A writer best known for such lines as “I sometimes worry I wouldn’t be such a feminist if I had bigger tits” is perhaps not a natural fit for a secret agent hell-bent on saving the world from bioterrorism.
Yet it was this introspection that drew the creators of James Bond to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the actor and writer who came to public attention with Fleabag, a darkly comedic play and TV show about a young woman wrestling with grief and dysfunction. The 36-year-old, whose guiding principle is to “write as if you’re not afraid”, was brought in two years ago to inject depth and wit to the script for No Time to Die, the latest Bond movie, which was released this week.
As well as lucrative Hollywood wages, Waller-Bridge has said she was attracted by the opportunity to make Bond “a little bit twisted” and giving him “real character nuance which is all I really care about . . . I got to really play with these characters”. Brushing off the idea Waller-Bridge had been brought in as a token woman, Craig put it simply: “She’s a fucking great writer. One of the best English writers around.” Nonetheless, there are no wandering hands in this film except in the direction of a respectful shake for a job well done.