Critics’ Choice Awards 2020: Phoebe Waller-Bridge says Jennifer Lopez was her Fleabag muse

Phoebe Waller-Bridge mixed things up as only she can, as the Fleabag creator accepted two wins for best comedy at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards in LA last night.

If there’s one problem with Hollywood award shows, it’s that they have a tendency to take themselves a bit too seriously. 

However, there’s no such chance when you have talent like Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the room. 

The Fleabag creator was deliciously offbeat and irreverent as she collected the award for best comedy series at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards last night.

Rather than reaching for tears and hyperbole in her acceptance speech, Waller-Bridge revealed a somewhat leftfield source of inspiration for Fleabag. 

The writer says she was fuelled by the music of Jennifer Lopez – who was in attendance at the awards – as part of creating her on-screen crush, aka season two’s sexy priest (played by Andrew Scott).

“This is a bit of a random shout-out, but you have no idea how much you can accidentally inspire people just by doing your work,” Waller-Bridge said. “Somebody who inspires this show in a way they will never know and that is J.Lo. I decided that the priest’s favorite song was Jenny From the Block and it opens the entire character up for me, so I don’t know where she is, but that’s really genuine, so thank you.” 

Waller-Bridge also scooped the prize for best actress in a comedy series at the Critics’ Choice Awards (seeing off competition from the likes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan in the process); and her speech for that honour was no less out-there.

“Honestly, if I ever imagined in a million years that I’d be standing up here getting things like this for writing a character that literally looks at the camera and says, ‘f*** me up the ass’ all the time, I wouldn’t believe it,” she said, in a frank outburst that had live producers grappling for the bleep button.

“So thank you for getting behind that,” she added, to a crowd in uproar.

Waller-Bridge has form when it comes to mixing in a bit of filth with her acceptance speeches.

Last week at the Golden Globes, the writer gave a shout-out to former president Barack Obama as she picked up an award on-stage. 

In a twist that fiction could not have written better, Obama himself recently picked out Fleabag as one of his must-watch shows of 2019. Granted, it was season two of the hit BBC show, rather than season one – which features the notorious scene in which Fleabag masterbates while watching Obama talk about national security on TV.

But still, Waller-Bridge could not resist a naughty joke. In her speech to a packed audience of A-Listers at the ceremony, the Fleabag writer and star said: “Personally I’d also like to thank Obama for putting us on his list.

“As some of you may know, he’s always been on mine,” she quipped.

Waller-Bridge’s co-star Andrew Scott also went home with the award for best supporting actor in a comedy series at the Critics’ Choice Awards last night, making it a triumphant evening indeed for the Fleabag cast.

Now, if only all acceptance speeches could be as risqué as these, we’d be tuning in every time. She may be a fairly new addition to Hollywood, but Waller-Bridge has already shown she’s not afraid to shake things up.

Images: Getty

Source: Read Full Article