Bond 24: 5 Reasons Why Sam Mendes Should Return
1. It Exposes Him To A Larger Audience
Which brings us to the biggest reason Sam Mendes should consider staying on the Bond team...it's giving him exposure he's been unfamiliar with before Skyfall. Yes, everyone and their mother knows American Beauty, and film geeks know who Sam Mendes is without a problem. But he's a long way from being known as Christopher Nolan, much less a Steven Spielberg. His films, varying in quality as they are, all share the same fact: not many general filmgoers know who Sam Mendes is by name. In fact, one could say that he's basically ridden American Beauty's recognition into the ground over the course of the almost 14 years since its release without providing anything that's equally memorable. (Though smarter filmgoers would remember his outstanding, yet underrated, work in Road to Perdition, which would upgrade that figure to 9 years coasting through without anything new or memorable.) It seems that as a director, you need that recognizable blockbuster to make a name for yourself. You need something with punch and clout in order to put your name out there in the business, and as Ben Affleck once said (through Kevin Smith's wording), "You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture." What better "safe picture" potential to keep in your hands than the Bond series, especially when Mendes has already proven he can do it so well with Skyfall? All he has to do is maintain, if not exceed, that level of craftsmanship for the next couple of installments. Meanwhile, he bides his time between installments with more experimental, introspective works that hearken back to his American Beauty days. With this sort of deal, he gets to relive his artistic period, but still gets to keep his name out there as a big time player in the studio circuit. Throughout each of these pieces of the puzzle, one thing has shone true: Sam Mendes knocked it out of the park with Skyfall, and the world is basically giving him the job of directing Bond 24 without an audition. There's no competition, there's no selection process, and no studio drama if he doesn't want there to be. All he really has to do is negotiate his terms, sign a contract, and walk out the door whistling the 007 theme on the way to the bank.
Which brings us to the biggest reason Sam Mendes should consider staying on the Bond team...it's giving him exposure he's been unfamiliar with before Skyfall. Yes, everyone and their mother knows American Beauty, and film geeks know who Sam Mendes is without a problem. But he's a long way from being known as Christopher Nolan, much less a Steven Spielberg. His films, varying in quality as they are, all share the same fact: not many general filmgoers know who Sam Mendes is by name. In fact, one could say that he's basically ridden American Beauty's recognition into the ground over the course of the almost 14 years since its release without providing anything that's equally memorable. (Though smarter filmgoers would remember his outstanding, yet underrated, work in Road to Perdition, which would upgrade that figure to 9 years coasting through without anything new or memorable.) It seems that as a director, you need that recognizable blockbuster to make a name for yourself. You need something with punch and clout in order to put your name out there in the business, and as Ben Affleck once said (through Kevin Smith's wording), "You gotta do the safe picture. Then you can do the art picture." What better "safe picture" potential to keep in your hands than the Bond series, especially when Mendes has already proven he can do it so well with Skyfall? All he has to do is maintain, if not exceed, that level of craftsmanship for the next couple of installments. Meanwhile, he bides his time between installments with more experimental, introspective works that hearken back to his American Beauty days. With this sort of deal, he gets to relive his artistic period, but still gets to keep his name out there as a big time player in the studio circuit. Throughout each of these pieces of the puzzle, one thing has shone true: Sam Mendes knocked it out of the park with Skyfall, and the world is basically giving him the job of directing Bond 24 without an audition. There's no competition, there's no selection process, and no studio drama if he doesn't want there to be. All he really has to do is negotiate his terms, sign a contract, and walk out the door whistling the 007 theme on the way to the bank. What say you, What Culture Republic? Would you like to see Sam Mendes come back to the fold for Bond 24? Would you rather see another director of your liking take the reins? Or are you just happy that Uwe Boll hasn't tried to make his own copycat franchise and that Madonna isn't allowed anywhere near a Bond film for 20 years, per the terms of her parole? Send us a Comment for our eyes only below, and as always...
James Bond Will Return.