Finneas O'Connell says he 'picked the brain' of Sam Smith and other Bond songwriters before penning the Oscar-winning track

• Finneas O'Connell said he "pick[ed] the brains" of previous James Bond theme songwriters before penning the Oscar-winning "No Time to Die."
• O'Connell said he spoke with both Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes about the songwriting process.

Finneas O'Connell says that he spoke with some previous James Bond songwriters before penning "No Time to Die," the Oscar-winning track performed by his sister, Billie Eilish.

"No Time to Die" marked the third Bond song to win a Best Original Song Academy Award.

Following the win, O'Connell and Eilish were asked by reporters if they had spoken with previous Bond songwriters, like Sam Smith or Adele, before writing the tune.

O'Connell told reporters he "pick[ed] their brains" about writing for James Bond films.

"I talked to Jimmy Napes and Sam [Smith], both, when we were hoping that we would be given the opportunity to write a James Bond theme," O'Connell said.

"I just asked what the process was like because I was — again, it was such an ambition of ours," he said.

He continued: "It was really just, like, picking their brains about it. And it was really interesting to hear their take on it, and they were very encouraging and gave really good advice, which was basically just to make a song that we are really proud of."