Who should direct / star in the next Bond?

In not surprising news, Sam Mendes is moving on from the 007 franchise after Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015). Daniel Craig is probably moving on, too, but rumors about who will replace him are, as ever, premature. The names floating about this time are Idris Elba and Tom Hiddleston (wishful fan thinking, maybe, since the internet has been suggesting these two names forever) and 30 year old Jamie Bell which is an interesting idea and probably not a bad one. If chosen he'd be the youngest Bond since Sean Connery (who was 30 when he was cast for Dr. No (1962) though most subsequent Bonds have been around 40 when they started. Plus Bell is super charismatic but underused in cinema.

Though Bond films are largely regarded as producer driven and leading actor focused pictures, rather than directorial feats, the man in the chair is important. In the past the franchise has generally relied on mid level directors rather than auteurs, the two with the most success outside the franchise are Oscar winner Sam Mendes and Oscar nominee Lewis Gilbert. Once the franchise even handed the reigns to a Bond editor who graduated to the director's chair (John Glen) for his directorial debut.

Directed the Most Bond Films

1. John Glen - 5 Bonds: For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, License to Kill (and he edited a few more before those); Key Picture Outside the Franchise: Not really
2. Guy Hamilton -4 Bonds: Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man With the Golden Gun; Key Picture Outside the Franchise: Force 10 From Navarone
3. [TIE] Terence Young - 3 Bonds: Dr No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball; Key Picture Outside the Franchise: Wait Until Dark AND Lewis Gilbert - 3 Bonds: You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker: Key Picture(s) Outside the Franchise: Alfie (Oscar Nomination), and Educating Rita
4. [TIE] Sam Mendes - 2 Bonds: Skyfall, Spectre; Key Picture Outside the Franchise: American Beauty (Oscar win), and Road to Perdition AND Martin Campbell - 2 Bonds: GoldenEye, Casino Royale; Key Picture Outside the Franchise: The Mask of Zorro

 If you could bend producer Barbara Broccoli's ear...
What would you whisper to the woman behind the franchise who makes those final hiring decisions?  

Villeneuve & Gyllenhaal: From Enemy to muse

Cinematic magic often occurs when an actor and director find their careers entwined and they're able to bring out the best in each other. Film history has been littered with Directors and their muses; Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe, John Ford and John Wayne, Hitchcock had many, Woody Allen had his, too. Now it seems Denis Villeneuve and Jake Gyllenhaal are joining those ranks with their recently announced third collaboration The Son, based on the Jo Nesbo book. The moody thriller will follow Gyllenhaal as a heroin addicted prisoner who escapes to learn the truth about his father's suicide. Hopefully this also means we'll have another career best performance from Gyllenhaal. Following Nightcrawler, Zodiac, and both the Villeneuve pictures (Enemy, Prisoners), crime thrillers seem to fit Gyllenhaal like a glove...

While Prisoners was more palatable to audiences, Enemy felt far more like the unique stamp of an auteur and muse project. This brain bender offers the only thing better than Jake Gyllenhaal starring in a movie: two Jake Gyllenhaals starring in a movie. The puzzle of a man meeting his exact double is gripping, thought provoking, and one of the most underappreciated films of the last few years. The curious spider motif that recurrs throughout Enemy is an appropriate metaphor for the delicate web that Villeneuve and Gyllenhaal spin together. 

We'll have to wait awhile for The Son, though, as both men have very full slates with Villeneuve working on the Blade Runner sequel and finishing the Amy Adams sci-fi drama Story of Your Life. Gyllenhaal next stars in Nocturnal Animals from Tom Ford and he obviously has a taste for alternative acclaimed directors, since he's got roles in new Antoine Fuqua, David Gordon Green, and Joon-ho Bong projects as well. Gyllenhaalics rejoice.

Are you excited about this latest auteur & muse team? 

Beauty Break: Movie Stars in Uniform

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

We'll still be posting this weekend but it'll be a bit lighter daily until Tuesday morning. To celebrate this holiday commemorating those who've given their life in service to the country or who have passed on more generally, let's celebrate with beautiful movie stars in uniform but who are no longer with us after the jump...

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Girls Gone Wild -- Favorite Bad Girl Oscar Winners

Kieran, here. We've been celebrating Girls Gone Wild this month at The Film Experience. If you haven't already done so, make sure to check out Team Experience's wonderful relay-style Thelma & Louise 25th anniversary retrospective. 

As the month comes to a close, it felt fitting to take a look back at some of the Best Oscar-winning "bad girl" star turns. Here are 11 of the juiciest...

Honorable Mention:

Cristal Connors in Showgirls (Gina Gershon)

Should have been nominated. Very possibly should have won. Haters be damned.

Top Ten Oscar Winning Bad Girl Roles

10. Addie Loggins in Paper Moon (Tatum O'Neal - Best Supporting Actress 1973)

A charismatic yet unsentimental child performance that perfectly nails the tone of its film. The only complaint is that she wasn't promoted to lead Actress where (judging by that roster) she very well could have contended.

9. Barbara Grahame in I Want to Live! (Susan Hayward - Best Actress 1958)

Delightfully over-the-top and melodramatic. Barbara refuses to wear a nightgown while in prison for murder. She wants to "sleep raw!" 

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Tweetweek: Dumbo, Depp, Ghostbusters

It's a tie for Tweet of the week with the first win going to cartoonist Lucy Knisley for her sudden Mrs Jumbo tweet flurry... but there's more to come including Isabelle Huppert, Helen Hunt, Game of Thrones, Bridesmaids, and Michael Fassbender after the jump...

Tweet of the Week Part 1 

Is Dumbo's mom a Disney princess? Is she the first wrongfully imprisoned princess, persecuted for mental illness? IS SHE THE BEST ONE!?

— Lucy Knisley (@LucyKnisley) May 23, 2016

Elephant gestation is 2 yrs. If I had to be pregnant for 2 yrs, I'd want a flying baby and a princess title AT THE VERY LEAST. #FreeMrsJumbo

— Lucy Knisley (@LucyKnisley) May 23, 2016

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