“Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny” opens in theaters tomorrow, introducing Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Helena Shaw, Indiana Jones’ goddaughter and a crucial part of the new film’s story. So will Waller-Bridge’s turn as Helena be a Hollywood breakout for the “Fleabag” creator? We’ll see. But Waller-Bridge already has a similar project lined up, once the WGA writers’ strike ends: the “Tomb Raider” reboot series over at Amazon, which Waller-Bridge will help write.
READ MORE: Amazon Will Make A ‘Tomb Raider’ Movie That Will Connect With Streaming Series
Starring in an “Indiana Jones” movie will undoubtedly help the actress-screenwriter on “Tomb Raider,” but Vanity Fair reports that Waller-Bridge also played the videogame series growing up. “My parents were very smart because they didn’t actually limit me,” said Waller-Bridge about her days playing “Tomb Raider” as a kid. “They could sense that I was going to just game myself into the ground, and I did. I packed the PlayStation away, and I was like, ‘I’ve got to not do that because I’ve got to write and read and do other stuff.’” So what did Waller-Bridge like about the Lara Croft character? “She had an attitude. She was very deliberate in what she wanted to do.” But she also remembers how the series sexualized Croft over its installments. “That all changed when they realized that they could market her to be a sex symbol.”
Lara Croft’s sexuality is a hot topic in the “Tomb Raider” writers room, according to Waller-Bridge. “She’s a tomb raider, so she’s incredibly fit,” Waller-Bridge said of the character. “She has to squeeze through tiny rock crevices all the time. It is a different experience squeezing through a small rock crevice when you have larger boobs than if you have smaller boobs.” Given Waller-Bridge’s penchant for referencing breasts in her writing, expect Lara Croft’s figure to be a frequent topic in the show’s screenplays.
But Waller-Bridge wants to ensure she gets Lara Croft right while doing something original with the character. “I feel like when you’re working in the industry, you’ve got to ride the waves and lean in,” she went on. “There’s room to do something really quite dangerous. And if I can do something dangerous and exciting with “Tomb Raider,” I already have an audience of people who love Lara and hopefully will continue to. And that is a very unusual position to be in. It’s the old Trojan horse.”
The last “Tomb Raider” film hit theaters in March 2018 with a modestly successful box office run. That movie starred Alicia Vikander in the Croft role. Before Vikander, Angelina Jolie played the character in two early ’00s films, both also modestly successful. So who will play Lara Croft next? It’s way too early to speculate there, especially since the WGA writers’ strike has work on Amazon’s series on hold. But Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s rendition of “Tomb Raider” will be along soon enough.