The clock is ticking, Mr. Bond

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Prior to a screening, the other night, of Sir Sam Mendes’ breathtaking and thoroughly deserving Oscar contender, 1917, we were treated to the full-screen, full-length IMAX trailer for No Time To Die, the 25th ‘official’ Bond film and starring Daniel Craig in his final outing as 007. As good trailers should do, it only whetted my appetite for a film I'd been pretty well whetted for already, but in doing so it simply cranked up the expectation even further.

The release date for No Time To Die is 2 April which, by my reckoning, is just 11 weeks away. Principal photography wrapped in October, and judging by the extent of scenes in the trailer, much of the editing has been done too. Which just leaves - eek! - the music. US composer Dan Romer was supposed to have scored the film, but owing to that old chestnut “creative differences” (he was said to be going in too experimental a direction), he's been replaced by Hans Zimmer (I’ll spare you any “who’d been in the frame” jokes), the Oscar-winning film composer with blockbusters like the Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, The Lion King (the animated original), the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, Gladiator and Crimson Tide to his name.

So, with No Time To Die’s premiere less than three months away (and February’s extra day this year doesn’t help much), the clock is ticking for Zimmer in a rectum-squeezing fashion not dissimilar to the perils Bond himself gets into. The German composer is the second key figure to be parachuted in, 007-style, to the production, following director Cary Joji Fukunaga who was brought in after original helmer Danny Boyle stepped down, also citing creative differences. All of this suggests underlying turbulence, especially as there were earlier departures from the writing team. In fact development of No Time To Die began in early 2016, only a few months after the previous Bond film, Spectre, had come out, but it took another two years and the courting of several directorial options before Boyle was hired. Boyle, not exactly known for Bond-style action films (though Skyfall and Spectre’s Mendes had a largely theatre background), was something of a left-field choice, and according to rumours had some bold - some might even say challenging - ideas for the film, including the idea of killing off Bond altogether (which would have created an interesting problem for Eon Productions whenever they came to making a Bond 26).

With Fukunaga on board, and Fleabag writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge fashionably drafted in to help with the script (supposedly to give it a sharper wit), filming of No Time To Die barrelled through from April to October last year, having previously been scheduled to commence the previous December but delayed by Boyle’s departure. Tick-tock. The trailer's slick scenes notwithstanding, much rests on the final cut being nothing less than excellent. The James Bond franchise is the longest in cinema history, having begun almost 60 years ago with Dr. No. Craig himself will have been the longest-serving actor, by years, to have played Bond, having been in the role since Casino Royale introduced a new style of 007 (namely shortish, blond and with emotional issues) in 2006. Craig has admitted that after Spectre he was pretty much finished with the character (“I think I was ready to go,” he tells the latest edition of Empire magazine), mostly due to the punishing filming regime and the fact he’d suffered a broken leg early in production. But, after a lot of speculation, he wasn’t quite finished yet. “Somehow it felt like we needed to finish something off,” he revealed to Empire. “If I’d have left it at Spectre, something at the back of my head would have been going, ‘I wish I’d done one more’.” And so he has. The four Craig films have, hitherto, been fantastic (yes, even the bizarrely-maligned Quantum Of Solace and Spectre), bringing a welcome modernity to the franchise, together with a more steely approach to the Bond narrative than the era of Craig’s predecessor, Pierce Brosnan. This was necessary, given that when Casino Royale came out it was already having to compete with the Jason Bourne franchise and Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible series, with their gritty, handheld-camera fight scenes, and be notably less camp than Brosnan’s Bond outings brought to the table.

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Bond films are never just about one thing. They are not just about 007 and not just about the actor playing him, though that is crucial. They are also about the supporting cast - the actors playing M, Q and Moneypenny, the villain, the villain’s principal henchperson - the filming locations, the cars and, yes, the Bond Girls, as ridiculously out of date as that is. The film's music must be added to this list - both the score and, always the source of great argument, the theme tune. Yesterday I was engaged in a social media discussion with a couple of chums as to who’d make a good choice for the theme tune: there is much love for the John Barry ‘sweeping strings’ approach of You Only Live Twice, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, with a Matt Monro croon or Shirley Bassey blast over the top. Oddly enough, this wasn’t far off Adele’s approach to the Skyfall theme, but the end result fell flat with a dreariness only topped, so to speak, by Sam Smith’s almost suicidal (and forgettable) Writing's On The Wall for Spectre. Amazing that both songs won Oscars. One obvious choice, to me at least, that came up in the discussion was Sheffield's finest, Richard Hawley, though sadly he just doesn’t have the sort of audience appeal that the Bond producers like to go for (though that wouldn’t rule out Robbie Williams recreating his John Barry-pastiche Millennium and its clearly Bond-spoofing video...). Bond films have attempted some Top 40 vogueishness down the years, such as Lulu’s wah-wah pedal-heavy, sub-70s porn Man With The Golden Gun, Duran Duran’s Barry-collaboration A View To A Kill and even A-Ha’s excellent The Living Daylights. And then there was Madonna’s execrable Die Another Day. But let’s leave it right there.

The matter, however, is now closed: just as this blog post was about to go on air, 18-year-old Billie Eilish was confirmed to be recording the theme song for No Time To Die, making her the youngest artist in history to get the Bond gig. "It feels crazy to be a part of this in every way," she wrote in an Instagram post. "To be able to score the theme song to a film that is part of such a legendary series is a huge honour. James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I’m still in shock". The song has been co-written with Eilish's brother and regular collaborator Finneas. The news has also been confirmed by Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G.Wilson, who said in a social media post: "We are excited to announce that Billie and Finneas have written an incredibly powerful and moving song for No Time To Die, which has been impeccably crafted to work within the emotional story of the film." From a credibility point of view, the American teenager couldn’t be closer to the mark, but the Bond title song is a precious commodity that woke doesn’t always favour, even if Eilish already has eight gold and four platinum singles to her name and last year picked up six Grammy Award nominations, including nods in the four main categories. The song Eilish and her brother have recorded will have to deliver and deliver well for No Time To Die. Daniel Craig will want to leave the franchise behind with all guns blazing. And that includes the theme song of his final film as Bond, James Bond. No pressure, then.