Why Helena Shaw From Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny Looks So Familiar
The fifth and final installment of the "Indiana Jones" series, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," is creeping toward its release date of May 18, 2023. The upcoming film will see Harrison Ford return as the titular archaeologist and is joined by John Rhys-Davies who is reprising his role as Sallah, an old friend of Jones'.
Further, the film features a whole set of new cast members, including Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Jones, and Shaunette Renée Wilson. Finally, in one of the most pivotal new roles, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is playing Helena Shaw, the goddaughter of Jones. Director James Mangold described the Helena character to Entertainment Weekly, stating, "Helena's gotten herself in a bit of trouble, and brings [that] to Indy's doorstep. She's a character who's a wonderful set of contradictions — charming and brilliant, but also a lot of trouble."
As if Mangold's comment was clear enough, the "Indiana Jones the Dial of Destiny" trailer also makes it evident that Helena will play a significant part in the film opposite Indiana Jones. While watching the trailer, the thought may have also crossed your mind that Helena looks familiar — so, what else has Waller-Bridge been in?
Waller-Bridge starred in Season 2 of Broadchurch
Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been acting on screen since 2008, but her first major role came in 2015 when she starred in the second season of "Broadchurch." Season 1 of the British drama series follows Detective Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant) and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) as they investigate the murder of 11-year-old Danny Latimer (Oskar McNamara). Season 2 then sees the boy's killer, Ellie's husband Joe Miller (Matthew Gravelle), being brought to justice. Waller-Bridge plays Abby Thompson, a junior bishop working on Joe's defense council.
The actress spoke about being a part of the mystery series during an interview with Radio Times in January of 2016. She revealed that she loved being in on the secrets. Waller-Bridge said, "Being part of something like 'Broadchurch,' the buzz around it, and how people are desperate to know, was amazing. I was really serious about keeping secrets, I didn't even tell my mum my character's name."
And while she was expecting to become a lot more recognizable after her stint on "Broadchurch," that didn't exactly happen. "Quite a lot of people were like, 'oh my God are you ready [to be famous?'] and I was ready to walk out into the street thinking I'd have to buy a baseball cap," she said. "But not many people did recognize me. One woman came up to me on the street and said 'oh my God you're that b**** off the telly!' and I was like, 'yay that's me!'"
As fans of the actress know, the project that would make her ultra-famous came a few years later ...
Waller-Bridge created, wrote, and starred in Crashing
In 2016, Phoebe Waller-Bridge then took on the reins behind the camera as well with "Crashing," a British comedy series that she created and wrote. On top of writing every episode, Waller-Bridge also starred on the series. It follows six 20-somethings who live in a disused hospital as property guardians for cheap rent. Waller-Bridge plays Lulu, an old friend of one of the tenants, Anthony (Damien Molony), who moves to the hospital at the start of the show. From the start, there is clear sexual tension between Lulu and Anthony — despite the fact that Anthony is engaged to Kate (Louise Ford). The series also stars a pre-"Bridgerton" Jonathan Bailey (who also co-starred alongside Waller-Bridge in "Broadchurch" Season 2).
In a December 2015 interview with Channel 4, Waller-Bridge discussed all things "Crashing," including how similar she is to her character, Lulu. "The instinct to try and make everything fun is in both of us, and I recognise the time in my life when being cool and edgy was a priority," she said. "I failed disastrously because innately I'm a goofball." Beyond their similarities, the writer-actress said that Lulu presents many layers — including the fact that she isn't as happy as she appears at first glance. She said, "I think she is [happy] in the moment, but overall, no. If she stopped to think about her situation, she'd get very depressed. She's lonely and scared and wants to be taken seriously without having to grow up."
Waller-Bridge found mega success with Fleabag
In 2016, Phoebe Waller-Bridge created and wrote "Fleabag," which is based on her one-woman stage play of the same name. In "Fleabag," Waller-Bridge starred as the unnamed main character, a woman grieving her late best friend Boo (Jenny Rainsford), not being able to connect with her family, including her sister Claire (Sian Clifford), and struggling with self-loathing. Season 2 then sees Fleabag finding love when she falls for a priest (Andrew Scott). Notably, Fleabag breaks the fourth wall, giving commentary directly to the audience.
While Season 1 had its fans and critical acclaim, it was Season 2, which aired in 2019, of the series that skyrocketed Waller-Bridge to fame. The season was an absolute hit with critics, gaining a perfect Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes and leading to multiple Primetime Emmy wins for Waller-Bridge.
Waller-Bridge told Collider in 2019 that it took some time for her to come around to a good enough idea to pursue a second season of "Fleabag." After Season 1, she was working on "Killing Eve" (she worked as showrunner for the first season) and, during that time, she kept a notebook of ideas for another season of "Fleabag." Waller-Bridge continued, "I opened the notebook, and almost 70% of the ideas were about religion. I was like, 'This is strange.' ... And all of that energy collected together into this one character of The Priest, and Fleabag meeting a priest." Further, she knew that the priest would lead to seeing Fleabag open up in a different way than the audience had seen in the first season.
The writer-actress continued, "She couldn't hide from the audience ... because the audience now knows what her secret is. So, she had to open up in a different way, and that was challenging."
Waller-Bridge guest-starred in Run — which she also produced
The 2020 HBO series "Run," which was created by Vicky Jones (a longtime collaborator of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's), follows Ruby Richardson (Merritt Wever) and Billy Johnson (Domhnall Gleeson), who dated in college and, at one point, made a pact that if one of them texted the word "run" and the other responded with the same then they would drop everything to meet each other at Grand Central Terminal and travel across the country together. Waller-Bridge plays Laurel, a woman that they meet along the way who gives them a ride; later, Laurel talks to the police officer who is investigating the death of Billy's personal assistant Fiona (Archie Panjabi) — while they didn't kill Fiona, Billy and Ruby were indirectly involved in her death. Waller-Bridge appeared in the final three episodes of the series and acted as executive producer.
In an interview for HBO, Waller-Bridge and Jones explained how the premise of "Run" mirrors a pact that the two of them had made themselves. Waller-Bridge said, "As [Jones] was telling me the [premise], we were reminded of how we used to do this thing: whenever we were in an awkward situation, we would look at each other and the joke would just be one of would go [whispering], 'Run!' and if the other person went 'Run' back, we would run."
Waller-Bridge also described what she thinks makes the show so compelling, stating, "Every single word that passes between them is significant. Every hand touch, every way that they move past each other. That's what feels so electric about this show."