Amidst footage of Daniel Craig in costume, along with crew and cameras at work, Mendes briefly explains that his relationship with Bond goes back to childhood.  He gives the requisite nods to Sean Connery and Casino Royale, and says of his approach, "It struck me that it is still possible to make a big, fabulous, glamorous, escapist movie and yet at the same time to say something about the world that we're living in."

The video debuted at the official James Bond 007 facebook page.

A longtime stage director, Mendes made his feature debut and earned his first Oscar with 1999's American Beauty.  Following that, he went on to oversee Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, and Away We Go.  His first franchise blockbuster is written by longtime Bond contributors Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with extensive revisions from The Aviator and Rango writer John Logan.

This will be Daniel Craig's third outing as 007 and Judi Dench's seventh turn as Bond's boss, M.  Everybody else in the cast a newcomer to the series, though, led by Javier Bardem as the villain and including Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw, Berenice Marlohe, Helen McCrory, and Albert Finney.

Ian Fleming's enduring character returns to the screen here in America on November 9th.