Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón is reportedly under consideration to direct the 26th James Bond film, the first under the Amazon MGM Studios regime. Cuarón, the acclaimed director of 2004’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Akaban, hinted at the information at a recent masterclass he was conducting in Paris.
Although he did not mention the Bond film by name, Cuarón was quoted as telling his students, “There is indeed this project under discussion, and I have the desire—if it happens—to revisit this story in my own way.”
His phraseology was in line with Amazon MGM’s desire to put a new stamp on the celebrated 007 franchise. Though no casting or plot details have been revealed, it’s been reported that the studio is trying to create a “fresh, exotic” version of the James Bond saga.
Cuarón also noted that he’d earlier been considered for a Bond film. At the Marrakech Film Festival in 2024, he said, “Ages ago, I was offered a Bond film. And I said, ‘yeah, cool. Maybe Bond. I am going to do one. And then when the process started and I was going to shoot all the dialogue and stuff, there was a [separate] team doing all the action scenes. It kind of felt very weird.”
After consulting with filmmaker Joel Coen, however, Cuarón decided to turn down the opportunity, noting that “it probably falls into the category of a film I want to watch but not do.”
After his Harry Potter triumph, he directed Children of Men and Roma, the latter winning him his second Oscar for Best Director.
Cuarón is not the first director under consideration for the upcoming Bond film. Christopher Nolan, who directed Oppenheimer, and Edward Berger of Conclave fame, had also reportedly been discussing the project with ex-producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Amy Pascal and David Heyman are now in charge of the Bond project at Amazon MGM.
In a related development, actor Pierce Brosnan has indicated his interest in again starring as James Bond in the new iteration of the franchise.
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