007: The Franchise that Time Forgot
Do we still need cinema’s most famous secret agent?
No Time to Die, the 25th film in the James Bond franchise, will allegedly finally be released in the US next Friday, October 8th. Originally scheduled for release November 2019, it was bumped to February 2020, then April 2020 after losing its original director, then November 2020, then April 2021, and now October 2021 thanks to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. At this point the studio can’t afford to continue marketing it, and is willing to consider the possibility that there is time to die due to contracting coronavirus at your local cinema.
In all this time spent waiting, the double-0 discourse has whipped up to a maddening whirl. The thing about the Bond franchise for me has always been that people seem more interested in discussing the series itself—the casting, the canon, the Girls, etc.—than digesting the individual entries (for example, I don’t think another human being has ever acknowledged the existence of Spectre [2015] to me). Despite producers’ best efforts to assert relevance, is it possible that society has moved past the need for James Bond in today’s fast-paced, fan-driven, and continuity-obsessed film climate?
James Bond operates on a unique franchise model, sustaining unprecedented longevity by recasting its lead over and over again. In doing so, it has fostered a fan-casting cottage industry among Instagram photoshoppers, whose criteria is minimal at best and questionable at worst. And while just about everybody has an opinion on who the next Bond should be, few would be able to articulate their favorite film in the series—not a healthy sign of meaningful cultural impact .
In fact, viewers have been recasting poor Daniel Craig practically since cameras rolled on his first movie. While he’s been keeping us on our toes by threatening to quit the role after just about every film, he ultimately has held the title for over 15 years. The average age of action stars may be rising—call it the Tom Cruise Effect—but the physical demands of the role (Craig’s repeated injuries have delayed films multiple times) should make us think more critically about who can breathe fresh life into the character.
Today’s top franchises are constantly unspooling new spinoffs for side characters and delivering on Easter eggs planted years in advance. The 007 franchise, on the other hand, throws continuity to the wind, constantly rewriting Bond’s backstory while retaining actors across iterations (such as Dame Judi Dench). It also does this at a comparatively glacial pace: No Time to Die is Daniel Craig’s fifth time playing Bond since taking up the mantle 15 years ago. In that time, Robert Downey Jr. both began and concluded his iconic nine-film run as Iron Man. Since we last saw Bond on the big screen in 2015, Tom Holland has filmed five appearances as Spider-Man. In addition to rogue Cold War adversaries, the next actor to shoulder the franchise will have to fight off an ever-growing roster of superheroes, street racers, and copycat spies to hold space in the public’s attention.
Each new release also resurfaces the conversation about some of the more outdated aspects of the James Bond lexicon—generally, just how integral is misogyny to his character? I once tried to watch the full series from the very beginning, but abandoned midway through the Connery run due to one too many scenes of uncomfortably questionable consent. To their credit, the filmmakers have tried to address, or at least be sensitive to these discussions, especially in recent years. In 1995’s GoldenEye, Judi Dench’s M winks at this, calling Pierce Brosnan’s Bond “a sexist, misogynist dinosaur...a relic of the Cold War.” Meanwhile, Spectre got a lot of press for giving Bond a more age-appropriate lover in Monica Bellucci, but the hero still ultimately walked off into the sunset with a woman 17 years his junior.
I am looking forward to what EMMY WINNER Phoebe Waller-Bridge can bring to No Time to Die. Brought in at Daniel Craig’s request, Waller-Bridge is the second ever female screenwriter on a Bond film (after Johanna Harwood co-wrote Dr. No and From Russia with Love). NTtD also features Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch as the first female agent to hold the 007 designation. Daniel Craig recently said in an interview that “there should simply be better parts for women and actors of color,” parts that are “just as good as James Bond.” Hopefully by increasing diversity on both sides of the camera, movies like this can help boost underrepresented artists’ careers without locking them into an outdated (if successful) franchise.
Before we conclude, I must have a word on the Bond Theme Song, the other recurring role that always generates much speculation and discussion. In recent years, some brassy orchestration and vague lyricism have become a sure path to awards glory. Sam Smith’s Spectre theme, which they claimed to have written and recorded in 30 minutes (uh, yeah we could tell, Sam) provided a fast track to the Oscar stage. Billie Eilish’s “No Time to Die,” which has now laughably been out for seven months, nabbed her a Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media before said visual media has even been released. The latter is serviceable, though underwhelming as there are less traditional tracks on her latest album that would have made for more interesting choices (like this one):
Now that I’ve spilled a lot of ink making my case for Bond’s obsolescence, I’m not too big to note that I could be completely wrong. U.K. ticket presales for No Time to Die are the biggest since Avengers: Endgame, Germany is prepping the largest IMAX in the world for its release, and heck, I’m planning to see it too. But let’s not conflate box office revenue with cultural impact (remember, Tim Burton’s 2010 Alice in Wonderland cracked $1 billion, and when was the last time you thought about that movie?); only time will tell whether there is in fact time for this franchise to die.
D’s List: Recent Moments in Culture
From Stage to Screen
Theatrical adaptations of stage productions are having a real moment right now:
Dear Evan Hansen: This much-maligned film, starring 28-year-old Ben Platt as a high school senior is now in theaters. I simply can’t believe that Platt launched his film career by playing a college freshman in Pitch Perfect nine years ago and has been Benjamin Button-ing his roles ever since. I’ve never even touched the DEH soundtrack, but suppose I must tune in for Hollywood’s two most powerful redheads (that’s Amy Adams and Julianne Moore—sorry to Jessica Chastain who keeps showing up on my TikTok feed!).
The Humans: We’ve received a trailer for the upcoming adaptation of my favorite play I’ve ever seen on stage. Playwright Stephen Karam is is making his film directorial debut with this adaptation of his Tony-winning play: a painfully relatable Thanksgiving tale with a innovative streak of horror. I’m really looking to what the star-studded cast (Beanie Feldstein, Amy Schumer, Steven Yeun, and more) will do with the text:
The Tragedy of Macbeth: I’m a huge Macbeth-head and am absolutely salivating over the latest adaptation, for which the first trailer has also been released. The first singular Coen Brother film (@Joel) stars Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the postmenopausal Macbeths in a stark black-and-white Scottish landscape. I really wanted to love Justin Kurzel’s 2015 adaptation, but wasn’t enamored with Michael Fassbender’s PTSD’d out Macbeth; it sounds like Washington will be leaning harder into the character’s ruthless ambition. Consider my Christmas morning plans made.
Also, if you’ve been missing live theatre over the past year, I highly recommend the National Theatre’s NT at Home collection of recent recordings of exceptional British theatre.
That’s Ms. Anthropocene to You
Grimes and Elon Musk have broken up after three years and one child together. I can’t say this relationship didn’t make sense to me, but now I feel better about admitting that I really liked her Dune-inspired Met Gala ensemble and that Miss Anthropocene was the best album of 2020!
Anyway, the aftermath has already spiraled into chaos, with Grimes threatening to colonize Europa “for the lesbian space commune” and chaos agent Azalea Banks reentering the chat after previously falling out with Grimes due to an ill-fated weekend at Musk’s mansion. While I fear this may mean we lose Grimes’ unreleased song about “defeating” Banks, it does get us one step closer to Zola co-writer Jeremy O. Harris’ adaptation of the aforementioned clash.
Bringing it back to Broadway for a min, Harris’ Slave Play had a record 12 nominations at last weekend’s Tony Awards and won exactly none of them. That’s the only update, I’ll try to be better about award show recaps in the future.
Be well,
Derek