Danny Boyle Calls His James Bond 25 Exit "A Great Shame"

When Danny Boyle was announced as the director of James Bond 25, the movie world was abuzz with what his version of a Bond movie would look like. But alas, that buzz was cut short when Boyle suddenly left the project in August last year, citing that dreaded term: "creative differences." Boyle hasn't spoken since on the reason he clashed over the vision of the film with star Daniel Craig and producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, but in a new interview, he illuminates why he left the project and why he feels no ill will toward current director Cary Fukunaga.

In an interview with Empire, Boyle expressed excitement over what his version of James Bond 25 would've looked like, for which he was co-writing a script with Trainspotting collaborator John Hodge.

"What John [Hodge] and I were doing, I thought, was really good," Boyle said. "It wasn't finished, but it could have been really good." But despite his excitement for what could've been, Boyle said that he bears no ill will toward Fukunaga, who stepped in to take over directing duties after Boyle exited. The filmmaker added that he "learned quite a lot about himself" from the experience as well, but ultimately his vision was not what Broccoli and Wilson wanted:

"We were working very, very well, but they didn't want to go down that route with us. So we decided to part company, and it would be unfair to say what it was because I don't know what Cary [Joji Fukunaga] is going to do. I got a very nice message from him and I gave him my best wishes... It is just a great shame."

We'll never know what Danny Boyle's version of James Bond 25 will look like, but at least the long-gestating film seems to be getting on its feet with an equally ambitious auteur at the helm. Rami Malek has been recently tapped to play the villain in Fukunaga's film. Meanwhile Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, and Ben Whishaw will be reprising their roles in this sequel, with Seydoux's return suggesting a twist on the usual treatment of "Bond girls."

Production is expected to begin sometime this spring, and the twenty-fifth Bond film will arrive in theaters on April 10, 2020.