site.btaMartin Campbell: Today's Global Politics May Shape the Next James Bond Film

What is going on politically in the world today may well be infused into the next Bond story, said acclaimed film director Martin Campbell, who is famously known for two of the James Bond films, GoldenEye and Casino Royale. Speaking in a BTA interview, he argued that everything that is good about Bond should stay intact. 

“Probably the stories will be more contemporary. The Chinese used to be the bad guys. The Russians used to be the bad guys. The Middle East used to be the bad guys. Well, it's probably back to Russia now for the bad guys. And maybe they'll make Bond more contemporary and more politically contemporary,” he said. 

He was in Sofia on the invitation of Aniventure Comic Con.

Campbell’s filmography also includes The Green Lantern, The Mask of Zoro, The Legend of Zoro, Dirty Angels, and Edge of Darkness received a BAFTA Award for Best Drama Series or Serial.

He is adamant that action for action's sake is boring. “Action really has to be related to the characters,” he says. “And apart from that, of course, you want to make the action as exciting and as real as possible. So that's really the equation.” 

He gets sent scripts and says most of them are not very good. 

He is about to do a film with Samuel Jackson and Eva Green, which is, “believe it or not, a kind of comedy thriller”, to use his words. “No explosions, no guns. It's actually a very good script,” Campbell says. 

Speaking to BTA’s Dahnyelle Dymytrov, Campbell talks about whether his style has changed through the years, the difference between an average and a good action film, whether he uses different approaches as he works with all these film stars, on use of visual effects and which is the best scene in his films.

Following is the full interview.

How did your style change through the years? 

I don't think my style has changed. I mean, I don't even know what my style is.

I mean, the thing is that I made my first film in 1990. I think if you look at that film and you look at the movies I do now, the style is pretty consistent.

I don't really know what that style is. 

You're defined like a master of action. What is the little or maybe the big difference between the best action and the ordinary action?

Well, you know, the thing is action, for action's sake, is for me sort of boring.

Action really has to be related to the characters. I mean, if you look at, let`s say, Daniel Craig in Casino Royale in the opening scene, which was the parkour sequence, he gets beaten up. He's no athlete. I mean, the guy's like a bull in a china shop, you know.

He's, whereas the other guy is very fast, very quick and so forth. Daniel is like just so determined to get him that he's prepared to, he basically gets beaten up. You know, that's when he chases the guy and that's his character at the time.

He is a bull in a china shop. He's not Bond as we all know him until the end of the movie. So the action is directly related to his character.

And apart from that, of course, you want to make the action as exciting and as real as possible. So that's really the equation. 

Because you mentioned Daniel Craig, tell me, is there a different approach with all these great actors you worked with for the years?

No. Daniel wasn't very well known outside of England before he did Bond. And whoever the actor is, whether they're a star or character actor or a smaller part, all the same. You deal with them all their characters in the film. And it's all about discussing the character and how they're going to play the character and so forth. So really, it doesn't matter how big a star they are. You treat them all very much the same. 

And speaking about Bond, what is, according to you, the future of this saga? Will you come back again to work for it?

No, look, the thing about Bond… Now Amazon have Bond. I know one of the producers very well because she was my executive producer in Casino Royale, Amy Pascal. She's very good. 

And so I think from a producing point, it's in very safe hands. Denis Villeneuve is a terrific director. So I'm sure he'll do a terrific job. The question is, where does Bond go from here, right? I would start by saying you need to keep everything that is good about Bond intact. That should all remain.

Probably the stories will be more contemporary. The Chinese used to be the bad guys. The Russians used to be the bad guys. The Middle East used to be the bad guys.

Well, it's probably back to Russia now for the bad guys. And maybe they'll make Bond more contemporary and more politically contemporary, if you see what I mean. In other words, what is going on politically in the world today may well be infused into the next Bond story.

Is there a scene from your films, about which you can say, This is the best I’ve ever made? 

I'm just trying to think the best I ever made. Probably one of the best scenes I think we did was in Casino Royale, where Bond has had the staircase fight, which was a pretty tough fight. And then he goes back to his apartment.

And there's Vesper, played by Eva Green, sitting in the shower, fully clothed. Because she's so emotionally freaked by what happened, the violence of the previous scene. She's sitting there just running the shower. And then he comes in, he sits next to her, he's in his tuxedo, and they're both being under the shower.

It's very simple, very emotional, all shot in one shot. No cuts, just there, very simple. It's probably one of the nicest scenes, I think, that we made. 

And what is the best quality of a script? Do you often say no to scripts? Do you have any recommendations? 

Oh God, yes, I do.

I mean, I get sent scripts, and most of them are not very good. I mean, that's the truth. Most of them have to do with action. And most of them are not very good.

And so I'm about to do a film with Samuel Jackson and Eva Green, which is, believe it or not, a kind of comedy thriller. So, right, no explosions, no guns. It's actually a very good script.

And that happened to be a rare case of being given a very good script. Most of the time, the scripts you get are not very good. 

Do you think that the modern action movie uses much more visual effects? 

I try not to use visual effects. I mean, the thing is that on Casino Royale, for example, we use very little visual effects at all in the movie. Wire removal for stunt guys jumping and so forth, because that's what... Obviously, we use that. But most of the time, for example, with the sinking house, that was a huge model.

It wasn't CG. It was actually a 15-foot, big model that they sunk the house. And it looks much more real than if we'd done it CG.

GoldenEye was interesting because that was 1996 and not much CGI in that. It was actually models.

It was models, what we call forced perspective. It was all the old tricks of the Hollywood era. For example, the jet planes that took off were models. They weren't real planes. Often, the mountains in the background are just painted scenery. That's all it is. So, while we did use some CG, don't forget back in 1996, the CG was very, very young. I mean, you know, it hadn't been used much at that point. So, it was in its infancy. So, we used a lot in that film with the old tricks of that worked very well in the movie.

Apart from Green Lantern, which clearly all CG, a lot of CG, there was no, none of my movies really have had very little CG.

Is there a word that best describes you as a person? 

Oh, me? 

I don't know, really. I honestly can't, you're better suited to give me the word than you've seen my work.

So, I imagine you've seen the film. And it's, honestly, I can't describe myself in one word. Honestly, you'll have to come up with that.

And finally, how would you continue the sentence, "I'm a person who loves..."? 

I'm a person who loves…  I'll continue the sentence by saying I'm a person who loves movies.

I mean, I've always loved movies. And ironically, I've always loved James Bond movies. I took my mother in 1962 to see James Bond for the first movie ever. And thereafter, I saw, I just love movies.

And, you know, I've just been to IMAX and seen F1. Tremendous. Fantastic movie.

Really, really good. And a lot of bad movies. You know, I go and let's say 70% of them, 80% are not good movies.

But then I go and see F1. It's terrific. And I'm so entertaining, so brilliantly made. And I just thought, you know, this is what movies are all about.