Craig and Boyle reportedly couldn't agree with a decision to cast a relatively unknown actor for the film's villain.
- August 24, 2018
AceShowbiz - Danny Boyle's exit from the next James Bond film is reportedly due to a casting dispute with Daniel Craig.
Craig joined producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli in announcing the director's shock departure from the 25th 007 film due to "creative differences" on Tuesday, August, 21, in a tweet posted on the official James Bond account.
A movie insider has now claimed that the 007 star played a part the decision to part ways with Boyle - as Craig plays a key role in choosing his castmates and he and producers were sceptical of plans to cast the relatively unknown Tomasz Kot as the film's Russian villain.
"It was telling the producers put his (Craig's) name on their release saying that Boyle had been sacked," the source said, going on to explain that Boyle was on board with the plan to hire Kot, the star of acclaimed Polish movie Cold War, to appear opposite the 50-year-old in what is likely his final Bond movie.
"I have heard that they wanted to bring that Cold War element in but update it to the modern day," the insider said. "Danny Boyle was in for that. That wasn't the problem. The problem came in when they were making the final decisions about casting pre-production."
"Craig has a big say in all the casting decisions. None of the Bond girls have been chosen without his say so," the source said. For example, he chose Eva Green to be the Bond girl when it came to the final four for (Craig's first film as 007) Casino Royale and that has been the case for all the Bond girls he has worked with."
Kot was one of the darlings of this year's Cannes Film Festival, as Cold War won Pawel Pawlikowski the Best Director prize.
Another source of contention between Boyle and producers was reportedly his decision to ditch an existing script penned by Bond veterans Neal Purvis and Robert Wade in favour of working with his longtime collaborator John Hodge. Another industry source told the Telegraph that Broccoli was "furious" with the Trainspotting filmmaker for pulling the move.
Representatives of EON Productions did not respond to a request for comment.
