James Bond 25: Have Brexit And Trump Killed 007?
Where do you go when Bond villains become reality?
It now seems impossible to navigate a week in the world of culture without the looming spectre of what Donald Trump might do to America - or what he's already doing - having some impact on what we watch on screens. Not long ago, Finn Jones was blaming the poor reception to Iron Fist on similarities between Trump and Rand Enterprises, and now the POTUS is being blamed for the difficulty the next James Bond writers will have making Bond 25.
Bond writer Neal Purvis - who along with Robert Wade has scribed the last six James Bond movies has spoken to The Telegraph saying that his election has created an unlikely problem for the sequels. In a universe in which a colourful, supposedly nefarious corporate character like Trump genuinely sits on a throne of power, there's no way the Bond films can outdo reality as they always sought to.
“With people like Trump, the Bond villain has become a reality. So when they do another one, it will be interesting to see how they deal with the fact that the world has become a fantasy.”
Purvis also adds that Brexit will have similar impact:
“Each time, you’ve got to say something about Bond’s place in the world, which is Britain’s place in the world … But things are moving so quickly now, that becomes tricky... I’m just not sure how you would go about writing a James Bond film now.”
Trump might be an interesting figure, but he's yet to rival Blofeld, and unless I've missed some pretty serious news bulletins recently I don't remember him planning to start a new civilization under the sea, or build a giant diamond space laser? But there's probably time... What I'm saying is that there's always room for villains to "improve" on the malevolence of real world figures, because they aren't tied up by bureaucracy.
At this stage, given the push-back on some of Trump's simplest plans, it's not like anyone would even send Bond in. So maybe don't exaggerate that much, eh?