With audiences tied up watching his latest James Bond picture, now is the perfect time for Sam Mendes to prepare an elegant dinner where he spills all the intricate details of his secret plan to Deadline. So, please, have a seat. Lovely wine, isn’t it? The 1846 Amontillado, from my private cask. Ah, yes, where were we? The Bond films. While you may have noticed that rumors of the director abandoning the series after Skyfall were overblown, Mendes assured his guest that the stories of him leaving after Spectre were all too real.
“Without giving too much away, the difference here for me is, this movie draws together all four of Daniel’s movies into one final story, and he completes a journey,†Mendes revealed. “There is a sense of completeness that wasn’t there at the end of Skyfall, and that’s what makes this feel different. It feels like there’s a rightness to it, that I have finished a journey.â€
Come, come, Mr. Mendes, surely you derive as much pleasure from directing James Bond films as you do all the rest? Yes, he countered, but “by [the time the next film is released], I’ll probably be doing something else … There are other stories to tell.†As for rumors of Daniel Craig’s potential Bond-induced suicide, he agrees that now isn’t the best time to ask him those questions: “Daniel may absolutely turn around [in] six months’ time and feel his energy renewed.†Bwahahaha!