MUMBAI: British director Sam Mendes is in negotiations to direct the 23rd instalment of the James Bond franchise.
Production could begin in June with an eye towards a possible 2011 release. This move despite the talk of a possible sale of MGM.

Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, Bond regulars, are writing the script along with Frost/Nixon writer Peter Morgan.
The film produced by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli will have Daniel Craig essay James Bond.

The film will be Mendes‘ first action-heavy project, although his 2005 effort Jarhead was set amid US war in Kuwait.
His last directorial effort, the road-trip dramedy Away We Go grossed $10 million domestically last summer.

Marc Forster directed the last Bond film Quantum of Solace that grossed $586 million worldwide.