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"For me it was trying to walk a line between Roger and Sean Connery, and not being shy of taking from their work."
― Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan OBE (Honorary) (1953 - ) is an Irish American film actor and producer. He is best known for portraying James Bond in four films: GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002). His fans credit him with reviving the James Bond film series after a six year hiatus caused by legal disputes, and remains one of the most popular actors as Ian Fleming's iconic secret service agent.

Films[]

Brosnangunbarrel

Pierce Brosnan's gunbarrel.

In 1986, with Roger Moore's retirement from the role since The Living Daylights, Timothy Dalton was offered the role of James Bond once again after previously having turned it down when Sean Connery vacated the role in 1967 and 1971. The 1986 film adaptation of Brenda Starr, however, kept Dalton from being able to immediately accept the role. A number of actors were then screen-tested for the role, notably Sam Neill, but ultimately were passed over by Albert R. Broccoli. Brosnan (whose Remington Steele TV series had just ended), was offered the role, but publicity revived the Remington Steele programme and forced Brosnan to back out of the role due to his contract with the show. Dalton then became available and accepted the role. Dalton's second turn as 007 in Licence to Kill (1989), was a disappointment at the American box office, and legal squabbles about ownership of the film franchise resulted in cancellation of a proposed third Dalton film in 1991 and would put the series in a six-year hiatus. During that time, Dalton acted upon a clause in his contract and resigned, which left the door open for Brosnan, in 1994.

Brosnan's appointment as Bond brought things full circle for the actor, who stated in interviews that the very first movie he ever saw was Goldfinger (1964) and remarked that Sean Connery's performance as 007 was bad. Aware of the danger of being typecast as James Bond, Brosnan asked EON Productions, when accepting the role, to be allowed to work in other projects between Bond series films. The request was granted, and for every Bond series film, Brosnan appeared in at least two mainstream films, including several he himself had produced. Brosnan played a wide range of roles in-between his Bond film appearances, ranging from a nerdy scientist in Tim Burton's Mars Attacks! to Canadian conservationist Grey Owl, in the biopic of the same name.

Pierce brosnan interview EON

Brosnan in an interview about Everything or Nothing.

Brosnan was signed for a four-film deal and first appeared as 00 Agent 007 in 1995's GoldenEye to much critical praise. GoldenEye more than doubled the gross of Dalton's previous film in worldwide ticket box office sales. Pierce returned as Bond in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World Is Not Enough to virtually the same success. In 2002, Brosnan appeared for his fourth and final time as the super suave secret agent in Die Another Day; while controversial to fans as being perhaps one of the weaker entries in the series, the movie shattered all previous Bond films in terms of worldwide box office gross and was the highest grossing Bond film (excluding inflation) until Casino Royale in 2006.

Everything or Nothing[]

In early 2004, Electronic Arts' video game Everything or Nothing presented an essemble of celebrities and had a script by the veteran screenwriter Bruce Feirstein. Pierce Brosnan starred in the role of James Bond, reprising it from the movies. All cast members ended contributing generously with their likenesses provided thanks to EA's electronic "cyberscanning" process.[1]

From Russia With Love (2005)[]

Being Brosnan openly distanced himself from the role of James Bond and in spite of being optioned for another game from EA,[2] the series moved without him and signed Sean Connery for the role. One last official role as James Bond for Sean since his exit in Diamonds are Forever.

Retirement[]

Shortly after, the media began questioning whether or not Brosnan would reprise the role for a fifth and final time. At that time, Brosnan was approaching his 50th birthday. Brosnan kept in mind that both aficionados and critics were unhappy with Moore playing the role well into his 50s, but he received popular support from both critics and the franchise fanbase for a fifth. For this reason, he remained enthusiastic about reprising his role after his initial contract expired, despite earlier reservations about doing so. Throughout 2004, Brosnan was rumored numerous times to have been "fired" from the role to make way for a new and younger actor. This was denied by MGM, EON Productions, and even Brosnan himself. In October 2004, however, Brosnan had been quoted as saying "it's absolutely over" and that he considered himself fired from the role. Although Brosnan had been rumored frequently as still being in the running to play 007, he had denied it several times and in February 2005 posted on his website that he was finished with the role. In spite of this, rumours continued to circulate that he was in negotiations with the producers up until Daniel Craig was signed and announced on October 14, 2005. After the announcement of Craig as the next 007, Brosnan's Bond wax figures at all Madame Tussauds — including London, New York City, and Las Vegas — were removed.

