Revolutionary Road director to helm next James Bond film

Heat Vision Blog reports that British director Sam Mendes is in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the James Bond franchise.

According to the report, the production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with a 2011 release. No word on what month, however, previous Bond films have staked out the mid-November territory for a release date. The project is said to be moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with the troubled MGM.

Bond alumni Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are writing, along with Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon). Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing the movie, in which Daniel Craig will reprise his role as 007.

The closest critically acclaimed Mendes has come to an action film was the 2005 war movie Jarhead with Jake Gyllenhaal, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares with the material. Marc Forster, who directed Quantum of Solace in ’08, was also not known for action-heavy film projects, and that film met with mixed critical results, but did extremely well in theaters, earning half a billion dollars worldwide.