James Bond 25 scribe Phoebe Waller-Bridge ‘007 is fantasy NIGHTMARE no one wants to live’

James Bond 25’s script has had a number of writers have a go at it from usuals scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to Scott Z Burns and director Cary Fukunaga. But Daniel Craig personally chose Fleabag and Killing Eve’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge to give it a polish. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, she’s being paid around $2 million to be the second woman ever to work on an official Bond script. Certainly, the 34-year-old feels there’s always been something about 007 that’s intrigued her.

She told the outlet: “There’s something about James Bond that always intrigued me in a similar way that Villanelle [Comer’s Killing Eve assassin] did.

“They live a fantasy! But it’s a life none of us would ever want if we’re honest.

“We don’t want to go put a bullet in someone’s head to sleep with people and have martinis. It’s a kind of fantasy nightmare.”

On her hiring, Waller-Bridge added: “A lot has been made of me coming on board because I’m a woman, and that’s wonderful. But also I can’t take credit for the movie that was written. It’s Cary’s movie.”

And when it came to the question of whether or nor Lashana Lynch’s Nome will be the new 007, she played it coy.

Waller-Bridge said: “The whole thing has potential to birth new iconic characters all the time.”

Back in June, she told Deadline it was “b*****ks” that 007 is “irrelevant now.”

She told Deadline: “There’s been a lot of talk about whether or not [the Bond franchise] is relevant now because of who he is and the way he treats women.”

She continued: “I think that’s b*****ks. I think he’s absolutely relevant now.

“It has just got to grow. It has just got to evolve, and the important thing is that the film treats the women properly.”

“He doesn’t have to. He needs to be true to this character.”

Bond 25 will be released in UK cinemas on April 3, 2020.