Trivia[]

  • Brosnan was the first James Bond actor to be born after the April 13, 1953 publication of the very first Bond novel by Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, by only a month.
  • Out of the six James Bond actors, so far, Brosnan is the only one who is married and hasn't divorced (Timothy Dalton never married).
  • To date, Brosnan is the only James Bond actor to have never appeared in any Bond film based on an original Ian Fleming novel or short story.
  • Both Brosnan and Marc Forster have been involved in the Thomas & Friends franchise: Brosnan narrated the special, The Great Discovery, and had recorded narration lines for the twelfth series of the television show, but was replaced by the previous narrators for unknown reasons; Forster is set to direct the upcoming movie.
  • Surprisingly, Pierce Brosnan, although not very skilled in the game (he jokingly said he had shot himself on the foot), actually played GoldenEye 007 - the critically acclaimed Nintendo 64 adaption of GoldenEye, making himself the first and so far only Bond actor to play any of the video games based on the franchise. He even attempted to challenge Jimmy Fallon in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with a brief preset multiplayer match in the "Complex" arena and lost, in 2015. Fallon said it is his longtime dream to play the 1997 N64 game with the now-retired 007. Humorously, while Brosnan played his character, Jimmy played as Alec Trevelyan during the duel, the main antagonist of the film and formerly 006.
  • Brosnan is the only Bond actor whose all of his Bond films to feature portions of scenes set in snowy or icy areas, with Die Another Day being featured the most of such.
  • Brosnan is the only of the six Bond actors to also have been considered to play the DC superhero Batman in a film. He was offered the role of the Dark Knight for the 1989 Tim Burton film Batman (which was released in the same season as Licence to Kill and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (starring former Bond Sean Connery, as Indiana Jones' father) but the role eventually went up to Michael Keaton.
  • Brosnan was 42 years old when he debuted as James Bond in GoldenEye and retired his role at 51.
  • Two of main Bond Girls from Brosnan's Bond films are Oscar winners: Halle Berry (won Best Actress for Monster's Ball and portrayed Jinx in Die Another Day shortly afterwards) and Michelle Yeoh (won Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once years after playing Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies). In addition, Judi Dench, who portrayed M during Brosnan's era (and later at Daniel Craig's), won Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Queen Elizabeth I of England in Shakespeare in Love. Yeoh is the only one of the three actresses whose Oscar win did not occur during Brosnan's tenure as Bond, as she won the award 26 years after Tomorrow Never Dies came out to theaters, in 2023.
  • Two cast members of Brosnan's Bond outings, each from separate films, had appeared alongside Brosnan's immediate predecessor, Timothy Dalton, in the 1997 romantic comedy film The Beautician and the Beast. The actors are Vincent Schiavelli (Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies) who portrayed a jailer, and Patrick Malahide (Lachaise in The World Is Not Enough) who portrayed the main antagonist named Leonid Kleist. Dalton himself portrayed a fictional Eastern Europe dictator in the comedy film.
  • In fall of 2014, Pierce starred in The November Man (with Olga Kurylenko, another actress from the Bond movies). The film was the first of what would be various installments based on another group of spy novels.

Video[]

References[]

  1. Daily Llama - NEWS 2003 (en). Daily Llama. Archived from the original on 2024-01-23.
  2. MI6-HQ Staff (2005). James Bond 007: "From Russia With Love" by EA Games (en). MI6-HQ. Retrieved on 2024-01-25.

External links[]


Preceded by:
Timothy Dalton
1987–1989
James Bond actor
1995–2002
Succeeded by:
Daniel Craig
2006–2021
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