Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

GOING CLEAR intimately profiles eight former members of the Church of Scientology, shining a light on how they attract true believers and the things they do in the name of religion.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
This documentary is like someone dripping ice water down your spine for 90 thrilling minutes. It’s a beautifully told insider’s explanation of the Church of Scientology through the people who got out. I’m fascinated with the cult of personality, people’s need to have a leader and, especially, extraordinary stories of when maniacs rise to that challenge.
Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Mustang

In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters live under strict rule while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
This film hit me like a punch to the gut. It’s a fictional story of six orphaned sisters in Turkey who are left under the guardianship of their uncle. He can’t cope and in a bid to control them and marry them off he turns them into prisoners in their own home.
Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Bridesmaids

Annie's life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian's maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke, Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she’ll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you’ll go for someone you love.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Kristen Wiig in the airplane scene! Sometimes we just watch that together.
Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Alfie

A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Waller-Bridge cites are nearly all male — Louis C.K., the original Alfie, Bret Easton Ellis, even one particular scene in East of Eden in which John Steinbeck dispenses with a character’s life in a single tragic sentence — yet she’s rarely compared to men.
Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Joker

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
In her little bit of free time, she’d gone to see Joker, which she thought was “absolutely brilliant.” “I think the reason people got so uncomfortable is because it feels too true, too raw,” she said.
Movies from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Bugsy Malone

A pint-sized cast illuminates this musical that is unlike any other ever made. Set in 1929 New York City, Bugsy Malone captures a flashy world of would-be hoodlums, showgirls, and dreamers - all played by child actors! As Tallulah, the sassy girlfriend of the owner of Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy, future superstar Jodie Foster dances and sings her way into our hearts.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
I always felt like comedy was the most fun way in. And also I always knew I wanted to be an actor. I remember seeing Bugsy Malone. I saw a bunch of kids do Bugsy Malone when I was that age. I was about eight. I think it was at the National Youth Theatre. It blew my tiny mind that they were doing it.
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Forever . . .

A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) Judy Blume’s groundbreaking novel about first relationships, first love, and…the first time.The bed is brass, covered with a patchwork quilt, and “nice and firm,” Michael says, “in case you’re interested.” Katherine is interested. Katherine and Michael are in love, and Katherine knows it’s forever—especially after she loses her virginity to him. But when they’re separated for the summer, she begins to have feelings for another boy. What does this say about her love for Michael? And what does “forever” mean, anyway? Is this the love of a lifetime, or the very beginning of a lifetime of love?
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
“The sexy ’70s classic Forever, by Judy Blume, was banned from my school because a Certain Page was getting the students all sweaty. But any number of detentions were worth being caught with it and I had… one or two detentions.” -PWB
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

His Dark Materials

FOR THE FIRST time, all three books of Philip Pullman's award-winning His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) will be published in their entirety in one volume. Perfect for both new and established Pullman fans who want to read (or reread) the whole trilogy before The Golden Compass movie debuts on December 7, 2007, this handsome 6 x 9 omnibus will feature every word of the trilogy as well as Philip Pullman's chapter opening art. Also, new and exclusive to this edition: Philip Pullman has written two pages of new vignettes for each book in the trilogy. Readers will be delighted to discover these intriguing new passages at the end of each book's section in the omnibus.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
“Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy defined me as a young reader. I lived between those pages. I remember the physical ache of wanting to be deep in those worlds. I even wrote to Pullman asking if I could play Lyra. Still waiting.” -PWB
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Ginger Man

Feckless, unwashed, charming, penurious Sebastian Balfe Dangerfield, Trinity College Law student, Irish American with an English Accent, maroon in the ould country and dreaming of dollars and ready women, stumbles from the public house to the pawnbrokers, murmuring delusive enticements in the ear of any girl who'll listen, in delirious search of freedom, wealth, and the recognition he feels is his due. Lyrical and ribald, illuminating, poignant and hugely entertaining, The Ginger Man is a work of authentic comic genius.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
“I was horrified yet set alight by the brutal amorality of Sebastian Dangerfield from J. P. Donleavy’s The Ginger Man.” -PWB
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

