Haggis has licence to thrill with next Bond adventure

Canadian screenwriter and Oscar-winning director Paul Haggis will develop the script for the next James Bond adventure.

Haggis, director and writer of Crash, shared screenwriting credits with Neil Purvis and Robert Wade on Casino Royale, the first Bond starring Daniel Craig.

This time around, he'll be working with director Marc Forster, who is known for movies such as Monster's Ball and Finding Neverland.

They'll be developing the next instalment of the 007 franchise from a draft created by Purvis and Wade.

Bond producers, Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, announced Forster as director of the next film on Tuesday.

"I have always been drawn to different kinds of stories, and I have also always been a Bond fan, so it is very exciting to take on this challenge," Forster said in a statement.

The next film, as yet untitled but to star Craig, is scheduled for release in November 2008.

Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell, who also helmed Goldeneye, was the most successful film ever about the British secret agent, bringing in $600 million US at the box office.

Theproducers are known for enlisting fresh talent to energize the Bond franchise.

Forster's racial drama Monster's Ball earned an Academy Award for actress Halle Berry, but his screen credits also include the surreal Stranger than Fiction and the drama about children's author J.M. Barrie, Finding Neverland.

His next movie, The Kite Runner, about an Afghan man's struggles with his past, will open later this year.