James Bond 25: Danny Boyle's departure creates BIG PROBLEMS for Daniel Craig

Out of the blue a joint statement by James Bond producers and Craig arrived on social media yesterday.

The brief post revealed that Boyle had decided not to direct Bond 25 due to “creative differences”.

Of course the hunt is now on for his replacement, but such a move has quite the effect on other major aspects of the movie’s production

Firstly Boyle pitched his idea of Bond 25 with his Trainspotting screenwriter John Hodge, who had penned a script.

Whatever “creative differences” there were it seems unlikely Hodge will stick around without Boyle.

Presumably the disagreement between the director and the producers had something to do with his and Hodge’s vision for Bond 25, one that had initially got everyone very excited.

So assuming Hodge’s script is scrapped, where does that leave the movie?

Well before Broccoli and Craig were getting all eager for the Trainspotting duo, Bond screenwriting regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade had already penned a script.

The two scribes have written every Bond film since 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies and rumours surrounding their story for Bond 25 sprouted over a year ago.

Allegedly called Shatterhand, this script was supposedly a direct sequel to Spectre and one that acted as a remake of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

That film saw Bond’s wife killed by Blofeld, so presumably Craig’s 007 would be on a revenge mission to finish off Christoph Waltz’s baddie for murdering Madeleine Swann?

But the problem is that casting and pre-production of the Boyle and Hodge story has already been underway and filming is due to start on December 3.

So if EON productions were to go back to the Purvis and Wade script, it seems very likely that Bond 25 would be pushed back from its October 2019 cinematic release to 2020.

This would mean a five year gap between Bond films, not to mention an even older Craig.

With such difficulties now apparent, fans cannot be certain Craig won’t jump ship and let a reboot with another actor happen earlier than planned. Enter Christopher Nolan, who wants to helm a 007 “reinvention”?

After all, Timothy Dalton was set to star in a third film, Goldeneye, but turned it down when production was stalled.

No doubt decisions are currently underway at EON and another statement will be released in due course.