The 24th James Bond movie, Spectre, releases in theaters on Nov. 6 and at first Sam Mendes was reluctant to return to direct following the highly successful Skyfall while at other times it was rumored he’d not only direct Bond 24, but Bond 25 as well. Those rumors proved untrue, but Mendes’ original reluctance had to do with other commitments, which the producers worked around, allowing time for Mendes to return one more time, but it seems it may also be the last time.
“I said no to the last one [Spectre] and then ended up doing it, and was pilloried by all my friends,” Mendes told the BBC. “But I do think this is probably it…I don’t think I could go down that road again. You do have to put everything else on hold.”
We’ve seen the effect these big films have had on filmmakers, most recently it seemed Avengers: Age of Ultron took a massive toll on Joss Whedon and even Ava DuVernay Black Panther for Marvel would have meant three years of her professional career would be accounted for had she taken the gig.
“This is a bigger movie than Skyfall,” Mendes added. “It’s shot in more places – we were in Mexico City and Tangiers and northern Sahara and Rome and the Alps and London. It’s been an enormous undertaking.”
In addition to this news, Mendes revealed the theme song for the new movie has been recorded. “I can say that the song’s been recorded and it’s fantastic and I’m very excited about it,” he said. As for when we’ll find out who recorded the song we don’t yet know, though he adds, “You won’t have to wait long.”
It was reported last November that Sam Smith had beaten out Lana Del Rey for the gig, but Smith has since denied the reports while saying he’s heard Ellie Goulding may have actually been the one to finally land the song.
