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Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director behind the James Bond movies Skyfall and Spectre, has said he probably won’t petition to make a third one and that he believes it would be “wonderful” for a woman to direct.
Speaking to Deadline, Mendes said with a laugh, “I don’t think they’d want me any more,” as it relates to whether or not he might come back to direct another entry in the series.
“It was an incredible thing to do at that moment in my life; I couldn’t have asked for a better thing,” Mendes said of his time making Skyfall and Spectre.
But making those films took a toll. “It’s like erecting scaffolding and building an entire world…,” he said. “It’s exhausting, in a different way.”
Looking ahead, Mendes said Daniel Craig made a mark on the character of James Bond after five films, and he doesn’t envy series producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson in searching for a new actor. “It’s very difficult for a younger actor to step into that,” Mendes said.
“I think that the actor playing Bond is going to evolve, the director has to evolve. I think it would be wonderful to see a woman directing Bond. I think it would be wonderful,” Mendes said.
Broccoli previously talked about searching for a female director for the James Bond series. “I’d love to have a female [director]. We’d love to do that,” Broccoli said. “I’d love to have a female director. We’ll have to see what happens, we’ll start the process sometime this year I guess.”
Mendes won an Oscar for 1999’s American Beauty and earned additional nominations for his war movie 1917. His next film is the romantic drama Empire of Light starring Olivia Colman, Michael Ward, Toby Jones, and Colin Firth.
