Bond 25 Writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge Brought On To Add More Humor

The new James Bond movie has brought on a new writer who will reportedly help add a further dimension of humour to the spy film. The Guardian reports that Fleabag creator and star Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been hired to "liven up" the script for Bond 25.

007 actor Daniel Craig reportedly specifically requested that Waller-Bridge come aboard to "bring her wit and quirkiness to the screenplay." Craig reportedly said the movie needed further "polishing," specifically in the area of additional humour and other elements.

Waller-Bridge is the Bond franchise's second female writer. The first was Johanna Harwood, who worked on the very first Bond movie, Dr. No, along with From Russia With Love.

Bond 25 has seen a number of writers over the years. Original director Danny Boyle wrote an initial script with John Hodge, but Boyle ultimately exited the project due to "creative differences." True Detective's Cary Joji Fukunaga was later hired to direct, with veteran Bond writers Neil Purvis and Robert Wade coming aboard to adjust Hodge's script. Later, The Bourne Ultimatum writer Scott Z Burns joined Bond 25's writing team. And now Waller-Bridge is working on the script as well.

As you might have imagined, all this changed led to production and release delays. The film was originally expected to hit theatres in October 2019, but it was later delayed to February 2020 and then further out to April 2020 where it currently sits on the release schedule.

According to The Guardian, Bond 25 has done some location shoots in Italy, Norway, and Jamaica, along with sound stages at Pinewood Studios in the UK. However, the "proper" filming of the movie, as it's described in the report, reportedly hasn't begun yet.

Craig returns to play 007 for the last time in Bond 25, while Ben Whishaw is expected to come back as Q. Ralph Fiennes will play M again and Naomie Harris is expected to reprise her role as Miss Moneypenny. Rami Malek is reportedly going to play the main villain.