After his failed Star Wars project, Steven Soderbergh was rejected for James Bond

It all began nearly twenty years ago, when rumors circulated that the Oscar-winning director had discussed with Barbara Broccoli, then head of the Bond franchise, the possibility of directing an episode of the saga. The year was 2008. The franchise had just been relaunched with Daniel Craig in Casino Royale in 2006, and its sequel, Quantum of Solace, was about to be released in theaters that fall. But from what we now know, it was little more than a pitch from Soderbergh. Nothing resembling actual negotiations, in any case. A radical and sexy James Bond, on a low budget. In a recent interview with The Playlist during the promotion of The Christophers, Soderbergh revisited this story. He confirmed that he had presented Barbara Broccoli with two separate proposals, both quite ambitious. In both cases, he wanted to make Bond a much more singular entity, almost a counter-program: an auteur Bond, radical, low-budget, and set in the past. According to him, the first idea proposed in 2008 was a parallel franchise set in the 1960s, rated R, violent and sexy, integrating a fictional plot with real historical events, with a different actor and a different universe. The whole thing would have been produced at a lower cost, as an alternative and completely independent branch of the official Bond films. Broccoli was intrigued, but never pursued it further. This idea also echoes what Tony Gilroy, creator of Andor and director of Michael Clayton, later recounted, revealing that he had been approached to write a Bond pitch developed with Soderbergh. Another contemporary and spectacular James Bond, but… A few years later, after the release of Skyfall in 2012, the director returned with a second proposal. This time, he didn't want to choose: he wanted both. On one hand, a contemporary, spectacular Bond, tailored for a wide audience. On the other, his parallel Bond, freer, riskier, more personal. In short, a complete package or nothing. Soderbergh himself admits that the maneuver was perhaps a little aggressive. Since then, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have ceded creative control of the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios. The next film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing. Soderbergh, for his part, no longer seems to truly believe in it. When asked about the idea of returning to it today, he replies that films belong to an era, a moment, a certain spirit of the times. And that, in his eyes, that moment has passed. Yes, of course. You can feel that this project haunted him, that he cared about it deeply, almost viscerally. And now that the field could theoretically be more open than before, there would be no one left. Perfect timing, Soderbergh style.