Sam Mendes tipped to direct next Bond film

The Oscar-winning British film-maker Sam Mendes is in talks to direct the next instalment in the James Bond series, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The 23rd 007 film may go into production as early as June, with the aim of a 2011 release.

The project would be Mendes's first proper action film – the director is best known for taut relationship dramas such as his 1999 debut American Beauty, for which he won the Oscars for best film and best director, and last year's Revolutionary Road. However, he has dabbled in more high-octane fare before: on the 2005 Gulf war tale Jarhead, as well as the 2002 gangster flick Road to Perdition.

That last film starred the incumbent Bond, Daniel Craig, in a pivotal role. Craig will return for his third outing as the suave spy, as will screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who worked on both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. They will be joined by Peter Morgan, of The Queen and Frost/Nixon fame.

MGM, which currently owns the rights to Bond, is in the process of being sold, with rival media empires Time Warner, News Corp and Lionsgate reputedly interested. The studio has been in existence since 1924, but is struggling in the face of crippling debt.

That will not make life easy for Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who have successfully revamped the franchise with a darker tone following the critical derision that met Pierce Brosnan's last appearance as Bond, 2002's Die Another Day. The pair recently told Total Film that the uncertainty had left the project's timeline "a little up in the air what with the situation at MGM, so we have to be flexible".

The appointment of a director such as Mendes would come as little surprise as Wilson and Broccoli, through their Eon Productions unit, have a history of picking film-makers from outside the usual Hollywood action adventure mould. Last year's Quantum of Solace, which made $586m (£366m) across the globe, was directed by Marc Forster, who also shot Afghan drama The Kite Runner and the Oscar-winning Monster's Ball.