No Time to Die

No Time to Die is an upcoming spy film and the twenty-fifth installment in the James Bond series to be produced by Eon Productions for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal Pictures. The film features Daniel Craig in his fifth performance as MI6 agent James Bond. It is directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Z. Burns and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, based on an early draft by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Jeffery Wright, and Lea Seydoux reprise their respective roles from previous films, while actors Rami Malek, Ana de Armas, Lashana Lynch, David Dencik, Dali Benssalah, and Billy Magnussen round out the main cast.

Development of the film began and confirmed in 2016; Universal Pictures won the international distribution rights, while MGM and United Artists Releasing announced that they would handle the distribution rights in the United States. Danny Boyle was originally attached to direct and co-write the film with John Hodge; both left due to creative differences in August 2018. Fukunaga was announced as Boyle's replacement a month later. After Hodge's exit, Purvis and Wade, alongside Fukunaga, Burns, and Waller-Bridge wrote what became the final version of the script. The majority of the cast had signed on by April 2019.

The film is scheduled for theatrical release on 3 April 2020 in the United Kingdom and on 8 April 2020 in the United States.

Premise
James Bond has left active service when his friend Felix Leiter enlists his help in the search for a missing scientist. When it becomes apparent that the scientist was abducted, Bond must confront a danger the likes of which the world has never seen before.

Cast

 * Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007.
 * Rami Malek as the film's primary antagonist.
 * Ralph Fiennes as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's superior officer.
 * Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, M's assistant.
 * Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 chief of staff.
 * Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann, a psychiatrist and Bond's love interest who assisted him on a previous mission.
 * Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 Quartermaster who outfits Bond with equipment for use in the field.
 * Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter, Bond's friend and a CIA field officer.
 * Ana de Armas as Paloma.
 * Lashana Lynch as Nomi.
 * David Dencik as Waldo, a villain.

Dali Benssalah and Billy Magnussen have been cast in undisclosed roles.

Development
Development of the film began in the spring of 2016. As Sony Pictures' contract to co-produce the James Bond films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Eon Productions expired with the release of Spectre, another major film studio was expected to land the distribution rights to release the film, then known as Bond 25 in cinemas. In April 2017 Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures and Annapurna Pictures entered a bidding competition to win the distribution rights. It was then announced that MGM has secured the domestic, digital and worldwide television rights to the film. Universal was announced as the international distributor of the film and holder of the rights for physical home entertainment distribution.

Series veterans Neal Purvis and Robert Wade&mdash;who had worked on every Bond film since The World Is Not Enough&mdash;were approached to pen the script in March 2017. Sam Mendes stated that he would not return as director despite the success of his previous two Bond films, Skyfall and Spectre. Longtime favourite Christopher Nolan ruled himself out to direct. By July 2017, Yann Demange, David Mackenzie and Denis Villeneuve were courted to direct the film. In December 2017, Villeneuve opted out of the role due to his commitments to Dune. In February 2018, Danny Boyle was established as a frontrunner for the directing position and Boyle's original pitch to Broccoli and Wilson saw John Hodge brought onto the project and writing a screenplay based on Boyle's idea, with Purvis and Wade's version scrapped. Hodge's draft was greenlit, Universal secured the film's distribution rights, and Boyle was confirmed to helm the film with a production start date of December 2018. However, Boyle left the production in August 2018 due to creative differences, and the film's release date became contingent on whether they could replace Boyle with a suitable director within sixty days. A spokeswoman for Hodge confirmed that he also was no longer involved. With Boyle's departure, several directors from film and television were considered for the position,   and Cary Joji Fukunaga was announced as the new director in September 2018 via the official James Bond Twitter account. Fukunaga became the first American in the history of the series to direct an official James Bond film. Linus Sandgren was hired as cinematographer in December 2018, and Dan Romer was hired as composer.

With Boyle's departure, Purvis and Wade were brought back to rework the script in September 2018. Casino Royale screenwriter Paul Haggis was brought in to rewrite Purvis and Wade's script in November 2018. Scott Z. Burns was brought on to work on the screenplay in February 2019. At Craig's request, Killing Eve writer and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge provided a script polish in April 2019 to add more humour and to make the characters more believable. Waller-Bridge is the second female screenwriter credited with writing a Bond film after Johanna Harwood co-wrote Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Producer Barbara Broccoli announced that Bond's attitude towards women would change in No Time to Die as a response to the Me Too movement. Waller-Bridge argued that the character of Bond had to stay true to its original creation and that it was the responsibility of the wider film industry to treat women more respectfully.

