Why 007 is like the Simpsons



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Cary Joji Fukunaga, a pic from The Simpsons episode

Cary Joji Fukunaga, a photo by The simpsons episode “You only move twice”
Photo: Slaven Vlasic / Getty Images for Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures, Screenshot: The Simpsons (Disney +)

The following post covers the plot details for No time to die.


When you’re around for as long as a series of movies like James Bond, or a series like The simpsons, you have to do it right every now and then.

For nearly 60 years, the 007 franchise has drawn on the times, creating missions for its central spy that speak in the moment while feeling timeless. More often than not, Bond is tasked with thwarting villainous plans which, while often absurd, address real-world fears: nuclear fallout, drug epidemics, genocide, biological warfare, declining natural resources, and villains who I just wanna be filthy rich.

As No time to die director and co-writer Cary Joji Fukunaga As can be seen, this tendency to reflect global anxieties through blockbuster entertainment gives the James Bond series a foreknowledge that is reminiscent of The simpsons, a show with a almost strange antecedents to predict future events.

In conversation with The AV Club, Fukunaga shares that the animated series was on his mind when he first started working on No time to die where he was tasked with creating dramatic stakes that might seem realistically terrifying to future audiences. (The pandemic-delayed Bond movie plot deals, in part, with the threat of a deadly infectious virus.)

It all started with a discussion about No time to die Particularly frightening first scene, a gripping prologue that plays on Fukunaga’s strengths as a director who can create palpable horror out of thin air. Watch the full interview in the video above, or read the transcript below.


The AV Club: No time to die Open Cold is the first in some time that doesn’t feature James Bond, but it’s also notable for its unique horror. What was the impetus behind this scene?

Cary Joji Fukunaga: Well, we wanted to put the villain in place from the start and get a feel for how things are interconnected. For Bond fans, they should recognize the anecdote that we recreate with new information. I also wanted people to think it might be Bond to begin with – a good old classic, sort of Bond Roger-Moore-in-a-ski-suit.

Corn [we knew] the tone must be exciting. There should be suspense – not necessarily horror – but it should be scary. In terms of the dramatic language for the rest of the film, I think it just creates an idea to really subvert any expectations one might have, throughout the film. For example, if we’re going to start the beginning this way, then don’t think you have a clue of what’s going on in the rest of the movie. We keep you on your guard as the public.

AVC: Right, it’s not overtly “James Bond as a horror movie”, but there are a number of instances where the movie does delve into the horror of these situations. Bond movies always have a sense of danger to them, but you make it very palpable.

FCJ: I mean, the Noh mask, which was shown in the trailer and teaser, so we can [talk about] at least that’s a pretty pungent Japanese play, you know? And, outside of the context of Noh theater, it’s just a strange thing: that blank stare. I liked the masks that date back to Real detective, play with masks, or even go back to Nameless, with tattooed faces. There is something about changing the way the brain can interpret the figure of a mask which for me is fun to play with.

And the intention was just to take a tour of it from the start, and really create something that is, on the one hand, scary, but on the other hand, feels dangerous – like the rest of [the Bond films] should be. It also comes from something that [producer] Barbara Broccoli told me when we wrote: The way she likes to think about the dangers of these Bond films is, ‘What’s the scariest thing out there? I think having that freedom allowed me to go in that direction with the opening scene.

Rami Malek's Safin stalks his prey in the first moments of No Time to Die

Rami Malek’s Safin stalks his prey in the first moments of No time to die
Photo: Christophe Raphaël / MGM

AVC: And this franchise has certainly evolved with the question, “What’s the scariest thing that exists?” We see how this movie plays into some of our current and real fears, and the show has always been able to identify what’s hot in some way.

FCJ: Funny, if you go back and look at some of the villains and their storylines to see how they’ve played out differently over time, it’s almost like The simpsons, when The simpsons predict things in the future. I feel like you can go back to some of the Bond movies and identify things that we ended up seeing happen.

AVC: That’s right. The plot of Tomorrow never dies comes to mind, where the villain’s whole plan is to start a war so his media empire can be the first to break the news …

FCJ: This is actually what I was really thinking—Tomorrow never dies– in terms of disinformation. It was something we were looking into very early on with this one. Just in terms of general strategies to keep the public confused based on, you know, disinformation campaigns. It’s something that we looked at at one point.

AVC: Let’s go back to the opening scene, because you built this whole house, this set, for the movie. Did the frozen lake or the weather itself present specific challenges to production?

FCJ: I mean, I knew I wanted to shoot on the ice, and we were running out of time basically because we hadn’t even finished the first draft of the script – and it was really only the first half of the script – before Christmas. . We were supposed to start production in March. And, in all of our research, there are hardly any frozen lakes left in mainland Europe, so we had to go to Norway.

And we knew that in March the only place we could really shoot was this area that would kind of be doable. We thought we had a two week window to do this, and then we found out that two weeks ago it was going to be unusually hot this month. So we had to Rush Up there. The scenography had already built the house on this lake. And we get there and they’re like, “Well, the good news is, it’s not thawed yet. But the bad news is that the house is sinking into the lake. When we get there, we see that the house is starting to fall apart. [Laughs.] So yes, it was very difficult to try to do it right!

And, the other thing is that I had spotted [the location] a few times – I had been to Norway in the previous months – and saw all these beautiful days filled with fog. These were very dreary and foggy days. And then we got there, and the whole week we were shooting it was fine. We should therefore wait for a cloud [to pass over] to shoot this thing. So there were a lot of challenges while we were doing it.

Rami Malek with director Cary Joji Fukunaga on the set of No Time to Die

Rami Malek with director Cary Joji Fukunaga on the set of No time to die
Photo: Nicola Colombe / MGM

No time to die is now showing in theaters nationwide. For our review of 007’s 25th official film, you can read AA Dowd’s thoughts here.

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