months. So that’s what I would most want to see from the franchise in the future. Stop chasing accolades by making the movies dreary slogs with “this time it’s personal” stories and just go back to having fun with it. Cast Henry Cavill as Bond, return to the established formula, and pump out crowd-pleasing adventures every couple of years.
Is Amazon MGM up to the challenge of making good creative decisions about the future of James Bond? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, let’s answer the question posed by Jeff Bezos: who’d you pick as the next Bond?
