Talking to
Moviefone recent in order to promote the release of
Skyfall in North America this Friday, Sam Mendes has revealed that he was one of who knows how many directors to be offered the opportunity to pitch his take on
Marvel's The Avengers. However, it doesn't sound as if he ever even considered it. Why? Well...
"With a lot of these movies, the date’s announced before anything exists, let alone a script. The funniest letter I got -- they were sending [a packet for] 'The Avengers,' right? For directors to pitch -- and I got a package, which was full of comic books, but no treatment; there was no script. But the cover letter said 'Marvel’s 'Avengers' will be released on May 3, 2012' or whatever it was. That was the first sentence of the cover letter. Not, 'We have the pleasure of enclosing the materials..." or "Here is the script for...' But the release date. That was the first sentence."
So, it sounds as if that was enough to put Mendes off from even pitching his take on Earth's Mightiest Heroes to Marvel! Shame. While the studio is renowned for being secretive, it's strange that they didn't even include Zak Penn's first draft of the screenplay (before Joss Whedon ultimately rewrote it when he signed up to direct). Regardless, this isn't Mendes' only brush with the superhero genre as he's recently found himself compared to Christopher Nolan; the filmmaker who of course brought us
The Dark Knight Trilogy.
"Well, he’s the man, isn’t he? I think he’s amazing. This movie would not have been possible, I think, at least in the way that it is, without 'The Dark Knight.' We’re living in a world now where movies are either tiny or huge and there’s nothing in the middle. I mean, the movies that I made for ten years, I can’t make those anymore. I couldn’t make 'American Beauty,' I couldn’t make 'Road to Perdition'; they just don’t make those films. [Nolan] showed that you could make an A movie -- that is a world class movie, that has in it some sense of reaction, reflection of the world that we live in -- without being ponderous or po-faced or take itself too serious. And it had great acting, and I mean that. I mean, Heath Ledger, that is a great performance. That was a game changer for me, as an audience member. I just thought, 'Wow. That’s a proper movie.'"
Daniel Craig is back as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 in SKYFALL™, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. The film is from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. Directed by Sam Mendes. Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan.
STARRING:
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Javier Bardem as ?????
Judi Dench as M
Ralph Fiennes as ?????
Albert Finney as ?????
Naomie Harris as Eve
Bérénice Marlohe as Sévérine
Ben Whishaw as Q
RELEASE DATE: October 26th, 2012 (UK) November 9th, 2012 (US)