Cruz is a pretty unexpected choice when you compare her to past Bond girls of the franchise. Usually Bond girls aren't as experienced in film or as well known as Cruz, but it could payoff in giving us a much more interesting and less one dimensional love interest for Daniel Craig's Bond. I can definitely see Cruz getting in on all the action alongside Craig as opposed to standing on the sidelines, but my only problem is what this means for the dynamic between Bond and Naomie Harris' Moneypenny. Moneypenny wasn't as heavily featured in Skyfall in order for it to center more on M and Bond's relationship, but we already saw through the end of Skyfall that Moneypenny will now must likely play a larger role in Bond's adventures, something that we can assume was being setup for sequels. But now bringing Cruz in could mean yet another film where we see Bond more invested in a relationship with another female character, and still no screen time developing Moneypenny and Bond duo. Either that or we'll most likely be seeing a love triangle form between the characters, which is something that can definitely lead to a more intriguing situation for our protagonist.
As I said in the beginning of the article, there's been a lot of drama surrounding the twenty fourth Bond film and whether Sam Mendes would be coming back after he originally stated he wouldn't. Last week some huge names were released on the shortlist of directors being considered including Oscar winners Tom Hopper (Les Miserables, King's Speech) and Ang Lee (Life of Pi) as well as Shane Black (Iron Man 3), Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives) and David Yates (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2). But after all that speculation about who would be replacing Mendes, it looks like the producers are willing to wait for Mendes' schedule to clear up for him to not only direct Bond 24 but possibly even Bond 25.
Bond 25 would seemingly be the conclusion to Daniel Craig's run as Bond, paving the way for both a new director and actor to take on the series (Christopher Nolan and Henry Cavill FTW!). I'm honestly not a big fan of the style Mendes had brough to the Bond franchise, but I understand that many fans have been pretty pleased with the very different type of Bond flick he brought to the table with Skyfall. Having Mendes finish off the series in that style seems like a smart move, rather than just drastically changing the style to another director's vision of 007. But hey, when Nolan takes over the Bond franchise, trust me that I'll be the first one to buy a ticket.
So do you think Penelope Cruz would make for a good Bond girl? Are excited Sam Mendes is coming back or would you have preferred if another director took the gig?
