Daniel Craig defends hiring Phoebe Waller-Bridge to help write new James Bond screenplay

Daniel Craig has said that it was his idea to bring Phoebe Waller-Bridge in to finesse some of the script for new James Bond movie No Time to Die.

But he doesn't think people should be analyzing it.

Speaking to The Sunday Times, he said: “She’s just brilliant. I had my eye on her ever since the first Fleabag, and then I saw Killing Eve and what she did with that and just wanted her voice. It is so unique — we are very privileged to have her on board.”

However, when asked whether the move was made to drag Bond into a more representative and feminist era, he began to answer the question, before deciding to shut things down.

“Look, we’re having a conversation about Phoebe’s gender here, which is f***ing ridiculous,” he replied (though, the writer suggested, in good humor).

“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***ing great writer. One of the best English writers around. I said, ‘Can we get her on the film?’ That’s where I came from.”

Reports have since surfaced that Waller-Bridge ended up doing far more on the script for No Time to Die than was planned, and she’s now being courted for the next movie.

Craig, 51, also pushed back against his grumpy reputation.

He went on: “But then I don’t do much to dispel it, because I’d just be chasing my tail to prove that I’m not the person people think I am. You know, I probably don’t have a particularly good public persona. Some do.

“Some can go on talk shows and tell stories, but I’m just not wired that way. I don’t know what to say. I can try, but people would go, ‘What’s he doing?’ They’d go, ‘Where is the grumpy f*****?’

“But I’m not grumpy. Genuinely, I’m not. I hope you can tell. I love what I do. I love this business, and I don’t mind talking to journalists. I mean, I don’t love it. Yet I don’t mind talking about stuff I love. That’s easy.

“But I just grew up in an era when, if you were trying to be an artist, you didn’t look for approval. You didn’t look for likes. You just did your thing. And this? This is what I do. Who am I personally? It has nothing to do with anybody, except for the people in my life.”

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