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Phoebe Waller-Bridge explains why her campy ideas for Daniel Craig’s James Bond finale, No Time To Die, were ultimately rejected by producers.
Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge discussed why her campy ideas for No Time to Die were rejected. The latest entry in the long-running James Bond franchise was released in 2021 and saw the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as the charming MI6 secret agent. No Time to Die proved popular with critics and audiences alike, with the film garnering nearly $775 million at the box office.
During an acting Masterclass at the Haymarket Theatre in London (via Daily Mail), Waller-Bridge shared that James Bond producers rejected her campy ideas for No Time to Die. The writer admitted that she did not do a lot of “Bond research” before tackling the project, but learned valuable lessons from the assignment. Read what Waller-Bridge said below:
I should naturally have done a lot of Bond research… I didn’t do a huge amount of research for it. I’m not very good at homework. That says a lot. Sometimes it is frustrating when you say, “I think this is genius,” and they are like, “Next time.” It is fun playing in someone else’s sandpit for a while as you learn stuff. I certainly learned what my Bond film would be like. I learned how mine might have been slightly too camp. A bit misogynistic really. Daniel [Craig] knows that character better than anyone. I read the script not knowing. They had not told me and I was reading it and I was like, “No.” I was angry, then I thought “What the hell, everyone is going to blame me anyway.” I definitely want to be involved.
Would a Campy No Time to Die Have Worked?
When Craig was initially cast as Bond, the decision was criticized. The actor’s appearance was scrutinized with detractors targeting his height and hair color. However, the fears were completely erased with Craig’s first franchise film, Casino Royale. The film reinvented the franchise with a harder-edged Bond, quickly gaining the audience’s approval.
Craig’s era of the Bond franchise challenged the well-worn tropes and clichés of the film series. The narratives of the actor’s five entries elevated the character with nuanced drama while adhering to spy-thriller formula audiences have come to expect. Waller-Bridge’s introduction of campy humor in the final film of Craig’s run would have been completely incongruous with everything the actor had brought to the character thus far. The writer’s brand of in-your-face comedy was previously on full display with her hit series Fleabag. However, such comedy would not have sat right with Craig’s deeply emotional and flawed depiction of Bond, and may have undercut No Time to Die‘s tragic conclusion.
If Waller-Bridge’s humor was used at the start of Craig’s tenure, then James Bond’s producers and audiences would have likely been more accepting of her comedic additions. Roger Moore’s time as Bond was filled with camp from the beginning of his residency, clearly seen in most of his films including Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, and the outlandish Moonraker which had the secret agent fight in space. Although Waller-Bridge’s humor was rejected by the producers, No Time to Die managed to become a befitting end for one of the strongest chapters in Bond’s long history.
Source: Daily Mail
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