With 2012’s Skyfall, Sam Mendes became the first James Bond director who had previously won an Academy Award for Best Director (for 1999’s American Beauty).
Both his Bond films—Skyfall and the subsequent Spectre—became the highest-grossing films in the entire franchise.
Now that Mendes has retired as a Bond director and Christopher Nolan confirmed he will not direct an installment, MGM and Eon have moved onto another big name: Oscar-winning director, Danny Boyle.
The Trainspotting and 28 Days Later director won the Academy Award in 2008 for the beautiful and electric Slumdog Millionaire. He was also nominated for 2010’s 127 Hours. Though no formal offer has been made, sources tell Variety that Boyle is high on the list of possible directors.
As Variety reports:
Boyle has keen interest in the project and has always wanted to direct a Bond film. He is currently developing a project for Working Title, but with no cast currently attached, there is always the possibility of pushing that movie back to direct the 25th installment in the series.
Choosing a director is the next big step for the franchise, after the long, annoying battle to lure Daniel Craig back to play Bond. After being pretty adamant about not wanting to play the character again, Craig finally caved to the many millions of dollars dangled in front of him.
Hopefully they figure it out soon, since the next film is due out on November 8, 2019.
