James Bond in film approach" with the score. Jack White of The White Stripes and Alicia Keys collaborated on "Another Way to Die", the first Bond music duet. The production of "Skyfall" was suspended throughout 2010 because of MGM's financial troubles. Eon resumed pre-production following MGM's exit from bankruptcy on 21 December 2010 and in January 2011 the film was given official approval, with production scheduled to start in late 2011. The film's budget is estimated to be between $150 million and $200 million, compared to the $200 million spent on "Quantum of Solace". "Skyfall" was directed by Sam Mendes, who first signed on
Sam Mendes is from Trinidad, is a Roman Catholic of Portuguese Creole descent, and his mother is an English Jew. His grandfather was the Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes. Mendes's parents divorced when he was a child. He grew up in Oxfordshire and attended Magdalen College School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first in English. While at Cambridge, he was a member of the Marlowe Society and directed several plays, including a production of "Cyrano de Bergerac" with Tom Hollander among the cast members. He was also a "brilliant" schoolboy cricketer, according to Wisden and played for Magdalen College