Quentin Tarantino Almost Directed a James Bond Movie, Now Streaming

There is a parallel universe where the James Bond franchise was taken over by maverick directors who left their stamp on individual movies before passing the baton to another filmmaker. In that universe, fans would see what a Christopher Nolan Bond movie looks like, along with films by Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock and Danny Boyle — each has been connected to the series to varying degrees over the years. In that universe, Quentin Tarantino directs the Bond movie he actively pursued before it was eventually made with Daniel Craig in the lead role. That movie was recently added to the Prime Video library along with several other 007 titles.

In the 2000s, during the transition between Pierce Brosnan and Craig, Tarantino sought the rights to an Ian Fleming novel he believed didn't belong to Eon Productions. He wanted to bring Brosnan back for one last hurrah, convinced the actor wasn't properly utilized in his four movies as Bond. Tarantino also wanted to set the film in the 1960s and shoot it in black-and-white, but after pitching himself for the project to the Broccoli family and being rejected, he tried to outbid them for the rights. The book was curiously omitted from the original film rights package, which resulted in a non-Eon spoof movie starring David Niven in 1967. Tarantino promised he wouldn't "ruin" the franchise with his take, but said he aimed to massively "subvert" the series' tropes.