Former Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is supportive of the direction that Amazon MGM Studios is taking the latest franchise installment. After acclaimed director Denis Villeneuve was announced to be helming the next feature (which will be the first official Bond film minus the Broccoli family having creative control), Broccoli said during podcast “Kermode on Film” that she is “thrilled” for Villeneuve stepping into the director’s chair.
“He’s a fantastic filmmaker, I’m thrilled he’s going to be doing it,” Broccoli told UK film critic Mark Kermode during his podcast, as reported by Deadline.
Earlier in 2025, longtime Bond producers and half-siblings Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson announced that Amazon MGM Studios would have complete creative control of the IP, with the duo exiting their day to day role. The deal was a reported $1 billion; both Wilson and Broccoli will remain co-owners of the franchise, however. Villeneuve was announced as the director in June 2025. While a lead star has yet to be named, it has been rumored that Jacob Elordi, Tom Holland, and Harris Dickinson are in the running.
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It seems Broccoli has taken a big step back from Bond as a whole. “You know, I did it for 44 years and I loved every minute of it, but I’m getting up there now and there’s a lot of things I want to do, like this beautiful musical,” she said, citing the adaptation of “Sing Street” which she is producing. “I’m doing a lot of other things. I have other movies I want to make and other stage shows.”
Broccoli added that she wants to focus on projects that feature younger, rising stars. “I always say I got my love for movies from my father [producer Albert R. Broccoli] and my love for the stage from my mother [actress Dana Natol]. I grew up with passion for both, and talent… that’s the thing that gets me excited, whether it’s film or stage talent, particularly when you meet young people and you see them and you see a potential.”
After Broccoli parted with Bond, Hollywood as a whole reacted. Oscar-winning “Conclave,” “All Quiet on the Western Front,” and “Ballad of a Small Player” filmmaker Edward Berger previously told Variety that he is no longer interested in directing a Bond film after the Amazon deal was announced.
“Barbara Broccoli is no longer doing it and she is at the heart of this project, so I think it’s something different,” Berger said. “I don’t know. Things have changed. We will certainly miss her very much. … Now it’s a different equation. I don’t know what the future is going to look like. I am going to think about it if anyone calls me, but Barbara is at the heart of this. If she is no longer there, it becomes a different thing.”
Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan, though, told The Telegraph that the deal was “the right decision for Barbara and Michael” and was also an act of “courage” for the duo. “It takes great courage for them to let go,” Brosnan said. “They will still have a say in matters. I hope that [Amazon] handles the work and the character with dignity and imagination and respect.” Brosnan further admitted that Amazon MGM’s new control of the franchise “does come with a certain lament.”
He added, “History has been passed on and I’m very proud to have been part of the history and the legacy of Bond and the movies that I made with Barbara and Michael. That we moved the needle, that we brought it back to life. It had been dormant [for] six years and ‘GoldenEye’ was such a success that it continued and went from strength to strength. … You know, everything changes, everything falls apart, and I wish them well.”