Casting
Spectre was speculated to be Daniel Craig's final outing as Bond. In May 2016, it was reported on several websites and news platforms that Craig had received a $100 million offer from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to reprise his role of Bond in two more films, but turned it down, suggesting that Spectre would likely be his final Bond film. Craig denied having made a decision but praised his time playing Bond thus far, describing it as "the best job in the world doing Bond." He further denied that $150 million was offered to him for the next two Bond instalments. He stated that the fact he had not made any decisions on returning to the role in the past was because of his focus on other projects such as Logan Lucky. In August 2017, Craig confirmed he would return for his final appearance as Bond while on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In July 2018, Craig travelled to the United States to visit the CIA's headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and to find out more about how the intelligence agency operates. The CIA said, "Mr. Craig met with our leadership and workforce, who explained that real-life espionage is a lot more 'cloak' and a lot less 'dagger' than presented in the entertainment world of spy v spy."

Numerous reports indicated that Christoph Waltz had signed on to return as Ernst Stavro Blofeld for further 007 films on the condition that Craig returned as Bond. Despite Craig's definite casting as Bond, Waltz announced that he would not return as Blofeld in October 2017. During Danny Boyle's time as director on the film, a leaked casting sheet described the villain role as a "cold and charismatic Russian" and the Bond girl role as a "witty and skillful survivor." Production also sought after a henchman of Māori descent with "advanced combat skills". These ideas presumably changed shape following Boyle and Hodge's exit. In December 2018, Fukunaga revealed in an interview that Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes would all be reprising their roles in the film, with Fukunaga not ruling out a possible return from Waltz's Blofeld. Fukunaga also revealed that Léa Seydoux would be reprising her role as Madeleine Swann, making her the second actress to portray a Bond girl in successive films, after Eunice Gayson portrayed Sylvia Trench in Dr. No and From Russia with Love. Rory Kinnear returned as Bill Tanner, as did Jeffrey Wright as Felix Leiter. Wright makes his third appearance in the series after Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace and becomes the first actor to play Felix Leiter three times.

Ana de Armas, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, Lashana Lynch, Billy Magnussen and Rami Malek were announced as cast members in a live stream, at Ian Fleming's Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. This live stream on 25 April 2019 marked the official start of production. Malek was further announced as playing the film's villain. In an interview with Digital Spy, Malek revealed that his character would not be connected to any religion or ideology.

Filming
Production was scheduled to begin on 3 December 2018 at Pinewood Studios, but filming was delayed until April 2019 after the departure of Boyle as director. The film is the first in the franchise to have sequences shot with IMAX film cameras. Filming locations included Matera in Italy, Jamaica, Norway and London, in addition to Pinewood Studios. Production commenced in Nittedal, Norway, with the second unit capturing scenes at a frozen lake. Filming began prior to the official start of production to take advantage of local weather conditions. Principal photography officially began on 28 April 2019 in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Daniel Craig sustained an ankle injury in May whilst filming in Jamaica and subsequently underwent minor surgery. Production was further interrupted when a controlled explosion damaged the 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios and left a crew member with minor injuries. Production returned to Norway in June 2019 to shoot a driving sequence along the Atlantic Ocean Road featuring an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Aston Martin also confirmed that the DB5 and Valhalla models would feature in the film. Production then returned to the United Kingdom, where scenes featuring Craig, Fiennes, Harris and Kinnear were filmed around London, including Whitehall and Hammersmith.

In July 2019, filming took place in the town of Aviemore and in the surrounding Cairngorms National Park area in Scotland. Temporary accommodations were constructed in a car park in the town for the production crew of around 300. Some scenes were also captured at the Ardverikie House Estate and on the banks of Loch Laggan, just outside the park. There was further filming at Buttersteep Forest, Ascot, during August 2019.

Production moved to Southern Italy in late August, where a chase sequence involving the DB5 was shot through the streets of Matera.

Release
No Time to Die was originally scheduled for release on 8 November 2019. Following Danny Boyle's departure, the release date was pushed back to 8 April 2020. The film is due to be released outside North America on 3 April.

The film entered production under the working title Bond 25. No Time to Die was announced as the official name of the film via the official James Bond website and social media accounts on 20 August 2019. The film shares its title with a 1958 production directed by Terence Young, produced by Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and written by Richard Maibaum, the original director, producer and writer of the James Bond films.

Marketing
The 007 logo appeared on the Red Bull Racing cars in the place of the Aston Martin logos at the 2019 British Grand Prix.