Denis Villeneuve has had a, quite frankly, remarkable career up to this point.
Starting with miserably brilliant indie films like Polytechnique and Incendies (a film that still makes me wince), the Canadian filmmaker graduated to the more cerebral side of Hollywood – and by that I mean that A-listers like Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal sought him out for the challenging performances his films demand, in the likes of Enemy and Prisoners. He put Emily Blunt through the ringer in the outstanding Sicario before becoming the preeminent filmmaker of Hollywood’s big budget science fiction epics with Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and his two Dune films (with Dune Messiah about to start filming at the time of writing).
On the surface, nothing about this stellar career would point to the James Bond franchise. The Bond movies have hired nearly every type of director in the past, from Terrence Young (who, through Dr No and From Russia, With Love, created much of the series visual and storytelling language), to Michael Apted (most famous for the generational micro-budget UP documentary series which couldn’t be further away from Bond), and Sam Mendes who had one good idea but was given two movies because that idea made a billion at the box office. Looking through the previous holders of the director’s chair, there’s not a lot that makes an obvious Bond director easy to classify.
Before I get to why Villeneuve is obviously a great choice, I’m going to have a tiny moan. I have a serious love/hate relationship with James Bond. I grew up at the time when Pierce Brosnan was Bond (and I’m the maniac that will talk your ear off about how he’s the greatest and there is merit in all four films. Just swat me away) while also watching all of the Sean Connery Bonds with my granda, who preferred less gadgets – oh, the arguments we’d have. I have soft spots for some of the Moore films and think that the Dalton films are way better at what much of modern Bond tried for – but, by now, you’ve probably guessed that it’s the Craig films that hate. Miserable, angst-ridden guff with the most iconic and recognisable action scene coming early in the first damn movie, Casino Royale. Trying to bring Bond into the real world made him a psychopath with the Bond girls feeling more captured that aroused by his presence. Making Bond real made him a bit of a creepy loser, and that’s where we’re starting at with Villeneuve’s entry into the series.
A new Bond usually means a new start, but this is Amazon’s Bond. You know, Amazon? The company that spends too much on fantasy series that no one wants but has to keep renewing them and spinning them off? They even tried to do Bond adjacent series like Treadstone (Bourne without Bourne – always a winner), ,a spy show from the Russo brothers that I challenge you to remember the name of, and the disastrously boring John Wick prequel The Continental. Bear that in mind, and also bear in mind that the Craig version of Bond produced the biggest box office returns of any Bond movie in the franchise. I’m worried that Villeneuve is being brought in to do more of the same – to make Bond this real-world hero instead of the gentlemen spy fantasy that he always should be.
is Denis Villenuve a good fit for James Bond? If anyone could pull off this version of Bond, it would be him: one of his greatest achievements in Dune is keeping chosen one Paul Atreides somewhat human and relatable even as everything in his universe is telling him he’s the Godchild. The truth is that Villeneuve’s a good fit for most tentpole movies these days, but there are hints in his previous work that confirm this is particularly true for Bond. The gut-melting action set pieces of Sicario, the world-building of his sci-fi work that never loses the characters in all of the noise, and ,well, Blade Runner 2049.
That’s right, I’m suggesting that Blade Runner 2049 is Villeneuve’s Bond audition – but stick with me, I have proof. K is a sort of rebooted franchise hero, who works for the government and also goes rogue. There’s the Bond girls, with Anna De Armas’ Joi (a doomed love with a weird sex scene which really couldn’t be more Bond), Luv, who plays the evil Bond girl role as well as the villain’s henchwoman. And what about that villain? Niander Wallace perfectly fits the Bond archetype of evil business moguls that have striking disabilities. It’s obviously not an exact comparison, but both 2049 and the Bond films share these raw materials. Villeneuve’s already pulled off a movie with these basic parts before – perhaps, in a Bond movie, he could do it again.
As a fan of Denis Villeneuve I don’t want him to direct a Bond movie. Yet, as a fan of Denis Villeneuve I can’t wait to see what he does with it. As long as Amazon stays out of his way.
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By Kevin Boyle
Header Image: Kickass Canadians
No But Listen 