Sam Mendes over SPECTRE, de titelsong en de toekomst

Skyfall en SPECTRE regisseur Sam Mendes sprak in een interview over zijn werk aan de nieuwe James Bond film. Hij vertelde:

“[SPECTRE] is a bigger movie than ‘Skyfall’. When we were up for a BAFTA last time I counted the cast and crew as I wanted to accept it on behalf of everybody. I counted them up myself and there was over a thousand and you really do feel it. [SPECTRE] is shot in more places. We were in Mexico City, Tangiers, the Northern Sahara, Rome, The Alps, and London. We shut down great sections of London. Anyone whose evening was ruined because of the traffic around Westminster Bridge over the last few weeks, I apologise to them. But it’s been an enormous undertaking. One of the most rewarding moments for a film director is when you finally finish shooting.”

Over de post-productie van de film zei Mendes:

“I made the movie I wanted to see [for Skyfall] and I think I’ve done the same thing this time [for SPECTRE]. I hope I’ve done the same thing this time, although it really is just emerging out of the mists – the way that it does in the editing period. In terms of the story, it’s pretty much set out. But as any director will tell you, how you tell the story is everything and the story by itself is not enough. I spend a long, long period with the music for the movie and there will be over 100 minutes of music for this movie. That’s a lot of music. There is a lot of visual effects and a lot of sound work. There are any number of ways to mess your film up, even at this late stage, however good the story is. You have to stay completely focused and it is somewhat like rebooting and starting again at this stage. For me, editing is the most pleasurable piece as you’ve done all the hard work and it’s down to the story-telling.”

Hij sprak tevens over de James Bond-franchise:

“For me, the Bond franchise as a whole has been a wonderful unexpected gift at this point in my life. It’s not just the making of the film, it’s the relationship you have with an audience and the dialog you have with the process from the beginning to the end. You have to embrace the fact that everything you do is going to be reviewed and debated from the title to the music to the casting to the trailer… “

Na Skyfall zou Mendes in eerste instantie de Bond-franchise achter zich laten. Hij is echter weer te zien op de regiestoel van SPECTRE: 

“I said ‘No’ to the last one and then ended up doing it and was pilloried by all my friends, including [former England cricket captain] Michael Atherton who took great pleasure in reminding me that I said no to the last one and ended up doing it. But I do think this is probably it. I think five years for the two movies… It feels now almost, even though we’ve only just finished shooting it, like one big experience. It was a fantastic life-changing thing, but I don’t think I could go down that road again. It’s more a lifestyle choice than a job. You do have to put everything else on hold.”

Ten slotte sprak Mendes over de titelsong van de film. Vorige week lieten we al weten dat de kans groot is dat Briste zangeres Ellie Goulding het nummer had opgenomen. Het nummer is inderdaad al opgenomen zei Mendes: “The song had been recorded and it’s fantastic and I’m very excited about it.”  Mendes ging niet in op details, en of Goulding het nummer zingt. Wat hij wel zei is: “You won’t have to wait long.”

In de nieuwe film ontvangt James Bond een cryptische boodschap uit zijn verleden. Deze stuurt hem op het spoor van een sinistere organisatie. Terwijl M. een strijd levert tegen politieke krachten, om de geheime dienst in leven te houden, weet Bond de lagen van bedrog weg te pellen om de afgrijselijke waarheid achter SPECTRE te onthullen.

Het is de 24e uit de officiële filmreeks van EON Productions en wordt geregisseerd door Sam Mendes. De film heeft hoofdrollen voor Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Rory Kinnear, Monica Bellucci, Andrew Scott, Jesper Christensen en Christoph Waltz. SPECTRE wordt geschreven door John Logan en Neal Purvis & Robert Wade. De nieuwe Bond-film draait vanaf  29 oktober 2015 in de bioscoop.