`Layer Cake` director Matthew Vaughn says he was in talks to helm James Bond 21

Matthew Vaughn, director of the forthcoming "Layer Cake", has said he was in talks to helm James Bond 21.

Perhaps better known as producer of "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch", the 33-year-old native of Suffolk (England) had his named leaked in a recent Variety article about the Bond 21 delay.

Vaughn told Reuters on Friday he had held talks with Eon Productions to direct the 21st film in the series, which had been scheduled for release on November 18th 2005 before MGM's announcement this week that it would be delayed until 2006.

His long association with Sony Pictures could help, as the Japanese-owned company is poised to buy MGM, the studio behind the Bond franchise.

He would welcome the massive budget, the chance to work in Hollywood - and an opportunity to fade back into the shadows.

"The next film I do, I want to have a huge movie star because they do all this publicity stuff better than anyone else," Vaughn said.

Thanks to `JP` for the alert.

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