While No Time to Die has only recently been delayed until November, James Bond's 25th adventure is no stranger to being pushed back. Back in 2018, Danny Boyle – who was set to write and direct the project – parted ways with Bond, leading to the movie's release date being moved from November 2019, then to February 2020, and again to April 2020.
So, what happened? There have been numerous rumours online, including reports claiming Boyle wanted to kill off Craig's Bond. While there's been no confirmation that any such drastic dramatic turn was ever planned, our sister publication Total Film magazine did pick up a few hints while visiting the No Time to Die set.
On Boyle's departure, production designer Mark Tildesley said: “Unfortunately Danny’s crazy, madcap ideas didn’t quite tie up with what Barbara and Michael had planned. It was definitely a good thing to do. Maybe another time though. I’m revving Barbara up to have another go with Danny.” Tildesley added that the script Boyle was working on, written with Trainspotting’s John Hodge, featured “some extraordinary ideas, they just needed a little pulling together”.
Writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade were eventually brought on board to write the screenplay, with Cary Joji Fukunaga directing No Time to Die. “Effectively, we went back to what we’d done,” Purvis, who has worked on all Craig's Bond films, said. “And then we changed things with Cary over several months in the attic at Eon.”
Total Film spoke in detail to Daniel Craig, Cary Joji Fukunaga, Lashana Lynch, Ana de Armas, Rami Malek, and more in their new issue, which his shelves on 6 March. There are two different covers available on the newsstand, check them both out below:
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