Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh are Hollywood's power couple
How Brits Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh are fast becoming Hollywood’s hottest power couple who have 16 film awards between them
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh have earned 16 major awards
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Amid the glitz and glamour of the movie industry’s awards season this year a clear favourite appears to be emerging as the winner of the hottest power couple in Hollywood.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh have already amassed an unprecedented collection of 16 major awards between them during their careers.
Phoebe, 37, famously posed with a margarita in one hand and a cigarette in the other as she reclined on a sun lounger surrounded by accolades in 2019.
She was hailed Queen of the Emmys after landing three honours – lead actress in a comedy series, writing for a comedy series and outstanding comedy series – scooping all of them for her work on series two of BBC sitcom Fleabag.
The Killing Eve creator and writer has since gone on to take Hollywood by storm – working on the screenplay of the James Bond film No Time to Die and starring alongside Harrison Ford in the upcoming fifth instalment of the Indiana Jones film series.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh have already amassed an unprecedented collection of 16 major awards between them during their careers
Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Martin McDonagh have become Hollywood’s hottest power couple and have been together since 2018
Martin’s latest movie The Banshees of Inisherin has been nominated for nine Oscars and landed three Golden Globes – including two for him – last month
This year it’s Martin’s turn to bask in the limelight. His latest movie The Banshees of Inisherin has been nominated for nine Oscars – including three for McDonagh for best picture, best director and best original screenplay.
The darkly comic movie – which is set in rural Ireland and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson – has already landed three Golden Globes and the couple, both dressed in black, appeared alongside each other at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles last month.
The film will be up for a further 10 awards at the 2023 Baftas in London in two weeks time before the couple head back to the US for the Oscars next month.
When in LA the couple are known to have stayed at the legendary Chateau Mormont during their fated visits to tinseltown.
The screenwriter accepted a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay from Hilary Swank (right) in Los Angeles in January
The cast of The Banshees Of Inisherin celebrate their success at the Golden Globes in January this year
The film is not the first time Colin Farrell (left) and Martin McDonagh have worked together as they also collaborated on In Bruges
Staring Colin Farrell (left) and Barry Keoghan (right), the film starts as a light-hearted comedy before becoming more dramatic
The film follows the tempestuous relationship of two former best friends after one decides that he needs to devote his life to more interesting and worthy pursuits
The cast of The Banshees of Inisherin pose for a picture on Instagram following screenings in Venice and Toronto
Originally a discreet hideaway the iconic Sunset Boulevard hotel, which has never been far from controversy, has become famed for its decadent Oscar after parties.
Yet away from the spotlight it seems the couple, who live quietly in London, are determined to remain as low key as possible.
Phoebe doesn’t have an online presence and once told how she shied away from social media as she ‘would feel pressure to be funny the whole time’.
Martin is on Instagram but he hasn’t apparently posted anything on it for more than four years. He follows just 17 people including actor Woody Harrelson and legendary director Martin Scorsese.
Phoebe doesn’t have an online presence and once told how she shied away from social media as she ‘would feel pressure to be funny’
The couple’s relationship appears to be going from strength to strength despite their busy schedules which reportedly led to them spending lockdown apart
The couple have amassed an impressive 16 major awards during their careers, not including awards Martin has won for theatre productions
Phoebe, 37, famously posed with a margarita in one hand and a cigarette in the other as she reclined on a sun lounger surrounded by accolades in 2019
In one interview with BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Phoebe told how she helped deal with her fame by being as uninteresting as possible.
She insisted that her work is just ‘like any other job’ and that she wants to be known for that, rather than her personality.
Phoebe said: ‘I think when people realise you are as boring as the rest of us they kind of lose interest.
‘I have always had an instinct about that. Keep what’s really precious to you as close to you as you can and try and make the work more interesting than your life to people.’
Martin, who is 15 years older than Phoebe at 52, certainly gave little away in a rare interview ahead of the release of The Banshees of Inisherin.
The following January the union became official when they posed for photos at the 2018 Golden Globes and exchanged a kiss when his film won best screenplay
Phoebe – who has declared herself to be ‘a hopeless romantic’ – has also dodged questions about being one half of the couple everyone in Hollywood is talking about
They became an item after the collapse of Phoebe’s marriage to Conor Woodman, an Irish-English author and documentary film maker who is 11 years her senior
The couple began dating in late 2017, They were seen together for the first time at a screening of Martin’s then Oscar-nominated film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Describing his home life he said he was good at ‘pasta, punctuality and… I’m not great at cleaning… I’m going to say pasta again’.
He added: ‘I can do a smoothie. I can’t do anything electrical. I can’t drive. When I’m at home I’m just very quiet. I listen to music, it’s always a bit of guitary, good lyrics, sort of singer-songwriter stuff.’
He said he ‘loves’ The Felice Brothers, a little known American folk band from New York.
Martin revealed that when he finishes a film he goes on holiday, and also likes to head off on weekend breaks to the Lake District and Scotland when he’s at home.
He said: ‘I love being on a train with a notepad, looking out of the window.’
He revealed himself to be a vegetarian and an animal lover but was less forthcoming about his relationship, simply saying: ‘No comment, but thumbs up on my love life, thanks for asking.’
Phoebe – who has declared herself to be ‘a hopeless romantic’ – has also dodged questions about being one half of the couple everyone in Hollywood is talking about.
