For over 60 years, the James Bond film franchise has been overseen by the Broccoli family.
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson took over as EON Productions producers from their father, Cubby Broccoli.
Yet after Amazon bought MGM Studios, the pair shocked the world by selling their creative control in a near-billion-dollar deal.
Now, for the first time ever, an official Bond movie will not be overseen by a Broccoli.
The streaming giant hired Amy Pascal and David Heyman to helm the reboot, with Dune’s Denis Villeneuve newly announced to direct Bond 26. But what does Barbara make of it all?
Speaking with The Times, Broccoli said the next day “I leap out of bed in the morning.” And now she’s given her verdict on Villeneuve when asked by film critic Mark Kermode in a Kermode on Film podcast recording of MK3D. The 65-year-old said: “He’s a fantastic filmmaker, I’m thrilled he’s going to be doing it.” Kermode then inquired further, but the producer (who was promoting her stage musical adaptation of Sing Street) confirmed she’s totally moving on from Bond.
Broccoli added: “I did it for 44 years and I loved every minute of it, but I’m getting up there now and there’s a lot of things I want to do… I mean like this beautiful musical. So I’m doing a lot of other things. I have other movies I want to make and other stage shows.”