Is Bond 25 cursed? First there was the director drama, then that spectacularly ill-timed live-launch event— these were the harbingers, the warnings that Bond 25 had run afoul of some ancient chthonian curse, it’s the part of the story where the old timer shows up to warn you to “turn back now”. But Bond 25 did not turn back, and now it is in the grip of a full-blown curse meltdown. It began when Daniel Craig broke his ankle, halting production. This has happened to other movies (see also: RDJ/Iron Man 3), but it’s never ideal when a production has to go rework its production schedule to allow for the star to recuperate and yet stay on track for the projected release date. It was relatively easy for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to work around Harrison Ford when he got injured on set as he was not the star of that movie. But there’s only so much Bond 25 can shoot before they need their Bond back.
But wait, it gets worse! Yesterday, the official Bond Twitter announced that a “controlled explosion” went wrong, allegedly blowing apart a section of the soundstage, and leaving a crew member injured. The Twitter announcement is sure to include that it is a “minor injury”, but STILL. Blowing up your set and injuring people is Not Great, Bob. This production is clearly cursed and it seems anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
As for how it seems to be going, well, there was a report that the script is being rewritten on the fly as they film, with Fukunaga, Craig, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge forming a committee to write dialogue last-minute. The production was called a “well-polished sh-t show”, so that’s encouraging. Whenever it is reported that a movie is rewriting on the fly, everyone always points to Iron Man as proof this can work, and Mad Max: Fury Road too could be included in that category, but you never want this to be the standard. Generally, writing as you go is a big fat warning sign that the production is not going well. With Bond 25, we have like, five big fat warning signs that the production is not going well, and rewriting on the fly isn’t even in the top three. Bond 25 has been delayed once already, to give director Cary Fukunaga a chance to shape the movie to his liking—though it does not seem he got enough time if he is rewriting on the fly. Maybe they should take another break and have an exorcism.
