has joined the list of Oscar-winning songwriters as he beat to win best original song at the 94th Academy Awards.
The No Time To Die hitmaker and her brother Finneas O’Connell outing despite a stacked shortlist including Beyonce’s Be Alive from King Richard, ’s Encanto hit Dos Oruguitas, Van Morrison’s track Down to Joy from Belfast, and Diane Warren’s Somehow You Do from Four Good Days.
Billie admitted it felt ‘insane’ to be joining the list of musicians who had made history as part of the Bond franchise, and she had wanted to make Craig happy ‘most of all’ while being keen not to ‘disrespect the franchise in any way’.
‘I really wanted to pay my respects to every aspect of Bond and I’m from the US, I’m American and I didn’t want to take away from anything,’ she told the PA news agency, speaking from the Oscars-winners’ interview room.
‘It’s so incredible to be in the list of people that have created Bond songs, it’s so, so insane and I don’t really know how to process it.’
On Craig, she said: ‘He’s the sweetest man alive and just really wanted him to love it, I wanted him to feel like it represented his years and his last film. I wanted him to be happy most of all, he’s James Bond.’
She added: ‘I really didn’t want to disrespect the franchise in any way.’
The pop-megastar said the process had been ‘exhilarating’ and the pair – who performed their track during Sunday night’s ceremony – had put ‘so much pressure’ on themselves to make the song ‘perfect’.
‘It’s been such a big part of our lives for so long, that we were involved at all was unbelievable,’ she said.
‘It was very exhilarating and also scary and we had so much pressure put on ourselves, we put it on ourselves. We just wanted it to be perfect.’
O’Connell added: ‘It was really important for us that it sounded like a Billie Eilish song and a James Bond song at the same time and not one or the other.’
Eilish, 20, added that she was ‘thrilled’ to have grown up and appreciate “the greatness around’ her.
‘When you’re that young it’s hard to understand how big of a deal things are and how important things are,’ she said. ‘You meet a kid…and [I’m] like “They have no idea how cool this is.”
‘I’m so thrilled that growing up has taught me to just be more aware of the greatness around me.’
Oscars 2022 winners
Best Picture
CODA
Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Actor in a Leading Role
Will Smith - King Richard
Actress in a Supporting Role
Ariana DeBose - West Side Story
Actor in a Supporting Role
Troy Kotsur - Coda
Directing
Jane Campion - The Power of the Dog
Music (Original Song)
No Time To Die from No Time to Die - Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Documentary Feature
Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
CODA - Siân Heder
Writing (Original Screenplay)
Belfast - Sir Kenneth Branagh
Costume Design
Cruella - Jenny Beavan
International Feature Film
Drive My Car (Japan)
Animated Feature Film
Encanto
Visual Effects
Dune - Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
Cinematography
Dune - Greig Fraser
Makeup and Hairstyling
The Eyes of Tammy Faye - Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
Production Design
Dune - Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
Film Editing
Dune - Joe Walker
Music (Original Score)
Dune - Hans Zimmer
Live Action Short Film
The Long Goodbye - Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
Animated Short Film
The Windshield Wiper - Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Documentary Short Subject
The Queen of Basketball - Ben Proudfoot
Best Sound
Dune - Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett