As 'Bond 25' returns to filming this week, there's still a question mark over exactly why Danny Boyle left the movie in the first place.
While the usual statements of "creative differences" were offered by both parties, it's clear that Danny Boyle has been affected by the whole experience. In an interview with Metro.co.uk, Boyle made his feelings known not just about 'Bond 25', but franchises in general.
"I learned my lesson that I am not cut out (for franchises) otherwise you’re digging in the same hole," Boyle told Metro. "I am better not quite in the mainstream franchise movies, is the honest answer."
As Boyle tells it, he and his writing partner John Hodge were working well, but it was going against what the producers wanted. "We were working very, very well, but they didn’t go down that route with us, so we decided to part company and it would be unfair to say what it was because I don’t know what Cary (Joji Fukunaga, the current director of 'Bond 25') is going to do."
The general gist of the story, according to Boyle, is that they wanted another writer to come in and give the script a polish - something which Boyle wasn't prepared to entertain. Rather than have someone else write his script, Boyle pulled the plug and walked away.
It's a classy move in not discussing what his version of the story might have been, primarily because people are always going to compare what is with what might have been. As it stands, Boyle no longer taking on franchise movies makes sense. Quite honestly, he seemed like a bizarre choice for 'Bond 25' and even though he can direct action in an interesting way - 'Trance' is a perfect example - it was more than likely never going to work out for him.
'Bond 25' arrives in Irish cinemas on April 8th, 2020.
