James Bond Director Martin Campbell Advises Denis Villeneuve: “Don’t F*** With It”

Martin Campbell, who directed two James Bond movies, didn’t hold back in his advice to Denis Villeneuve and the rest of the team working on the next film. Thirty-three years later Dr. NoCampbell began to make his mark on the spy series when he directed GoldenEye starring Pierce Brosnan, and returned for Casino Royale with Daniel Craig.

During an interview with Gold DerbyCampbell opened up about the future of the James Bond franchise, telling Villeneuve not to “f*** with it.” In other words, don’t try to remake or reimagine 007 when there’s nothing to fix. Campbell added that, after Craig’s exit as Bond, the franchise should not be rebooted. “It just needs to be a bloody good Bond film!” he exclaimed.

The world of James Bond has plenty of “fertile ground“to continue exploring captivating stories, especially right now with”the way the world is at the moment,” according to Campbell, who hopes that the next installment continues to make the franchise great after all these years. The filmmaker added that the Bond movies he directed, GoldenEye and Casino Royalewould still be “just not potent“if released today as they were back in 1995 and 2006, respectively.

“Don’t break what isn’t broken. It doesn’t need to be a reboot — it just needs to be a bloody good Bond film! If we released GoldenEye or Casino Royale again next week, they’d feel just as potent. So don’t f*** with it, basically. There’s a lot of fertile ground for Bond, particularly the way the world is at the moment. I just hope that they don’t break what’s not broken!

No Time to Diewhich was released in 2021 and made $774.2 million at the box office, served as Craig’s final turn as the British spy. Craig starred in five James Bond movies, including Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, skyfall, and SPECTER.

Multiple actors have played James Bond over the years, starting with Sean Connery and moving on to George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Brosnan, and Craig.

After Craig’s exit, there has been a lot of speculation about not only who would play 007 next but also what direction the franchise would go in, especially since Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson sold the creative rights to Amazon. Development on James Bond 26 picked up in early 2025 when Spider-Man‘s Amy Pascal and Harry Potter‘s David Heyman signed on as producer. Just a few short months later, Villeneuve, best known for helming movies like Sicario, blade runner 2049, and the Dune trilogy, joined the team as director, with Peaky BlindersSteven Knight on board as screenwriter.

The next big step is casting a new actor to play Bond. While there were initial complaints about Craig’s casting, mainly due to the color of his hair, those worries quickly subsided.

When it comes to who might land the coveted role after Craig, so many different James Bond contenders have been speculated about, including Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson, Henry Cavill, Austin Butler, Jacob Elordi, and Tom Holland. Some reports have suggested that the actor will be a fresh face, which would rule out several names being discussed online.

No matter who it ends up being, expectations will be high for Villeneuve as he undertakes this huge endeavour. Campbell’s advice to not “f*** with it” may be extremely blunt, but diehard James Bond fans likely agree with the sentiment.