Phoebe Waller-Bridge says Bond 25 must "treat women properly" – even if 007 doesn't
Killing Eve and Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been brought in to work on the new James Bond film
Now she is officially part of the writing team for Bond 25, Fleabag and Killing Eve creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has promised to make sure the film will "treat women properly" – even if 007 does not.
Insisting that the film is "absolutely relevant now," Waller-Bridge said the franchise would still need to "grow" and "evolve".
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The latest 007 movie, starring Daniel Craig as secret agent (and serial womaniser) James Bond, is due for release in 2020. Waller-Bridge has been brought in to help polish the script – which makes her only the second woman in Bond history to be credited on a script, following on from Johanna Hardwood's Dr No and From Russia With Love back in the sixties.
“There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not [the Bond franchise] is relevant now because of who he is and the way he treats women,” she told Deadline.
“I think that’s bollocks. I think he’s absolutely relevant now. It has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly."
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But, she added, "He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character.”
Waller-Bridge is also an admirer of Craig's performance as Bond. "When I saw his Bond for the first time, there was a wryness to his performance that I really loved,” she said. “So, I was really excited about writing dialogue for him."
Bond 25 is set to be released in the UK on 3rd April 2020
