Recently, Cricket fan Sam Mendes sat down in the commentary box to talk about England competing in the Ashes series. Naturally, he was asked about his Skyfall follow up, SPECTRE and the Brit director had the following to say about the latest entry in the James Bond franchise:
"SPECTRE is a bigger movie than Skyfall'. SPECTRE is shot in more places. We were in Mexico City, Tangiers, the Northern Sahara, Rome, The Alps, and London. We shut down great sections of London. Anyone whose evening was ruined because of the traffic around Westminster Bridge over the last few weeks, I apologise to them. But it's been an enormous undertaking. One of the most rewarding moments for a film director is when you finally finish shooting."
Now with filming complete, the editing process begins, with Mendes saying,
"It kind of starts all over again when you're editing. You really direct the movie four times: when it's being written, when it's being cast and prepped, when it's being shot and then when it's being edited and music is being added. That fourth stage is just beginning. If you're any good as a director you want to be all over every department and you want to be influencing everything. It's your film and your vision. Unlike the theatre, where I learnt a lot of my craft, I don't think theatre is a director's medium, whereas film is. You can pretty much blame the director if you're having a bad evening at the cinema because it does fall on his shoulders."
"I made the movie I wanted to see for Skyfall and I think I've done the same thing this time for SPECTRE. I hope I've done the same thing this time, although it really is just emerging out of the mists - the way that it does in the editing period. In terms of the story, it's pretty much set out. But as any director will tell you, how you tell the story is everything and the story by itself is not enough. I spend a long, long period with the music for the movie and there will be over 100 minutes of music for this movie. That's a lot of music. There are a lot of visual effects and a lot of sound work. There are any number of ways to mess your film up, even at this late stage, however good the story is. You have to stay completely focused and it is somewhat like rebooting and starting again at this stage. For me, editing is the most pleasurable piece as you've done all the hard work and it's down to the story-telling."
Talk naturally fell to if Mendes would be back for a third time, to which Mendes said,
"I said 'No' to the last one and then ended up doing it and was pilloried by all my friends, including [former England cricket captain] Michael Atherton who took great pleasure in reminding me that I said no to the last one and ended up doing it. But I do think this is probably it. I think five years for the two movies... It feels now almost, even though we've only just finished shooting it, like one big experience. It was a fantastic life-changing thing, but I don't think I could go down that road again. It's more a lifestyle choice than a job. You do have to put everything else on hold."
In recent years, the Bond franchise has gone through more directors than it's titular star goes through Martinis with Mendes being the only returning director since John Glen during the Dalton era to make back to back entries.
Would you like to see Mendes change his mind again and commit to Bond 25? Sound off in the usual place.