Is ‘Skyfall’ headed for the Oscars?

CRAIG. Reenergizes James Bond franchise.

LOS ANGELES—Will “Skyfall” be the first James Bond movie to earn an Oscar Best Picture nomination?

With its rave reviews, “Skyfall” could indeed win nods beyond previous Bond films’ scant nominations in music, sound and visual effects. Sam Mendes’ thrilling take of the 007 franchise is running neck and neck with Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” in movie review scores in such sites as Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes.

“Skyfall” is a delicious, high-octane cinematic treat that, in addition to Sam’s direction and Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan’s script, benefits from compelling performances by Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem (his blonde villain is reason enough to see this film).

In an earlier press conference, what producer Barbara Broccoli told journalists turned out to be not the usual Hollywood empty rhetoric. “We want to make this the best Bond movie ever, and we feel very confident that it’s going to be,” said Barbara, who is successfully running the Bond franchise started by her late father, producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. “We have a wonderful script and a great director, Sam Mendes. Daniel Craig is back, and we have an extraordinary cast.

We’re very excited to be presenting this film on the franchise’s 50th anniversary!”

Sam, who reinvigorates the Bond lore with his direction, also praised Daniel.

“One of the reasons why I was excited about the Bond franchise was that I felt that (in Daniel Craig) there was a real man in a real situation.

Daniel has reenergized the franchise. That’s partly because he put himself through so much in the movie, and you can feel it. The amount of sheer physical preparation—he was there to make it. It really amazes me. It was a punishing schedule for someone who was basically in every scene.”

This acclaimed Bond film almost didn’t happen. When MGM filed for bankruptcy, it froze the project which had already tapped Sam and the writers to conceive Bond film No. 23. “It was very frustrating at the time, but it did give us time to work on the script without the pressure of knowing the movie was going to start on a certain day,” Sam recounted. “It has led to a more fully realized script. The writers have done a magnificent job!”

Locations

He added, “Despite the fact that this is not directly based on an Ian Fleming novel, I feel that the spirit of Fleming and the state of Bond, as it was 50 years ago, is alive and well in this movie.”

As in every Bond film, “Skyfall” offers spectacular-looking locations. Sam enjoyed one great perk of directing a Bond film—traveling all over to scout locations.

“In the end, we chose Istanbul, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, Shanghai, Macau and locations in China. They’re exciting and magnificent. I hope they deliver things that maybe you haven’t seen in Bond movies before.”

The filmmaker whose credits include “Road to Perdition” cited other factors going for “Skyfall.” “We’re introducing new characters,” he said. “And something that Daniel and I tried very hard to do is bring a lightness of touch and some of the Fleming irony into the movie. I very much hope that it isn’t tragic. However, it goes to some dark places, and that is exciting, too.”

A mixture of light and dark elements but exciting in every second of its running time of about 145 minutes, “Skyfall” may indeed be the Bond film that will actually be a serious award contender.

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