Fleabag’s Phoebe: How explosive Mafia film scene blew away my writer’s block
Phoebewaller-bridge has admitted she almost never made Fleabag’s second series – until Mafia movies Goodfellas and The Godfather cured her writer’s block.
Phoebe, 35, who also stars in the hit comedy, said: “When I was really worried about not having a story for season two and it not being as good as season one, I really did try to back out a couple of times.
“I took a lot of inspiration from howthe Godfather upped its game from Godfather 1 to 2.
“It sounds sort of ludicrous but actually sometimes you need to go
‘She was the Joe Pesci character’
so far away from the thing you’re making to get some perspective on it.”
Director Harry Bradbeer said the dramatic restaurant scene in Fleabag’s opening episode was a nod to a famous fight in Goodfellas.
He said: “It was actually Phoebe who pointed out the restaurant scene in Goodfellas and the red lampshade and when Joe Pesci freaks out.
“There was something dangerous about it. It was a place you didn’t like hanging around for half an hour. So I just started channelling Goodfellas in how we filmed it.
“And Phoebe was the Joe Pesci character who blows up.”
Phoebe said: “I was asking for five things to happen in one stunt and like four people have to end up bleeding and it has to happen in a very short time – boom, boom, boom, boom! – and we had to see every moment of impact and see every person’s blood!
“It was such an exciting moment when it happened, including a backwards headbutt on to the priest, and there were also two punches.”
Meanwhile Phoebe has denied calling Andrew Scott’s cleric, fancied by her Fleabag character, the
“hot priest”.
She says: “The internet called him that. But I did know I wanted to see a love story.”