What would a James Bond movie directed by Mike Leigh look like?
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(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
With recent questions about the future of the James Bond franchise, there might be an answer lying right beneath our noses after a recent interview with iconic British director Mike Leigh.
After the release of No Time to Die in 2021, there has been intense speculation over whether the series will be rebooted and, more importantly, who will play the lead role. Daniel Craig has left big boots to fill after his final contribution to the iconic character, leaving a question mark hanging over the story after fleshing out the inner world of the secret agent and adding a much-appreciated emotional depth to someone who was just seen as a suave killing machine with no conscience. However, given the bloody history of the story, Mike Leigh’s proposed ideas about the franchise will most likely not come to fruition, despite how many of us would love to see these ideas realised.
After starting his career in the theatre, Leigh rose to prominence as one of the most honest and devastating filmmakers, with films such as Secrets and Lies, Naked and Another Year going on to emotionally destroy all those who watch them. His stories are completely heart-wrenching in the way that they confront the most challenging human experiences without sugar-coating them, often focusing on working-class people in the UK through an unfiltered lens of empathy.
The release of Naked in 1993 is perhaps the most obtrusive within his body of work, sticking out as a solely misanthropic piece of work that offers no respite for the audience, with the character on a relentless quest that is confused and hateful, ranting to unsuspecting strangers about his twisted ideas and perspective of people.
Leigh won the ‘Best Director’ award at Cannes after its release, and the film is still heavily debated and picked apart today, with many seeing it as a tragedy and comedy about the declining values in Britain and a commentary on the political climate of the time.
Given this, a Bond film created by Leigh would be incredibly refreshing and undoubtedly revolutionary, and the director recently described how he would adapt the story, saying, “The entire film would be James Bond visiting his elderly mother in a suburban house, spending a bit of time with her, and then leaving”.
The reimagining of this classic story as a slice-of-life story and intimate kitchen sink drama would certainly divide audiences, but perhaps this is an edge that would help revitalise what many have claimed to be an obsolete story. The franchise has been criticised in the past for its narrow perspective and lack of diversity, with all the iterations of James Bond being white men and very few characters outside of this that have any depth. As well as this, the women have typically been written as sex objects and conquests for the lead character, which raises questions about whether a story like this can exist in its original format within today’s media landscape.
While the character’s future is uncertain, perhaps we can take a page from Leigh’s book in how we reimagine the story and remain open-minded to the potential of reinvention and how this could reboot an otherwise tired franchise.
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