Tradecraft: Mendes Committed To Bond

Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead) was previously attached to the next James Bond movie as a "consultant" (for legal reasons) but expected to fill the director's chair as soon as the MGM financial mess was resolved. Now Deadline reports that he's moved on to other projects... but, according to the trade blog, "remains committed to the Bond film and intends to direct it once the MGM ownership situation gets sorted out."  Despite the negative context, this seems like the firmest news we've heard yet about Mendes' intention to actually direct. Deadline's Mike Fleming doesn't site his source, but has proven reliable in the past. (I believe Deadline was the first to report the exact nature of Mendes' involvement to begin with.) I'm glad to hear that at least one of the key players remains attached while the film was in limbo.  I was beginning to fear that the third Daniel Craig Bond film might meet the same fate as the third Timothy Dalton Bond film, and never see fruition thanks to delays due to troubles at the studio!  Mendes' new film and theater commitments tie him up until the end of 2011, though, so that doesn't bode well for production beginning any time soon, even if the financial mess is sorted out before then.