All My Friends Are Superheroes

All Tom's friends really are superheroes. There's the Ear, the Spooner, the Impossible Man. Tom even married a superhero, the Perfectionist. But at their wedding, the Perfectionist was hypnotized (by ex-boyfriend Hypno, of course) to believe that Tom is invisible. Nothing he does can make her see him. Six months later, she's sure that Tom has abandoned her. So she's moving to Vancouver. She'll use her superpower to make Vancouver perfect and leave all the heartbreak in Toronto. With no idea Tom's beside her, she boards an airplane in Toronto. Tom has until the wheels touch the ground in Vancouver to convince her he's visible, or he loses her forever.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
All My Friends Are Superheroes by Andrew Kaufman — mentioned in her latest Guilty Feminist Podcast episode
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Ottolenghi SIMPLE

The Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller. Winner at The National Book Awards 2018Everything you love about Ottolenghi, made simple.Yotam Ottolenghi's award-winning recipes are always a celebration: an unforgettable combination of abundance, taste and surprise. Ottolenghi SIMPLE is no different, with 130 brand-new dishes that contain all the inventive elements and flavour combinations that Ottolenghi is loved for, but with minimal hassle for maximum joy. Bursting with colourful photography, Ottolenghi SIMPLE showcases Yotam's standout dishes that will suit whatever type of cooking you find easy - whether that's getting wonderful food on the table in under 30 minutes, using just one pot to make a delicious meal, or a flavoursome dish that can be prepared ahead and then served when you're ready. These brilliant, flavour-forward dishes are all SIMPLE in at least one (but very often more than one) way: S - short on time: less than 30 minutes I - 10 ingredients or lessM - make aheadP - pantry L - lazyE - easier than you thinkOttolenghi SIMPLE is the stunning new cookbook we have all been wishing for: Yotam Ottolenghi's vibrant food made easy.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Ottolenghi Simple: A Cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi — mentioned in Stephen Colbert interview
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Vagina

An astonishing new work that radically changes how we think about, talk about and understand the vagina - and consequently how we think about women and sexuality - from Naomi Wolf, one of our most respected cultural critics and author of the modern classic, The Beauty Myth.As Naomi Wolf embarks on a life-changing journey to tease out the link between sexuality and creativity, what she discovers is revelatory and exhilarating - a scientifically supported link between the vagina and female courage, assertiveness and consciousness itself. Emboldened by these new discoveries she looks back in history and show us how the vagina was considered sacred for centuries until it began to be cast as a threat. Even now in an increasingly sexualised world, it is thought of as slightly shameful. Why?Vagina: A New Biography combines cutting-edge science with cultural history to explore the role of female desire and how it affects female identity, creativity and confidence. Provocative and engaging, positive and inspiring, this book brings to light female impulses, history and dreams - and, in exploring what women really need - it goes to the very core of what it means to be female.For any woman who wants to understand her body and her mind and the culture that defines her - Vagina is essential reading.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
I was writing the second series of Fleabag I had run out of steam, so I kicked around the house and picked up my flatmate’s copy of Vagina by Naomi Wolf. I read a paragraph on the creative power of the orgasm and it gave me the idea for the Godmother character having an orgasm while she painted a picture. I went back and put it in the script.
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Versions of Us

#1 UK Bestseller “A joy.” — Guardian “Enchanting.” — People “Triumphant.” — Sunday Telegraph“Stunningly crafted and constantly surprising . . . An utterly convincing love story about two people destined to be together somehow, no matter what.” — Times “One Day meets Sliding Doors.” — ElleA dazzling novel about the ways the smallest decisions give shape to our lives, The Versions of Us charts a relationship through three possible futures. Cambridge, 1958. Late for class, Eva Edelstein swerves to miss a dog and crashes her bike. Jim Taylor hurries to help her. In that brief moment, three outcomes are born for Eva and Jim. As the strands of their lives weave together and apart across the decades from college through wildly different successes and disappointments, seductions and betrayals, births and funerals, joys and sorrows, the only constant is the power of their connection. TheVersions of Us is a tour de force of storytelling. “Barnett renders an irresistible concept in sweet, cool prose — a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure book in which you don’t have to choose.” — Observer “One of the most engrossing novels either of us has read in years.” —Richard Madeley, Richard and Judy Book Club “I simply adored this wonderful novel.” — Jessie Burton, author of The Muse and The Miniaturist
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Despite my nose for dark humour and twisted tales, every now and again I just want a damn good love story. A proper one. I can’t bear sentimental smush, I want the real deal. Two people against the world, living and ideally dying for each other. I dissolved into this book, I loved it so much.
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

