Sam Mendes was that one proposal involved making two films back-to-back, based on an idea by "Skyfall" writer John Logan, which would have resulted in Mendes and other creative personnel being tied up with filming for around four years. It was reported in February 2013 that this idea had since been shelved and that the next two films would be stand-alone. The same report claimed that Mendes was "75% on board, but was waiting to see the finished script before committing." However, Mendes said in an interview with Empire Magazine in March 2013 that "It has been a very difficult decision not
Lothar Mendes work at Gaumont-British Pictures, directing films with Sir Michael Balcon producing. Under that banner, he directed "Jew Süss" (1934) starring one of Germany's most famous emigre actors, Conrad Veidt. Mendes' "Jew Suss" is not to be confused with the later Nazi film of the same title (1940) which is a Reich-made, virulently anti-Semitic film that deliberately contorted the exiled German-Jewish writer, Lion Feuchtwanger's original novel of the same name, on which Mendes' film was based. Mendes' 1934 film version of Feuchtwanger's novel received strong notices at the time, and was considered an important and early film in exposing the origins