Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight has provided an update on the upcoming film in the James Bond franchise, with the screenwriter saying he was “enjoying every single second” of pre-production.
It was announced in August that Knight, who also created SAS: Rogue Heroes and A Thousand Blows, had been hired to pen the screenplay for the 26th film in the long-running spy series, with acclaimed filmmaker Denis Villeneuve on board to direct.
Though we don’t yet have a title for the film or an actor to play 007, Knight shared during an appearance on BBC Radio 4 Today that progress on the upcoming film was going swimmingly.
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“I can’t really talk about what I’m doing with Bond but I’m enjoying every single second of it. It’s fantastic. I’m loving it,” he said, before he heaped praise on Ian Fleming’s collection of novels.
“The books are so good. So underrated as literature. There’s something about the world that he created that is tangibly real, and yet it’s not real. It’s almost dreamlike somehow. And I just love the way, the style of how he writes, and the dialogue is so good.”
“Which is what I’m always looking out for. I’ve got a very particular way I want, you know, I want this to go. I’m working with fantastic people, the best people, and people will have to wait and see,” he teased.
It remains to be seen if Knight will directly adapt one of Fleming’s novels for the big screen as he has kept his cards close to his chest since being hired, though he did provide a previous update in September.
“We’ll see, we’ll see… You don’t know what’s going to happen until you start writing,” he replied when asked if the new film in the franchise would retain some of the trademark grit from his other projects.
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He also shared that he was writing the screenplay without a lead actor in mind, and it’s a good job as we’re still none the wiser as to who the next 007 will be. Callum Turner recently became the bookmakers’ favourite, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson being another candidate.
While Knight is now working on the next James Bond film, the writer recently saw Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, the first film in the franchise, premiere in cinemas before its release on Netflix later this month.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man is playing in selected cinemas before coming to Netflix on 20 March.
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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media. His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.