Marc Forster declines offer to return as director, but gives ideas on Bond 23

“Quantum of Solace” director Marc Forster wanted to complete a tale that took James Bond movies into new territory. With the 22nd second Bond flick out on shelves this week on DVD and Blu-Ray, and Forster looking ahead to his adaptation of the zombie apocalypse novel “World War Z,” no director has been attached to the unnamed the 23rd installment. Even though Forster declined an invitation to return, he expressed hope that his darker Bond vision would lay the groundwork for a lighter follow-up.

“They asked me if I wanted to,” Forster told MTV News. “I’ll never say never again, but at this point I would say no.”

Debunked rumors recently connected “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle to the next sequel, along with the film’s lead actress, Freida Pinto as a possible Bond girl. Forster likes Boyle, but said whoever ends up in Bond’s next director’s chair will hinge on the script.

“It really depends on what direction they want to take it,” the “Kite Runner” and “Monster’s Ball” director explained. “For me, I wanted to take it to a harder and darker place, but now that that journey I’ve gone on has succeeded, I feel like the next one can take it to a bit more humorous place again.”

Both of Bond’s last outings in “Casino Royale” and “Quantum of Solace” set the British spy up against murky areas of international protocol involving terrorism, torture and blurred lines between corporate and national interests. Forster indicated that those morally ambiguous areas needed to be looked at, but laid out hope that tackling them would set the stage for a turn in series’ future.

“I feel like next time you should take it in a lighter and more humorous way, maybe add a few more girls and a bit more sex – all that kind of stuff,” he said. “I think that would be interesting.”

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