Entertainment

'Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge Is Reportedly Writing For *This* Iconic Movie

by Emily Dixon
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Here's a pleasant tidbit for those still mourning the news that there'll be no season three of Fleabag: creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge will contribute to the next James Bond script (working title Bond 25), according to the Observer. The writer and actor — who we also have to thank for Killing Eve, let's not forget — was reportedly "specifically requested" by the current Bond himself, Daniel Craig, in order to "liven up" the script. And since everything Waller-Bridge touches turns to quirky, clever, bleakly comic gold, it sounds like Craig made a pretty good call.

The Observer reports that Waller-Bridge "discussed with Craig how to improve the script of Bond 25, which the 007 actor felt needed some “polishing”, by introducing more humour and the offbeat style of writing she is best known for." Craig — like the rest of us — is a fan of both Fleabag and Killing Eve, the newspaper says. Bustle has contacted both Waller-Bridge and Craig's agents for comment, as well as the Bond 25 production team.

As the Observer notes, Bond 25 has already faced a spate of challenges; the film, now due out in April 2020, hasn't even start filming yet. Daniel Craig famously said he'd rather "slash [his] wrists" than return to his most famous role; while he reversed his decision, director Sam Mendes declined to return.

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Initial director Danny Boyle bowed out, to be replaced by Cary Joji Fukunaga, while screenwriter John Hodge was replaced by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade (later joined by Scott Z Burns). Little wonder that the planned release date — in October 2018 — was pushed back.

If Phoebe Waller-Bridge is to rework the Bond 25 script, she'll have to do some serious scheduling: as the Guardian reports, it's far from her only project. Fleabag the TV show might be all wrapped up (sent off with glowing reviews, the BBC wrote), but Waller-Bridge will complete a six-week off-Broadway run of the one-woman show that inspired it in New York today, so she's hardly had time to spare.

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She's still the executive producer of Killing Eve, too, though no longer the head writer — and thankfully, there's a third season in the works. She'll be executive producing a new HBO show, too, titled Run. According to the Guardian, the show is a "romantic comedy, about a woman who receives a text inviting her to fulfil a pact made with an ex-lover 15 years earlier." Merritt Wever, Domhnall Gleeson, and Stephen McKinley Henderson will star, according to Metro — but just in case she wasn't quite busy enough, Waller-Bridge will play a recurring role in the series.

Describing Waller-Bridge's work, Fleabag producer Sarah Hammond told the Guardian, "It's all about the balance of humour and pain, she’s a lightning rod for that. She makes you laugh and punches you when your guard is down — that’s her lens on the world, her flavour of writing." If the reports are accurate, she could bring that unique "flavour" to Bond 25.