- Daniel Craig called the idea that Phoebe Waller-Bridge was a diversity hire for the new James Bond movie “f—— ridiculous.”
- Craig shut down the question from The Sunday Times’ Jonathan Dean, saying: “She’s a great writer. Why shouldn’t we get Phoebe onto Bond? That’s the answer to that.”
- The Bond franchise has had just one credited female writer in its 57-year history.
- Craig said he specifically asked the Emmy-winning “Fleabag” creator to help “polish” the script, which had already been written when she was hired.
- “No Time to Die” is out in US theaters April 8.
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In an interview with The Sunday Times, Daniel Craig shut down the notion that Phoebe Waller-Bridge had been brought onto the writing team for the latest James Bond installment “No Time To Die” to increase diversity.
Craig told the interviewer Jonathan Dean that he was behind the “Fleabag” creator’s hiring for the Bond movie: “I had my eye on her ever since the first ‘Fleabag’ [TV series], and then I saw ‘Killing Eve’ and what she did with that and just wanted her voice,” he said.
Dean then posited that a cynic might suggest Waller-Bridge had been taken on board to increase female representation on the writing team, which has only had one female writer in the franchise’s 57-year history (Johanna Harwood in “Dr No” and “From Russia with Love”).
Craig completely rejected the idea, saying: “Look, we’re having a conversation about Phoebe’s gender here, which is f—— ridiculous. She’s a great writer. Why shouldn’t we get Phoebe onto Bond? That’s the answer to that.
"I know where you're going, but I don't actually want to have that conversation. I know what you're trying to do, but it's wrong. It's absolutely wrong.
"She's a f------ great writer. One of the best English writers around. I said, 'Can we get her on the film?' That's where I came from."
Waller-Bridge wants to make sure the movie - not Bond - treats women properly
Waller-Bridge's hiring was revealed in April this year by The Observer, which reported that she had been taken on board to "polish" the script that had already been written.
In May, the Emmy-winning writer and actor told Deadline that she would not be changing the character of Bond, but would make sure that the movie "treated women properly."
She added: "I just want to make sure that when they get those pages through, that Lashana [Lynch], Léa [Seydoux] and Ana [de Armas] open them and go, 'I can't wait to do that.'
"As an actress, I very rarely had that feeling early in my career. That brings me much pleasure, knowing that I'm giving that to an actress."
"No Time to Die" is released in US theaters April 8 following its April 3 debut in the United Kingdom.
Read more:
Pierce Brosnan thinks the next James Bond should be played by a woman
