Christopher Nolan may be producing Bond 25

Is Christopher Nolan working on the next Bond movie? (Credit: Joe/WENN, MGM-UA/Sony)
Is Christopher Nolan working on the next Bond movie? (Credit: Joe/WENN, MGM-UA/Sony)

Speculation is mounting that the esteemed Christopher Nolan may be involved in the upcoming 25th James Bond movie.

The director of the ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, ‘Inception’ and ‘Interstellar’ has often been named as someone fans might like to see take on 007. However, while a potential Bond 25 director has emerged in Paul McGuigan, it appears Nolan may yet have a key role to play in the as-yet unnamed spy movie.

The matter has come to light via Birth Movies Death reporter Phil Noble Jr, who found Bond 25 listed on IMDb Pro as an in-development project of Nolan and Emma Thomas’s production company Syncopy, and initially dismissed this as untrue:

However, an unofficial Bond 25 fan feed later appeared to verify the information as accurate:


So, assuming this is indeed on the level (though we’d recommend taking it all with a grain of salt for now), what might this mean for Bond 25? If Nolan is set to be involved as a producer, might he also be a possibility to direct the film as well?

If so, he would be by far the most high-profile director ever to enter the franchise, which has historically veered away from established blockbuster filmmakers (famously shunning Steven Spielberg in the early 1980s). That said, the rule book went out of the window somewhat when Oscar-winner Sam Mendes took the helm on 2012’s ‘Skyfall’ and its 2015 follow-up ‘Spectre.’

In any case, Nolan has in the past produced high profile films which he did not direct himself, most notably 2013’s ‘Man of Steel.’ He was also executive producer on ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ and ‘Transcendence,’ alongside Emma Thomas.

Husband and wife producers Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas (credit: WENN)
Husband and wife producers Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas (credit: WENN)

It would seem likely that if Nolan and Thomas are on board Bond 25, they may be there to help guide the film’s creative direction – although the final say on all matters will surely go to long-standing Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson.

However, at present we can chalk this up as yet another thing we don’t know for sure about Bond 25 – which includes the rather sizeable question of whether or not Daniel Craig will return as Bond.

Potential future 007 Tom Hardy, in Christopher Nolan's 2010 film 'Inception' (credit: Warner Bros)
Potential future 007 Tom Hardy, in Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film ‘Inception’ (credit: Warner Bros)

Of course, it may be noted that Nolan has worked on several occasions with a certain Tom Hardy, often mentioned as a potential successor to Craig.

Still, right now all we know for sure is that Bond 25 will once again be written by long-time 007 screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. In the meantime, Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘Dunkirk’ – starring none other than Tom Hardy – opens in UK cinemas on 21 July.

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