In an interview with Vogue in 2019 she would only say: ‘I’m much braver in my writing life.’
The couple began dating in late 2017, They were seen together for the first time at a screening of Martin’s then Oscar-nominated film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Before making his name in the movie world, Martin had been known for his jarring stage plays that deal with disturbing subjects and blend violence with humour
Martin had a five-year romance with Italian film producer Malina DeCarlo, who lived with him in Wapping, East London
The following January the union became official when they posed for photos at the 2018 Golden Globes and exchanged a kiss when his film won best screenplay.
They became an item after the collapse of Phoebe’s marriage to Conor Woodman, an Irish-English author and documentary film maker who is 11 years her senior.
The couple had married at a lavish wedding in a French chateau in 2014.
Meanwhile Martin had a five-year romance with Italian film producer Malina DeCarlo, who lived with him in Wapping, East London. They owned a dog together.
Before making his name in the movie world, Martin had been known for his jarring stage plays that deal with disturbing subjects and blend violence with humour.
And long before they had got together Phoebe revealed herself to be a fan and spoke of the impact his play The Pillowman had on her.
The writer has also won awards – including three Olivier awards – for theatre writing, which he often bases on Ireland
His film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, about a mother’s desperate fight for justice for her daughter, won five BAFTAs
Pictured filming scenes with France McDormand, who starred in his film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Martin became a huge success in the theatre world after writing seven plays in 10 months in 1994 aged 24
She told an interviewer: ‘It was the first play I saw that made me think theatre can be really exciting.
‘Sometimes you need to see something like that – a piece of work that wakes you up, that makes you go, “Yes, of course, that can be done,” and gives your imagination permission to go 17 million other places. I felt like that about his work.’
While the couple may be creative soulmates who share similar styles in their work, they come from very different backgrounds.
Phoebe, who was born in London in July 1985, comes from aristocracy.
Her maternal grandfather was Eton and Cambridge-educated Sir John Edward Longueville Clerke, 12th Baronet, and on her father’s side she is a descendant of Conservative MP The Rev. Sir Egerton Leigh, 2nd Baronet.
She grew up in a £2.3 million home in Ealing, West London with her father Michael, a retired millionaire City worker and mother Theresa.
Her younger brother, Jasper, is a music manager while sister Isobel is a composer who works in film and TV.
She went to a private Catholic school in Ealing, and then turned down a place at Trinity College Dublin to go to Rada, where she was in the same year as actor Tom Hiddleston.
Phoebe has told how she didn’t enjoy the experience, coming out with the feeling that she was an ‘appalling actress’ – and she struggled for work.
Martin, meanwhile, has told how he hopes to make movies for ‘around 25 years’ and is already developing a new project
In Bruges was Martin’s feature-length film debut and featured an inept assassin who ends up in the Belgian city following a botched attack
The film also brought together the comic pair Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as a hitman and his mentor
That led her to start writing parts for herself – and the rest is history.
Martin was also born in London. His parents, John and Mary, had moved to the capital from Ireland to find work.
His father was a builder while his mother was a cleaner and part time housekeeper.
They have since returned to Ireland and Martin told how he stayed at their home during weekends while making The Banshee of Inisherin.
He has a brother John who is also a successful screenwriter and director. The family lived on an estate in Elephant and Castle before moving to a terraced house in Camberwell, but spent summers with relatives in Ireland.
Describing how he gave up work to try his hand at writing Martin once said: ‘I didn’t have any big plan. I just knew I had to try something. I remember, as a teenager, going home on a bus knowing that I was probably going to end up in a s****y job with some s****y boss telling me what to do and I had the Clash song Clampdown playing in my head.
‘All the desperation and anger I had about my situation were reflected in those lyrics. It was Joe Strummer, God bless him, who inspired that anger – but also a love of poetic rage.’
He became a huge success in the theatre world after writing seven plays in 10 months in 1994 aged 24.
From being a complete unknown – having left school at 16 and working in the civil service for five years – in 1997 he became the first person since William Shakespeare to have four plays running simultaneously in London.
Even as a novice in the industry there were moments of controversy.
In 1997 Martin became the first person since William Shakespeare to have four plays running simultaneously in London
He moved into film and decided to head in a new direction after winning an Oscar in 2006 with his first venture – the short film Six Shooter
At the Evening Standard awards in 1996, where he was named most promising newcomer, he refused to join a toast to the Queen
At the Evening Standard awards in 1996, where he was named most promising newcomer, he refused to join a toast to the Queen and told actor Sean Connery to ‘**** off’ when Connery demanded he stop heckling. He later chuckled that he was being a ‘drunken eejit’.
He moved into film and decided to head in a new direction after winning an Oscar in 2006 with his first venture – the short film Six Shooter.
He followed that with the acclaimed In Bruges which also starred Farrell and Gleeson.
The couple’s relationship appears to be going from strength to strength despite their busy schedules which reportedly led to them spending lockdown apart.
As well as her acting roles, Phoebe is working on her first project for Amazon which is reported to be a TV series based on the Tomb Raider video game.
It is part of a £16 million a year deal over three years to produce content for their Prime streaming service.
Martin, meanwhile, has told how he hopes to make movies for ‘around 25 years’ and is already developing a new project.
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