It's All Absolutely Fine

IT'S ALL ABSOLUTELY FINE is a darkly comic, honest and unapologetic account of daily struggles with mental health and what it's like trying to be a person when you feel like a potato. This book walks readers through the ups, downs and sideways of life, illuminating very real problems, all with Ruby's trademark originality and humour. It's an empowering book that will make you think, make you laugh, and make things that little bit more ok.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
I actually have this in my dressing room. It's called "It's All Absolutely Fine" by Ruby Elliot, and it is the most heartbreaking incredible book about depression and feelings of all sort. I absolutely loved it.
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Fleishman Is in Trouble

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD LONGLIST • “A feminist jeremiad nested inside a brilliant comic novel—a book that makes you laugh so hard you don’t notice till later that your eyebrows have been singed off.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE’S JOHN LEONARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST BOOK • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY AND THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • Time • The Washington Post • Vogue • NPR • Chicago Tribune • GQ • Vox • Elle • The Guardian • Real Simple • Parade • Good Housekeeping • Marie Claire • Town & Country • Kirkus Reviews • BookPage • BookRiot • Shelf Awareness A finely observed, timely exploration of marriage, divorce, and the bewildering dynamics of ambition from one of the most exciting writers working today Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost fifteen years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this. As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place. A searing, utterly unvarnished debut, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an insightful, unsettling, often hilarious exploration of a culture trying to navigate the fault lines of an institution that has proven to be worthy of our great wariness and our great hope.Alma’s Best Jewish Novel of the Year “Blisteringly funny, feverishly smart, heartbreaking, and true, Fleishman Is in Trouble is an essential read for anyone who’s wondered how to navigate loving (and hating) the people we choose.”—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest“From its opening pages, Fleishman Is in Trouble is shrewdly observed, brimming with wisdom, and utterly of this moment. Not until its explosive final pages are you fully aware of its cunning ferocity. Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s debut is that rare and delicious treat: a page-turner with heft.”—Maria Semple
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
What do you plan to read next? “Ghost Wall,” by Sarah Moss, and “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
Books from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Ghost Wall

A Southern Living Best New Book of Winter 2019; A Refinery29 Best Book of January 2019; A Most Anticipated Book of 2019 at The Week, Huffington Post, Nylon, and Lit Hub; An Indie Next Pick for January 2019“Ghost Wall has subtlety, wit, and the force of a rock to the head: an instant classic.” —Emma Donoghue, author of Room"A worthy match for 3 a.m. disquiet, a book that evoked existential dread, but contained it, beautifully, like a shipwreck in a bottle.” —Margaret Talbot, The New YorkerA taut, gripping tale of a young woman and an Iron Age reenactment trip that unearths frightening behaviorThe light blinds you; there’s a lot you miss by gathering at the fireside.In the north of England, far from the intrusions of cities but not far from civilization, Silvie and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons, surviving by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age.For two weeks, the length of her father’s vacation, they join an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. They are surrounded by forests of birch and rowan; they make stew from foraged roots and hunted rabbit. The students are fulfilling their coursework; Silvie’s father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. He has raised her on stories of early man, taken her to witness rare artifacts, recounted time and again their rituals and beliefs—particularly their sacrifices to the bog. Mixing with the students, Silvie begins to see, hear, and imagine another kind of life, one that might include going to university, traveling beyond England, choosing her own clothes and food, speaking her mind. The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders, rude barricades of stakes topped with ancestral skulls. When the group builds one of their own, they find a spiritual connection to the past. What comes next but human sacrifice? A story at once mythic and strikingly timely, Sarah Moss’s Ghost Wall urges us to wonder how far we have come from the “primitive minds” of our ancestors.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
What do you plan to read next? “Ghost Wall,” by Sarah Moss, and “Fleishman Is in Trouble,” by Taffy Brodesser-Akner.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Happy Valley

Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
When asked the writer she most looks up to in The Hollywood Reporter Full Comedy Showrunner Roundtable, she answered Sally Wainwright and recommended her show Happy Valley.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

This Country

The lives of cousins Kerry and Kurtan in the rural village of Cotswolds.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
In the Scriptnotes Live with Ryan Reynolds interview she mentioned watching This Country, a mockcumentary on BBC. I am watching it. Most episodes are not as funny at first but you’ll be laughing your heart out in the latter half.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Horace and Pete

The owners of a dive bar in Brooklyn, Horace and Pete, along with bar regulars share their experiences and lives with each other while drinking or working at the bar.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
His FX show Louie and his self-funded epic Horace and Pete are some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. There is an honesty about his work that burns… I can be laughing one moment and contemplating the human condition in a whole new way the next.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Louie

