Sam Mendes in talks for James Bond 23

Not long before this news broke, we heard the first bit of news about Bond 23: it wasn’t happening, at least not until the future of MGM was determined. So the last thing anybody expected was to hear news of who would be brought in to direct the third installment of the revamped Daniel Craig era of Bond. Well, we did, so .. that’s cool.

Going along with MGM and Barbara Broccoli’s recent trend of dramatically inclined directors, it appears they’ve selected Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) to continue the James Bond Dark Period. I’ve posted a link to /Film’s coverage of the news, mostly because I agree with the writer’s assessment of the decision. (Read that here).

I think Mendes is an outstanding choice, even if his strengths are suited to tragedy, not action. After the Marc Forster experiment with Quantum of Solace, i’d normally be skeptical of someone who hasn’t done much action, but Mendes is someone who I think can achieve a conversion of both the current, serious version of Bond and the action and suspense — and possibly without stealing Bond’s humorous playboy soul.

The proof lies in Mendes’ work on Road to Perdition. First off, he worked with Daniel Craig on that film, so one would expect them to work well if not be in sync with the vision for the film. Second of all, the film was gritty, dark and had plenty of action, but it also had a lot of heart and soul. I don’t think Mendes nearly gets enough credit for that film, particularly for turning the lovable Tom Hanks into a morally questionable anti-hero. That’s kind of who the Daniel Craig Bond is supposed to be. Someone with more depth and of a greater moral complexity.

Also exciting would be the possibility of Mendes bringing his wife into the mix — that would be Kate Winslet. She could be an amazing femme fatale and it would be thrilling to see her use her prowess for the purposes of a dark and sexy action movie. She and Daniel Craig would rock together. Just a thought.

Title ideas anyone? My money is on the word “road” being in it.