Phoebe Waller-Bridge has talked about her writing role on the upcoming James Bond movie, telling the BBC that she came on to add a few of her own ideas and tweaks but not to reinvent Bond, as the producers are already changing the culture of the 007 franchise.
Waller-Bridge is red-hot property after the successes of “Fleabag” and “Killing Eve,” the BBC America drama that scooped a haul of awards at the Emmys. She was hired earlier this year to work on “No Time to Die,” the 25th installment of the Bond series.
“They were just looking for tweaks across a few of the characters and a few of the storylines,” Waller-Bridge told BBC radio Friday. “When I came on board I was just facilitating as [many] of their ideas and their instincts as possible.”
Laughing, she said she was adding “little spices” to the script, including “a couple of bits and pieces of my own, and hope that they survive the process.”
Asked if the producers had wanted her to help change the macho culture of Bond and the franchise, she said no. “They were already doing that themselves,” she said. “They’re having that conversation with themselves the whole time.”
“No Time to Die” follows 007, played once again by Daniel Craig, after he has left active service but is forced back into action when an old friend, Felix Leiter, asks for help.
Although there have been debates about the gender politics of Bond, Craig said Waller-Bridge’s sex was irrelevant in terms of her involvement in the script. “Look, we’re having a conversation about Phoebe’s gender here, which is f—ing ridiculous,” he told Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper. “She’s a great writer. Why shouldn’t we get Phoebe onto Bond?”
Rami Malek, Léa Seydoux, Ana De Armas, and Lashana Lynch also star in the new film. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are producing. Cary Fukunaga helms and co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Z. Burns and Waller-Bridge.
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