Despite the trouble over at MGM, they managed to score a big name to direct the newest edition of their James Bond franchise. British auteur Sam Mendes will helm the 23rd film in the series. Now that the Oscar-winning director has been attached, the film has been put on the production fast-track, filming this summer for an expected 2011 release.

Mendes has not directed a true genre 'action' film in his career, but he has proven to handle drama, winning the Best Director Oscar for American Beauty back in 1999. He edged closer to the Bond landscape with his mobster flick Road to Perdition (in which Daniel Craig played a villain) as well as his Iraqi conflict film Jarhead.

Mendes is known for his artistic style more than sheer entertainment value, so it will be interesting to see his framing of the reborn action star Craig as the latest Bond deals with a demanding director on one side and explosions and gunfire on the other.

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