No Time To Die breakout star Lashana Lynch has praised the film’s co-writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge for her deft script work and how it enhanced her character’s ‘Black feminine energy’.
Lashana appears as the first female 00 agent in the James Bond canon – and technically the first female 007, as she has inherited the code name from Bond at the beginning of the latest film.
Phoebe, who has seen great success as the creator of Fleabag, was brought in as one of the movie’s four screenwriters, and the second female to write a Bond script – the first was Johanna Harwood, who received credit for her work on 1962’s Dr No and 1963’s From Russia with Love.
Speaking to Porter, 33-year-old Lashana said: ‘[Phoebe] brought a lightness of touch that really matched Black feminine energy. And I don’t quite know how she did that.
‘When I read lines that were clearly from her, it all just made sense to the kind of upbringing that I imagined Nomi would have.’
The Captain Marvel actress, who played fighter pilot Maria Rambeau in the superhero movie, also revealed the supportive household and community she had been brought up in, which made her think that ‘Black people can do anything’ and have no understanding of ‘why people who looked a certain way couldn’t do something’.
‘My mum reminded me the other day that my nan had said, “You’d better really pay attention to that child; she’s going to put bread on the table. And I don’t mean crumbs, I mean bread.”’, she shared. ‘So now I’m putting bread on the table.’
The Still Star-Crossed star previously talked about her Bond character on the One Show, as she noted the importance of Nomi in both No Time To Die and in general.
She explained: ‘As soon as she became a 00 agent, she was ready to put her stamp on what it means to be a black woman in MI6, to represent her community, much like I do in my own life, and to actually give people a run for their money.
‘To be vocal and opinionated and listened to and considered, and actually push the needle forward both as a character in cinema but also in the film.’
Phoebe has recently shared that she is not necessarily in favour of a female Bond.
The 36-year-old told the PA news agency at the No Time To Die world premiere: ‘I think Bond is James Bond. We just need to cook up someone to rival him.’
When asked if she could be the one to create such a character, she laughed and said: ‘I have to be careful what I say.’
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