“Do them the way they were written”: Quentin Tarantino’s Canceled James Bond Movie Wanted to Do Something Even the Daniel Craig Movies Couldn’t

Daniel Craig in Casino Royale | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

The big-screen adaptations of Ian Fleming’s James Bond have never really been known for being faithful to their source material. Apart from some initial releases, such as On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Thunderball, most films haven’t gone past the title of the books when it comes to borrowing material for the silver screen.

As a result, after rumors emerged claiming that Christopher Nolan was in talks to make a faithful adaptation of Fleming’s work, fans were elated. But as the story goes, these claims turned out to be false. However, had Quentin Tarantino got the ball running for his version of Casino Royale, fans would’ve witnessed a pretty truthful adaptation of the author’s first Bond novel.

Casino Royale Would’ve Stuck to the Books Had Quentin Tarantino Directed

While with Casino Royale, director Martin Campbell did stick to the books to some extent, he did take his fair share of creative liberties by setting it in the modern day. But before Campbell was brought on board to reboot the IP with Daniel Craig, after Pulp FictionQuentin Tarantino showcased interest in adapting the first book in the series.

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Had his plans taken off, the film would’ve seen Pierce Brosnan return as 007 and starred Uma Thurman as one of the Bond girls. Moreover, with the time period set in the ’60s, it would have stuck close to the books, but Tarantino explained that it was planned to be a one-off thing.

He told Deadline:

We reached out to the Ian Fleming people, and they had suggested that they still own the rights to Casino Royale. And that’s what I wanted to do after Pulp Fiction was do my version of Casino Royale, and it would’ve taken place in the ’60s and wasn’t about a series of Bond movies. We would have cast an actor and be one and done. So I thought we could do this.

In a previous interview, Tarantino recalled pitching this idea to Brosnan, stressing that the GoldenEye star “liked the idea”. Unfortunately, the idea never materialized.

Quentin Tarantino’s Advice for the 26th James Bond Film

Although Tarantino has no plans to direct the next James Bond entry, as he aims to conclude his filmography with his next feature, he did have some advice on how to approach the next entry.

With the 26th entry in the franchise set to kickstart a new chapter in Bond’s decades-long run, Tarantino stressed instead of taking creative liberties, “do the books… the way they were written“.

They took the plot line and maybe the Bond girl or maybe the villain and then just went their own way. Tom Mankiewicz just goes his own way. He did the writing for a lot of them. I think they should not remake the movies but actually just do the books, but do them the way they were written. And those would all be brand new.

While it’d have been enticing to see a Tarantino-led Bond feature set in the ’60s, it’s important to note that some elements of Fleming’s books haven’t aged well, as they were a product of their time. But it surely will be interesting to see a more faithful adaptation moving forward, as, despite 25 films in, filmmakers have barely tapped the material of Fleming’s 12 books and 2 short stories.

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Casino Royale is available to stream on Apple TV,