Phoebe Waller-Bridge reveals why it was "really challenging" writing on new Bond film No Time to Die
Fleabag's award-winning writer and star was brought in to work on the 25th 007 movie
No Time to Die, the 25th entry in the long-running James Bond film series, saw Phoebe Waller-Bridge on scripting duties alongside Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and director Cary Joji Fukunaga – and now the Fleabag writer/star has opened up about the process of crafting an adventure for 007.
Waller-Bridge told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that "the script was [already] there" when she joined the project and that her role was to "offer things" and give the creative team "options" for where to take Bond next.
“I mean, it was really challenging, and my role there was to try and be helpful and to offer things," she said.
"The script was there, Cary had a really specific vision for the movie and so did Daniel [Craig], and it had been in development for a really long time and they had a script, so that process for me was about stepping back and just saying, ‘I'm going to give you these options and then you can use any of them or you can get rid of all of them,’ because everybody was writing on it.
"I mean, there were just so many ideas and [it was] so clear to so many people. I was just throwing things out there and hoping that anything sticks."
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Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last year, Waller-Bridge again emphasised that much of the work on the script for No Time to Die was completed before she joined.
“A lot has been made of me coming on board because I’m a woman, and that’s wonderful," she said. "But also I can’t take credit for the movie that was written. It’s Cary’s movie.”
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Daniel Craig will return in No Time to Die for what he has insisted is his final screen outing as James Bond, appearing alongside fellow franchise returnees Ralph Fiennes (M), Ben Whishaw (Q), Naomie Harris (Moneypenny), Jeffrey Wright (Felix Leiter), Rory Kinnear (Bill Tanner), Lea Seydoux (Madeleine Swann) and Christoph Waltz (Blofeld).
They'll be joined by new additions including Rami Malek as the villain Safin, Lashana Lynch as Nomi and Craig's Knives Out co-star Ana de Armas as Paloma.
No Time to Die will be released in UK cinemas on 2nd April. BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour with Phoebe Waller-Bridge broadcasts at 10am on Friday, 21st February.
