Phoebe Waller-Bridge opens up about James Bond writing role

Fleabag writer-actor Phoebe Waller-Bridge says as one of the writers on No Time to Die, she will add a few of her own ideas and tweaks but she is not onboard to reinvent James Bond. 

It was initially speculated that Waller-Bridge, whose feminist dark comedy Fleabag has emerged one of the hottest shows of the year, said producers of the long-running spy drama are already changing the culture of the franchise. The 007 series is often criticised for its macho world and its skewed gender politics. 

READ: James Bond Wraps Shoot For Upcoming Film 'No Time To Die'

"They were just looking for tweaks across a few of the characters and a few of the storylines," Waller-Bridge told BBC radio Friday. "When I came on board I was just facilitating as (many) of their ideas and their instincts as possible," she added.

Waller-Bridge said she was adding "little spices" to the script, including "a couple of bits and pieces of my own, and hope that they survive the process." Asked if the producers had wanted her to help change the macho culture of Bond and the franchise, she said, "They were already doing that themselves. They're having that conversation with themselves the whole time."

No Time to Die, the 25th film in Bond series and played by Daniel Craig for the fifth time, will meet with the fiction spy after he has left active service but is called back into action by an old friend. Craig, who is said to have suggested Waller-Bridge's name to the producers, was irked when he was asked whether the writer was hired to reinvent Bond. 

"Look, we're having a conversation about Phoebe's gender here, which is fing ridiculous. She's a great writer. Why shouldn't we get Phoebe onto Bond?, he had told Sunday Times. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, the film also features Rami Malek, La Seydoux, Ana De Armas and Lashana Lynch. Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are producing. Fukunaga co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Z Burns and Waller-Bridge. 

READ: Daniel Craig Says Final Goodbye To The James Bond Series