Auteur director Wes Anderson once jokingly pitched a James Bond film, but it could’ve shown the part of 007 that the movies generally ignore. Anderson, the man who inspired a million hipsters, is not an obvious choice to helm such a high-octane project - but, with Daniel Craig set to leave after the upcoming No Time To Die, a radical change will be required to reboot the franchise. Following years of fairly grounded, fairly gritty Bond flicks, perhaps a more tongue-in-cheek approach would allow the series room to breathe. As it stands, James Bond is akin to an anthology series anyway, so who’s to say that tonally different interpretations couldn’t work? Anderson’s idea, while obviously comedic, could both illuminate James Bond as a character, and - more importantly - examine his place in the modern world.
Wes Anderson delivered his fantasy pitch in an interview with The New York Times, saying “I’ve had this Bond movie, you know [...] I had this one I wanted to do called Mission Deferred and my idea is that this is James Bond [...] the Cold War is over and there’s no gig. And… I had this idea… he goes in to see M and M is on the phone, and he’s walking around M’s office, you know, and finally says [gestures that he'll come back when M is less busy]. And you know… the gadgetry is like he has a great coffee machine, and that maybe he gets into a bar fight or something because he has a license to kill but there’s [nothing to do]. And so, you know, I never got the call.”
Beyond the inherently comedic, fish-out-of-water premise - juxtaposing James Bond, former action-man, with the mundanity of civilian life - this could really get to the heart of who Bond is, why he has become outdated, and how he can be revived. Simply put, Anderson’s premise would expose 007’s flaws. The character has long been criticized for promoting toxic ideologies (something that the movies have generally avoided examining), so planting him into an absurd, existential comedy seems like the perfect way to burst that bubble. When it comes down to it, James Bond isn’t the problem with the franchise; it’s the framing of his actions that needs to change. Bond can, and should, be a trigger happy, sex-crazed, alcoholic, misogynist - but the filmmakers should paint him in such a light. He’s not the heroic figure that he once was, and the movies ought to reflect that.
To its credit, Skyfall kind of did the serious version of Anderson’s idea for part of its runtime, showing Bond in retirement after faking his own death, getting drunk on martinis (shaken, not stirred), and ultimately filled with self-loathing. Picture that, but with jokes, for an entire movie, and you’ve got Wes Anderson’s take. It’s very easy to imagine his quirky stable of actors slotting seamlessly into the Bond ensemble: Ralph Fiennes as 007, Tilda Swinton as Miss Moneypenny, Owen Wilson as Felix Leiter, and a role for Bill Murray in there somewhere too.
It’s worth noting that Anderson is not the only auteur director who’s had his eye on the James Bond pie. In 2004, Quentin Tarantino expressed a desire to helm the franchise, proposing to keep Pierce Brosnan in the lead role, but return the timeline to a Cold War setting. He would adapt Ian Fleming’s original novel, Casino Royale, and aim to direct a tense spy-thriller, distancing the franchise from explosion-laden spectacle and action set-pieces that, he felt, got in the way of telling a truly interesting story. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, and Tarantino's Bond movie joined his ever-expanding list of unrealized projects.
While Wes Anderson’s pitch was obviously intended as a joke, in an age of franchise fatigue, more radical reimaginings of existing properties will be required to keep audiences from getting bored. Marvel, in their populist way, have moved franchise culture forward, wherein audiences are coming to accept and enjoy new and varied interpretations of established material. If James Bond is to flourish in this new cinematic landscape, the filmmakers really ought to try something fresh; push the boat out a bit. Perhaps, for a laugh, Bond should give stirred martinis a chance.
