Nicolas Winding Refn Is Making His Own James Bond Film

Drew Dietsch
Movies
Movies

Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) is a versatile filmmaker when it comes to what genres he likes to play around in. Recently, he took a stab at making his version of a horror movie, The Neon Demon, a film that fellow Fan Contributor Travis Newton and I really dug. However, Refn isn’t some hoity-toity film snob. He loves all kinds of cinema and today’s news shows his love of one particular cornerstone of moviedom: James Bond.

Refn has announced that his next film, The Avenging Silence, is a spy movie that he’s written with Robert Wade and Neal Purvis, two of the key screenwriters that have been writing James Bond films for nearly twenty years. If you’ve seen any of the Bond films from The World Is Not Enough all the way to Spectre, you’ve consumed Wade and Purvis’ work.

In fact, Refn announced that he was one of the directors on the shortlist for Spectre until Sam Mendes decided to return for the follow-up to his smash hit, Skyfall. Refn didn’t give particular details but did say that franchise work isn’t for him. His commercial work allows him the freedom to pursue whatever personal projects he wants. That’s also why he prefers to make his own version of a Bond movie so that the studio, EON Productions, doesn’t finagle with the purity of his vision.

This is fantastic news for film fans and Bond fans. Refn is a singular voice who always brings a unique spin to his movies. I can’t even imagine what a Nicolas Winding Refn James Bond-esque film will be like. Will he go for the wacky gadgets? Is he going to have an iconic and ridiculous henchman in the vein of Jaws or Oddjob? Will it be a world-saving plot of epic proportions? This just jumped up to the top of my “most anticipated movies that barely exist yet” list. We’ll be keeping our eyes and ears on this one.

Forget being cast as the real James Bond. Tom Hiddleston needs to be in this.

Drew Dietsch
Drew Dietsch has been professionally writing about entertainment for over a decade. His bylines include FANDOM - where he was a founding contributor and Entertainment Editor - Bloody Disgusting, SYFY WIRE, and more. He created and hosts GenreVision, a weekly film discussion show at genrevision.com.