Anthony Horowitz reveals why he wouldn’t write a James Bond script – and says killing 007 was "a mistake"
The author spoke to Radio Times magazine about his new TV mystery Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue.
Anthony Horowitz has said that he believed it was a mistake to kill off James Bond – and revealed that he has no desire to write a film in the beloved spy franchise.
The author – who has written three 007 novels – made the comments during a recent interview with Radio Times magazine to discuss his latest TV mystery series Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue, explaining that he'd "never been asked" to pen a Bond script so far.
"You need a thick skin for that business [of dealing with big-budget film producers]," he explained. "I’m probably happier out of it."
He also added that there was "one major issue" that he’s happy not to have to contend with: the fact that Bond was killed off at the end of the previous film, No Time to Die.
"The last time we saw Bond he was poisoned and blown to smithereens – how will they get past the fact he is dead with a capital D?" he said. "I think that was a mistake, because Bond is a legend. He belongs to everybody, he is eternal – except in that film.
"If I was asked tomorrow to write the script, I wouldn’t be able to do it. Where would you start? You can’t have him waking up in the shower and saying it was all a dream."
Of course, in reality, the new film will not be based in the same continuity as the previous version – serving as a relaunch of the series with a new actor playing Bond – so it seems very unlikely that the end of No Time to Die will actually be referenced at all.
The new film will be directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Peaky Blinders scribe Steven Knight – with the latter recently telling Radio Times that he was not writing the script with a specific actor in mind.
"I can’t talk about it," he said of the upcoming entry to the franchise when pressed for information.
He was then asked whether he would be taking the edginess he has imbued into some of his previous projects, including Peaky Blinders, into the new Bond, to which he replied: "We’ll see, we’ll see… You don’t know what’s going to happen until you start writing."
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
