Sam Mendes has experimented with almost every genre in the thirteen years since he won an Oscar for directing his first feature, American Beauty. There's a gangster film (Road to Perdition), a war movie (Jarhead), a period drama (Revolutionary Road) and a comedy (Away We Go). After five distinctly American films, Mendes has gone home again, to take on the twenty-third installment of the Bond franchise, Skyfall, starring Daniel Craig. In this interview, he opens up about his first Bond experience (as a nine-year old), why he loves directing both film and theater, and how he managed to make a Bond film that honors its legacy, and yet, is completely his own.
Banner image: (L-R) Director Sam Mendes and actor Daniel Craig on the set of Skyfall. Photo by François Duhamel