2. Stanley Kubrick
The king of weird. The master of perfectionism. Stanley Kubrick himself. Known and widely imitated for his ability to make classic films in every genre (science fiction, horror, epic, war, romantic comedy, crime, and black comedy to name a few off the top of my head), he also had a mastery over the art of cinematography. But I could gush on about Kubrick all day, so instead, let's run through a list of why he could have made one of the greatest Bond films ever. First, the aforementioned cinematography. Now, the James Bond movies are famous for trying to avoid excessive CGI (aside from that pesky Die Another Day). Who was responsible for the greatest use of realistic special effects in film history? Stanley Kubrick and his landmark film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It pioneered the use of so many new FX technologies that many techniques of his were still being used into the late 90's. Second, the music. Kubrick was obsessed with getting the music right for every scene, commonly not even hiring a composer, but rather using existing pieces of music so he could know exactly how it would sound with the scene. And we all know how closely knit James Bond and music are. Third, the unpredictability. The Bond franchise thrives on presenting us with new and interesting things, and with Stanley Kubrick at the helm, it would be impossible to be prepared for what you were about to see when you walked into the theater. Again, I could gush on all day about why I think he'd be great at it, but in the interests of moving things along....