The Hollywood Reporter – August 14, 2019

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 60 AUGUST 14, 2019

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Interviewing a writer and actor
who so nimbly avoids cliche on
the grounds from which roughly
8,736 celebrity profiles have
been harvested feels almost
unsavory. But Waller-Bridge is
leaning into Hollywood stereo-
types as she hits Los Angeles
at the beginning of August for
a wave of press to capitalize
on the glut of Emmy nomina-
tions tossed at her razor-sharp
comedy, Fleabag — and every
element of this decadent tableau
delights her. We run through
some of the hotel’s biggest hits:
Helmut Newton’s deadly car
crash in front of the valet stand,
Lindsay Lohan charging $686
worth of cigarettes to her room,

Benicio Del Toro and Scarlett

Johansson’s alleged 2004 Oscars

night tryst ...

“In the lift!” she declares,

thrilled all over again. “Oh, when

someone asked her about that,

she just gave an unbelievably

cool response.”

As the creator and star of

Fleabag, Waller-Bridge has her-

self become synonymous with

cool among the creative class,

subverting taboos with audac-

ity and chain-smoking over two

six-episode seasons of her BBC

and Amazon Studios show. This

Sunday afternoon, however, finds

her doing a bit of recalibrating.

During a rare six-day visit to L.A.,

she has lain poolside like a proper

starlet, hosted a dinner party

at the Mexican restaurant Toca

Madera — which, by her account,

more closely resembled a night-

club — and glad-handed members

of an entertainment industrial

complex desperate for a piece of

her next act.

Fleabag’s second (and, she

says, final) season, which bowed

stateside in May, was heralded

with borderline hyperbolic fervor.

Critics called it “thrillingly deep,”

“a minor miracle” and “brilliance

slathered on brilliance.” The

reaction in Hollywood C-suites

hasn’t been any more subdued.

“Nothing would make us happier

than to have her bring another

season of that show,” Amazon

Studios boss Jennifer Salke

recently said, “or anything else

she wants to do.” James Bond pro-

ducers quickly enlisted her for a

rewrite of the Bond 25 script. And

on the subject of potentially being

the one to land Waller-Bridge’s

next TV project, FX tastemaker

John Landgraf offered only

a “hallelujah.”

As for the subject of all this

adulation, “I’m just trying to sniff

out where the freedom is,” says the

creator of the moment. “Freedom

and that feeling of not having any

grown-ups to answer to.”

Based on her 2013 one-woman

stage play, Fleabag is up for 11

Emmys for its second season

after being snubbed for its first

go-around. The tally includes

three for Waller-Bridge — for

lead actress, writing and comedy

series. And it’s not even her only

show in the running. As creator

of Killing Eve, she’s also up for

best drama as executive producer

on the second season of BBC

America’s slick spy thriller (after

serving as showrunner on its

first). Should she score a deuce —

admittedly unlikely against HBO

heavy hitters Game of Thrones and

Veep — Waller-Bridge would join

TV legend David E. Kelley, golden

boy of the 1999 Emmys with The

Practice and Ally McBeal, as the

only person ever to sweep genres

in the same year. Win or no, it’s

rarefied air for a woman who was

virtually unknown in Hollywood

just three years ago.

Standing shy of her reported

6 feet, Waller-Bridge sports a

tousled bob of brown curls and

is easily distinguished by the

birthmark engaged in an ongoing

flirtation with her hairline. But

for anyone familiar with Fleabag,

it’s her eyes that make the most

compelling case for attention.

On the series, that certain glance

indicates when her nameless

protagonist (known unofficially

as “Fleabag”) breaks the fourth

wall — letting the audience in on

a titillating joke or, more rarely,

hoebe Waller-Bridge has

clearly done her homework.

Delivering herself onto a

shaded sofa in the Chateau

Marmont courtyard, the

34-year-old British auteur

surveys the Sunday brunch

set with the confidence

of a regular. “Before I got

here, I read something

like ‘The 25 most controversial things that happened

at the Chateau,’ ” she confesses, her eyes flashing a

newfound awareness of decades marked by glamour and

debauchery. “You know, just to really get in the zone.”

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