No, Christopher Nolan isn't doing James Bond

Earlier this year, a report from World Of Reel suggested Christopher Nolan would be directing the next James Bond. Specifically, Nolan was rumored to be signing on for two to three films that would take place in a period setting (as a closer adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novels). Unfortunately, these reports don’t seem to have panned out. “No, sadly no — no truth to those rumors,” Nolan told the Associated Press in a new interview.

Nolan was a good candidate for the job, as he previously said he’s spoken with Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson multiple times over the years. And earlier this year the Oppenheimer director said it “would be an amazing privilege to do one” on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong,” Nolan shared. “You wouldn’t want to take on a film not fully committed to what you bring to the table creatively. So as a writer, casting, everything, it’s a full package. You’d have to be really needed, you’d have to be really wanted in terms of bringing the totality of what you bring to a character. Otherwise, I’m very happy to be first in line to see whatever they do.”

So: it looks like Nolan will be first in line to watch the new James Bond, rather than the one making it. As for what he will be making, he recently told Yahoo! News that he’s ready to leave the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer behind. “It’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that’s now going into the home on 4K and Blu-ray and all the rest. It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege,” he explained. “But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic and yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something not quite as bleak.” Forget Bond, let’s get this guy a rom-com!