Alasdair Mclellan/Vanity Fair
Speaking with Vanity Fair, the Fleabag star opens up on her plans for Lara Croft and a new Tomb Raider project, what went wrong with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and those James Bond rumors.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge opened up about her recent career trajectory, revealing why she stepped away from a Mr. and Mrs. Smith reboot, and what she thinks about rumors linking her to the James Bond franchise.
Waller-Bridge spoke with Vanity Fair for a new cover story, in which she revealed that she's heard the rumors saying she's in the running to direct the next 007 film. "My mum sent me that rumor too," she revealed, noting that, to date, she's only ever directed a music video.
"So the obvious leap is James Bond," she added, jokingly.
The Fleabag star previously directed the music video for Phoebe Bridgers' song "Savior Complex," which also starred Paul Mescal. She did, however, work on the screenplay for No Time to Die.
Alasdair Mclellan/Vanity Fair
Bridge also opened up about her ongoing partnership with Amazon, after two back-to-back deals haven't yet produced any actual completed projects. Initially, she was set to costar with Donald Glover in TV reboot of Mr. And Mrs. Smith, but she later dropped out of the series.
"I worked on that show for six months fully in heart and mind and really cared about it—still care about it," said the actress. "And I know it’s gonna be brilliant. But sometimes it’s about knowing when to leave the party. You don’t want to get in the way of a vision."
Waller-Bridge also added that "creative collaboration is like a marriage," and that "some marriages don't work out."
However, Waller-Bridge's work with Amazon isn't done. The writer and star is set to develop a Tomb Raider series, which she speaks of very fondly. "She had an attitude," she says of the game's main character, Lara Croft, "She was very deliberate in what she wanted to do."
However, Waller-Bridge notes that this "changed when they realized that they could market her to be a sex symbol."
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View Story"God, it literally felt like that teenager in me saying: Do right by her, do right by Lara!" says the star of getting the chance to work on the series. "The opportunity to have, as we were talking earlier, a female action character ... Having worked on Bond and having worked as an actor on Indy, I feel like I've been building up to this."
"What if I could take the reins on an action franchise, with everything I've learned, with a character I adore, and also just bring back some of that ’90s vibe?" she added. "It's such a wonderful feeling to think you know what to do."
Waller-Bridge will next appear in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, alongside Harrison Ford, which hits theaters on June 30th.
