This comes to us from heatvisionblog.com and Swank was excited as hell and passed it along. Sam Mendes will be directing the next installment of James Bond. The last of which made over $500 Million. I love the new Bond movies, and Daniel Craig is a straight bad ass. Those of you who aren’t familiar with Mendes, go watch American Beauty, Road To Perdition (Tom Hanks murders people), and Jarhead. Below you’ll find the quote from heatvision.

It’s Mendes. Sam Mendes.

The British helmer is in negotiations to direct the 23rd installment of the venerable James Bond franchise.

Production is being fast-tracked and could begin as early as June with an eye toward a 2011 release. Plans for the film are moving forward despite a possible sale of MGM. Sony co-produced and distributed the most recent installment of the 007 series with MGM.

Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade are writing, along with “Frost/Nixon” scribe Peter Morgan. Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are producing. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as 007.

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

Marc Forster directed the previous Bond film, 2008’s “Quantum of Solace,” which grossed $586 million worldwide.