Sam Mendes reflects on making Skyfall and reveals original plot where Bond and Silva teamed up

Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes made quite a team when they collaborated for their two James Bond entries. Even though Spectre is somewhat polarizing, that film admirably towed the line between a modern day character study and the traditional Bond hallmarks that defined the past entries. However, critics and audiences agreed for the most part that Skyfall was a major accomplishment for the franchise.

The James Bond entry turns ten this year, and for the anniversary, director Sam Mendes sits down with The Hollywood Reporter and recalls what it was like making a film of such magnitude, especially in the face of bankruptcy with MGM. When the film shut down as the studio struggled to stay afloat, Mendes and the writers threw around plot ideas for the script.

Mendes explains,

At a very early stage, there was a treatment — which was almost entirely ditched — but it ended with the death of M. And that was one of the things that hooked me in. Everyone was feeling that, with Barbara and Michael’s willingness to handle the character that way, that one decision, in a sense, changed the entire franchise. It acknowledged the passage of time, arguably for the first time ever, in the series. It acknowledged that they are mortal, that they are going to age and probably die.”

Another idea that was brainstormed but ultimately not followed through with was the idea of Bond and the film’s villain, Silva, played by Javier Bardem, teaming up with Bond for a time in the movie. “They teamed up in the middle of the movie in a kind of uneasy truce. And it didn’t work because Bond works alone. Yes, he might have a woman at his side or partner with one along the way [in some of the other Bond movies], but it didn’t feel right to be paired with another alpha male. [Bond] needs someone to fight against, and those scenes lasted for as long as it took to write them. And I read it and thought: ‘No, that doesn’t work.’”

Sam Mendes’ new film, Empire of Light, can be seen this December 9 while Craig can be seen back in his Benoit Blanc role in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery hits theaters November 23, then streams on Netflix on December 23.