While the news that Sam Mendes would return to helm a follow-up to Skyfall was welcomed by James Bond fans, the fact that cinematographer Roger Deakins isn’t going to be back is still a huge disappointment.
His work on the first Bond movie to earn over $1 billion at the box office was exceptional and earned Deakins an Oscar nomination. However, his replacement happens to be just as talented, with Mendes turning to Dutch-Swedish cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema to work alongside him on James Bond 24.
He’s best known for shooting Let the Right One In and later worked on higher profile projects like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Her. However, it’s the fact that Christopher Nolan chose him to replace his longtime collaborator Wally Pfister on Interstellar which in some ways makes this news so incredibly exciting!
Just like Pfister was too busy making his directorial debut with Transcendence, Deakins is tied up serving as the cinematographer for the Coen brothers as he’ll be shooting their next film Hail, Caesar! Skyfall meant that he was unable to work with them on Inside Llewyn Davis, so his decision is understandable to be fair.
Interestingly, rumour has it that the next movie for James Bond will shoot on film instead of going digital.
Hoyte van Hoytema has experience with both formats, but it’s fair to say that the untitled movie featuring Daniel Craig as 007 will look very nice indeed. Stay tuned to HeyUGuys for more on James Bond 24!
