Bond is sexist but my script won't be, says Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Daniel Craig as James Bond. Photo / Supplied

Bond is sexist — but my script will not be, Phoebe Waller-Bridge tells Anita Singh.

When Phoebe Waller-Bridge was hired to polish the new James Bond script, fans wondered if she would give 007 a feminist makeover. But fear not: the world's most sexist spy will continue his womanising ways. Just don't expect the female characters to fall at his feet.

"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. I think that's bull****. I think he's absolutely relevant now," Waller-Bridge said.

"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."

In an interview with Deadline, the Fleabag and Killing Eve creator said she is fan of Daniel Craig's Bond.

"When I saw his Bond for the first time, there was a wryness to his performance that I really loved. So I was really excited about writing dialogue for him."

She intends to give the lead actresses — Lashana Lynch, Lea Seydoux and Ana de Armas — dialogue that makes them feel "like real people".

"I just want to make sure that when they get those pages through, that Lashana, Lea and Ana open them and go, 'I can't wait to do that'. As an actress, I very rarely had that feeling early in my career," she said.

She stressed that she is not rewriting the scripts.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Fleabag. Photo / Supplied

"The script was there. It's already there. I think it's unfair to say that I'm writing the script," she said.

Waller-Bridge was asked at the Baftas if she would be bringing feminist humour to the plot and joked in reply: "We'll see what I can sneak in."

She is only the second woman in history to receive a writing credit on a Bond script — the first was Johanna Hardwood, who wrote for Dr No (1962) and From Russia With Love (1963).

It has been reported that the plot of the as-yet-unnamed film will concern genetic warfare, and that Waller-Bridge has been tasked with making the subject accessible to audiences.