Amazon Hires New James Bond Producers
Amazon has brought in a new pair of handlers for 007. Deadline was the first to report that Amy Pascal and David Heyman have been hired to produce the next James Bond movie and, presumably, the rest of what Amazon wants to turn into a Marvel-style mega-franchise. Pascal is most famous for having produced the MCU Spider-Man movies for Sony under her Pascal Pictures production company (through which she will also produce Bond), as well as the Spider-Verse animated films, the Venom trilogy, and Ghostbusters 2016. Before that, Pascal was the chair of Columbia Pictures while the first two of Sam Raimi’s three Spider-Man movies were made, and the co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment while the Daniel Craig “James Bond” (quotes necessary) films were produced. (Casino Royale was made before her promotion to co-chair of Sony Pictures, but it was made under Columbia as well, so it was under Pascal’s watch.) David Heyman is best known for producing all eight of the Harry Potter movies and the three Fantastic Beasts spin-offs/prequels/whatever, as well as many other films, including the first two Paddington movies, Barbie, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (the best movie of the last great year in film, 2019), I Am Legend, and Gravity. They’re replacing longtime James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, who took over the franchise from their late father and stepfather, respectively, Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli.
I think it’s easy to see why these two were hired. Aside from being hugely successful producers, Amy Pascal has been involved with all of the Daniel Craig films to some degree, and David Heyman has produced all of the Harry Potter movies. This gives them a degree of experience in translating British literature to the screen, specifically British literature featuring two of the most iconic figures in British culture, James Bond and Harry Potter. It’s a smart move on Amazon’s part; for something as big as James Bond, you want steady hands with proven track records, which Pascal and Heyman certainly are. What gives me the most pause is Pascal’s involvement in the Daniel Craig “James Bond” movies, and the reason for that is the same reason I keep putting “James Bond” in quotation marks when referencing Craig’s tenure: I don’t care for those films, which is only fair since those films don’t care for James Bond, and neither did their star. My greatest hope now that we’re moving on from Barbara Broccoli’s determination to feminize and modernize Bond and Michael G. Wilson’s complete indifference (and I recognize it was always a long shot) was that we’d return to the more classic style of Bond films that ended when they insultingly dismissed Pierce Brosnan with a phone call and threw forty years of cinema history out the window to chase the reboot trend. That can still happen, of course; I blame Broccoli, Wilson, and Craig for the rebooted Bond era more than anyone else. And the casting of the Harry Potter movies is a big point in Heyman’s favor, as those seem to have kept pretty damn close to the books (as far as I can tell, having not read them), and I really don’t want them to do much experimenting with James Bond. On the downside, Heyman is also producing the upcoming HBO show, which is… less faithful on that front. But as with Pascal, I don’t know how much of that is Heyman’s decision, so I don’t want to paint him a certain way unfairly, nor do I want to do that to Pascal. In the end, anyone who’s being honest will say they have no idea how this will turn out; both have produced great stuff and pure garbage, and they haven’t said much about what their approach to 007 will be yet, so anything can happen. For someone who loves James Bond, it’s scary, but it’s a bit exciting, too; imagine Pascal, Heyman, and Amazon shocking us all and making some fantastic Bond movies. He’s survived stickier situations than corporate buyouts… I think.
Let us know what you think of Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing the next James Bond movie in the comments!
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Comments (2)
They absolutely need to bring these characters back. James Bond was something I almost took for granted because it felt like it would always be there; I didn’t see the woke era coming when I was younger. If things ever really do bounce back, I would love for Bond to be the one leading the charge. They make the point over and over that movies, books, video games, and every form of entertainment are no longer making anything specifically for men, and I wonder how long they can keep this up without collapsing.
It seems like it’s been a while since we just had a rad fun male character with great action, smart lines and just a charm offensive. I kind of liked Fall Guy a little bit. Out of all the characters, I liked James Bond and Batman for their gizmos and their secret hidden weapons in their cars and in their suits. There is a lesson in that.