No Time to Die Interviews: Cary Joji Fukunaga, Jeffrey Wright & Billy Magnussen

My week of No Time to Die interviews continues! As I mentioned earlier, I was thrilled to get the chance to participate in the final Daniel Craig James Bond movie’s junket. So, in addition to speaking to the man himself, plus Rami Malek and Lea Seydoux, I got to do a few more interviews as well. First up is Cary Joji Fukunaga, who makes history as the first American ever to direct a Bond movie and the first Bond director to get a credit on the screenplay (opposite Phoebe Waller-Bridge and regular 007 writers Robert Wade and Neal Purvis.

Fukunaga was a fun guy to speak with. Not surprisingly, he turned out to be a huge On Her Majesty’s Secret Service fan, which I am too (I have an OHMSS poster behind me here). So we talked a little about how that movie influenced No Time to Die and how he put his own personal stamp on the franchise. He also told me a story about how he helped former 007 George Lazenby get verified status on Twitter. Pretty cool!

Up next is the American C.I.A contingent of the film, with Jeffrey Wright reprising his role as Felix Leiter, while Billy Magnussen plays a young agent named Logan Ash. Wright described Bond’s brotherhood with Felix, while Magnussen admitted to being amazed at the scale of the production and his part in it, which Wright says involved some initiation from him and Craig! Wright also opened up about his own favorite Felix Leiter. Check out the interviews – they were a lot of fun!

Of course, No Time to Die opens in theatres today, and it’s already breaking franchise records. The appetite for this franchise hasn’t gone anywhere at all. So make sure to go out and support it, and check out my ongoing series, James Bond Revisited! See some episodes below!

About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.