Phoebe Waller-Bridge did little research for the script for No Time to Die

Phoebe Waller-Bridge didn’t have time to research the James Bond franchise before “editing” the No Time To Die script.

The “Fleabag” creator was tasked with rewriting the film’s female characters, including the roles of Ana de Armas and Lea Séydoux, and adding additional jokes to the script, which marked Daniel Craig’s final turn as 007. However, Waller-Bridge found the feedback “frustrating” at times.

“Of course I should have done a lot of Bond research (but) I didn’t do a lot of research for him. I’m not very good at homework. That says a lot,” Waller-Bridge said during a master class performance at London’s Haymarket Theater (via The Daily Mail). “Sometimes it’s frustrating when you say, ‘I think that’s brilliant,’ and they say, ‘Next time.’

He continued: “It’s fun to play in someone else’s sandbox for a while while you learn. I’ve certainly learned what my Bond film will be like. I learned that mine might have been a little too campy. A bit of a misogynist indeed.”

The ‘Indiana Jones and the Disc of Destiny’ star added: ‘Daniel (Craig) knows this character better than anyone. I read the script without knowing it. They didn’t tell me, and I read it and said, “No.” I was angry, and then I thought, “What the hell, everyone’s going to blame me anyway.” I definitely want to participate.”

Lead actor Craig brought Waller-Bridge into the project and introduced her to producer Barbara Broccoli to do “dialogue polishes”, as Waller-Bridge explained in 2020. to this, or do you have any other ideas about where it could go in the middle or how it ends? And then I gave them the options and the different scenes, and then they took what they wanted,” he said. “But a lot of people wrote — the director (Cary Fukunaga) was also a writer. And there were some writers before.”

Director Danny Boyle originally joined the project in 2018 with longtime screenwriting partner John Hodge. Boyle revealed in May 2022 that “they want you to freshen it up a little bit, but you wouldn’t really discuss it,” regarding the proposed script, which offers a new approach to the franchise. Hodge’s script is set in Russia, and Boyle called it a “shame” that the film didn’t take off as envisioned.

Boyle later dropped out of the film, and producer Barbara Broccoli’s Eon Productions is rumored to have disapproved of Boyle’s alleged decision to kill off Bond, played by Daniel Craig. However, after Fukunaga directed the 2021 feature, Bond was similarly destroyed.

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