Sam Mendes: Spectre will be the last James Bond movie I direct

Hollywood director Sam Mendes has admitted he doubts he will work on another James Bond film after Spectre.

The filmmaker, who directed 2012's Skyfall and will be taking the helm once again for the next instalment of the 007 franchise, revealed that a lot of work goes into shooting a Bond movie.

"I said no to the last one and then ended up doing it, and was pilloried by all my friends," he told the BBC. "But I do think this is probably it."

"I don't think I could go down that road again," he said. "You do have to put everything else on hold."

Spectre, which will be Daniel Craig's fourth outing as the secret agent, is scheduled for release on 26 October in the UK.

While fans are hoping that it can emulate the success of Skyfall, which made £700m ($1.1bn) at box offices worldwide, Mendas described the globe-trotting shoot as an enormous undertaking that is more of a lifestyle choice than a job.

"It feels almost, even though we've just finished shooting it, like one big experience and it was a fantastic life-changing thing," he said. "It really is more a lifestyle choice than a job."

He added: "I'm happiest rehearsing a play or editing a movie, and when I've finished editing a movie I generally want to be back in a theatre environment again."

Naomie Harris, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in Skyfall, will return to Bond's side in Spectre, as will Ralph Fiennes as M and Ben Whishaw as Q.

Elsewhere in the interview, Mendes revealed that the Spectre theme song was complete, but remained tight-lipped on who recorded it.

"I can say that the song's been recorded and it's fantastic and I'm very excited about it," he said. "You won't have to wait long."