Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

No Time to Die: Phoebe Waller-Bridge reveals she has added ‘little spices’ to James Bond script

Fleabag writer says she wrote dialogue for numerous characters in the 25th 007 movie

Ellie Harrison
Friday 08 November 2019 10:09 GMT
Comments
Bond 25: Cast of Daniel Craig’s final James Bond outing revealed

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has revealed how she changed the script for the new James Bond film No Time to Die.

Bond star Daniel Craig recently revealed it was his idea to bring the Fleabag writer on board to help out with the script for the forthcoming movie, which marks his fifth and final outing as the spy.

"They were just looking for tweaks across a few of the characters and a few of the storylines," Waller-Bridge told BBC News.

No Time to Die will be the first film of the franchise released in the #MeToo era, but Waller-Bridge insisted the culture of the movies – which has often been criticised as misogynistic – was beginning to change regardless of her input.

"They were already doing that themselves," she says. "They're having that conversation with themselves the whole time. It [my involvement] was much more practical. Just, 'You're a writer, we need some help with these scenes... Come up with some dialogue for these characters.’"

Craig has denied that Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s gender had anything to do with her hiring, refuting a “cynical” reading that her recruitment was an attempt to make Bond more representative behind the scenes.

“Look, we’re having a conversation about Phoebe’s gender here, which is f***ing ridiculous,” Craig told The Sunday Times. “She’s a great writer. Why shouldn’t we get Phoebe onto Bond?”

Waller-Bridge is the second woman to have a writing credit on a Bond film across the franchise's 57-year history. Johanna Harwood co-wrote Dr No and From Russia with Love in the early 1960s.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in