Who will replace Danny Boyle as James Bond director?

Last month Danny Boyle stepped away from his director position for James Bond 25.S.J. Clarkson, Bart Layton and Yann Demange are being considered.

Last month Danny Boyle stepped away from his director position for James Bond 25. According to sources a the Telegraph, the dust-up was over the casting of Tomasz Kot as the Russian Villian. Daniel Craig, who was convinced with some effort to come back as Bond, reportedly had significant say over casting and he and Boyle clashed on the issue of Kot.

An additional point of contention was that Boyle intended to bring in John Hodge write a new script and scrap the one written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Longtime Bond producer Barbar Broccoli was said to be angered by this resulting in the parting of ways. But who will take over? S.J. Clarkson?

The first female James Bond director?

According to Variety, EON and MGM are targeting S.J. Clarkson who could be the first woman to direct a Bond film. Clarkson made news earlier in the year after being tabbed as the first female director for a Star Trek film. Clarkson has an impressive resume as a director in TV with nearly 20

BERLIN, GERMANY – FEBRUARY 16: Director SJ Clarkson attends the ‘Toast’ Photocall during day seven of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival at the Grand Hyatt on February 16, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) /

years of experience directing shows like “Doctors” and “Life on Mars”. However, Clarkson has no credits directing a feature film. She also seems to have little experience directing action films/shows but will have a Star Trek movie under her belt by the time she would take the reigns of Bond 25. But could back to back blockbusters so close together be too much?

The American Animal

Ok, Bart Layton isn’t American but in fact a Brit. None the less he’s garnered attention for his recently released feature film, “American Animals”. Layton is most noted for his experience directing and producing TV documentaries such as “The Imposter”, “Locked Up Abroad” and “Paranormal Witness”. While he’s most noted documentaries he has an edge on Clarkson in having a feature film fully

completed and released. Like Clarkson he doesn’t have a wealth of experience with action movies.

The Recycled

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There is some speculation that Eon and MGM may look to the directors that they considered before hiring Boyle. These directors include Yann Demange, director of “White Boy Rick” featuring Matthew McConaughey. Demange is currently filming the highly anticipated “Lovecraft Country” TV series. While Demange doesn’t possess Bond like directing experience any more than the first two he certainly has directed more feature films.

Wrapping up

The three front-runners to replace Danny Boyle are something of potential rising stars through all three have extensive directing experience.

A quick look over the previous directors of Bond films tells me that whichever of the three they go with will be less experienced directing feature films of this sort than the recent James Bond directors. Perhaps fresh blood will bring something new to the Bond franchise. It should be noted at this time that only Layton and Clarkson have said to have been in contact with MGM and Eon about the project.

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