Louis C.K. stars as a fictionalized version of himself; a comedian and newly divorced father raising his two daughters in New York City.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
His FX show Louie and his self-funded epic Horace and Pete are some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. There is an honesty about his work that burns… I can be laughing one moment and contemplating the human condition in a whole new way the next. He’s the bollocks and I’d follow him anywhere.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Broad City

Broad City follows two women throughout their daily lives in New York City, making the smallest and mundane events hysterical and disturbing to watch all at the same time.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Abbi and Ilana from Broad City. I love that!
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Homecoming

Heidi Bergman is a caseworker at Homecoming, a Geist Group facility helping soldiers transition to civilian life. Years later she has started a new life, living with her mother and working as a waitress, when a Department of Defense auditor questions why she left the Homecoming facility. Heidi quickly realizes that there's a whole other story behind the story she's been telling herself.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
What's a show that you've binge-watched recently? - Homecoming.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Atlanta

Two cousins, with different views on art versus commerce, on their way up through the Atlanta rap scene; Earnest 'Earn' Marks, an ambitious college dropout and his estranged cousin, who suddenly becomes a star.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
I was so excited, because obviously Atlanta inspired me and I've been a fan of it since a long time ago.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Blackadder

Through four series and a few specials, Edmund Blackadder and his greasy sidekick Baldrick conjure up cunning plans as Edmund tries to take advantage of desperate times. These situation tragedies had obvious parallels from the Dark Ages to Elizabethan times, the rule of mad George III, and The Great War.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Yeah. And I guess Blackadder as well – that really kind of eccentric humour.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Young Ones

The Young Ones is a British sitcom, broadcast in Great Britain from 1982 to 1984 in two six-part series. Shown on BBC2, it featured anarchic, offbeat humour which helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers. In 1985, it was shown on MTV, one of the first non-music television shows on the fledgling channel.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
-They also showed The Young Ones in America, on MTV. - Oh, yeah, yeah. Which was also just... Mad.
TV Shows from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Gogglebox

Gogglebox is an entertaining television review programme in which some of Britain's most opinionated and avid telly viewers comment freely on the best and worst television shows of the past week, from the comfort of their sofas.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
It's genious.
Music from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Libertines

Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Their lyrics are poetry and the chemistry between them is like nothing I’ve seen before. I’m hooked. Everyone was going mental and the energy was so unique. It was especially cathartic for my brother-in-law, since his Pete-crush was more than validated.
Podcasts from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Guilty Feminist

Ever felt like you should be better at feminism? Join comedian Deborah Frances-White and her guests for this comedy podcast, recorded in front of a live audience. Each week they discuss topics "all 21 first century feminists agree on" while confessing their insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that underlie their lofty principles. Deborah Frances-White is the 2016 Writers' Guild Award Winner for Best Radio Comedy for her hit BBC Radio 4 series Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice. She is an Edinburgh Fringe regular, a screenwriter and is in huge demand for her corporate seminars.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Deborah Frances-White and Sofie Hagen are hilarious, irreverent, eternally surprising, classy as hell, genius comedians. They boldly discuss everything from the sublime to the ridiculous regarding the female experience, always have fascinating guests, don’t pull any punches and are screamingly funny.
Podcasts from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

The Guilty Feminist

Ever felt like you should be better at feminism? Join comedian Deborah Frances-White and her guests for this comedy podcast, recorded in front of a live audience. Each week they discuss topics "all 21 first century feminists agree on" while confessing their insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that underlie their lofty principles. Deborah Frances-White is the 2016 Writers' Guild Award Winner for Best Radio Comedy for her hit BBC Radio 4 series Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice. She is an Edinburgh Fringe regular, a screenwriter and is in huge demand for her corporate seminars.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Favorite podcast in the podcast pantheon? - "Guilt and Shame" and "Guilty Feminists."
Podcasts from Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Guilt and Shame - ON SOAP

Comedians Gabriel Bisset-Smith and Robert Cawsey are joined by award winning writer Vicky Jones to candidly discuss the topics we can all feel Guilt and Shame in. With the help of listeners stories and some special guests, this trio will leave no shameful stone unturned.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Actress, Director, Screenwriter
Favorite podcast in the podcast pantheon? - "Guilt and Shame" and "Guilty Feminists."