Posted on 08/17/2005 10:56:03 AM PDT by Republican Red
NEW YORK - A single, surprising phone call and it was over. That's how Pierce Brosnan says he learned that his services as James Bond would no longer be required.
"One phone call, that's all it took!" the 52-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly magazine in its Aug. 19 issue.
Brosnan starred in four Bond films. He says that before they stopped negotiations, the producers had invited him back for a fifth time.
"You know, the movie career for me really started with Bond," says Brosnan, acknowledging that by the time "GoldenEye" premiered in 1995, he was already 42.
He then starred as 007 in "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1997), "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) and "Die Another Day" (2002).
His departure from the role was a "titanic jolt to the system," says Brosnan, followed by "a great sense of calm."
"I thought. ... I can do anything I want to do now. I'm not beholden to them or anyone. I'm not shackled by some contracted image. So there was a sense of liberation."
Brosnan says he's grateful to have had the role, but adds: "It never felt real to me. I never felt I had complete ownership over Bond. Because you'd have these stupid one-liners — which I loathed — and I always felt phony doing them."
He plays a foulmouthed, skirt-chasing hit man in the upcoming film "The Matador."
"(For this) to come on the heels of my departure from the world of Bond is sweet grace, to play this one as a farewell to that chapter in time — it certainly wasn't planned."
I've been hearing for awhile, since the last flick, that Bosnan no longer wanted to do the Bond flicks. I saw him on an interview, maybe 2-3 months ago, where he was positive he was no longer going to do another Bond, and that he was absolutely glad that it was over.
Already posted: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1465130/posts
I do agree about Dalton tho, he was a weak second best to Sean Connery, nevertheless better than all the others.
I remember Ian Fleming was not happy with Connery at first but after seeing him in "Dr. No" he changed his mind.
Brosnan wasn't a bad Bond but by the time he came on the whole series had turned into nothing more than a real life cartoon. The scripts stopped even pretending to be plausible back in the early Moore days.
save
How about adding...oh, I don't know...some suspense, instead of really bad CGI effects.
there were 5, not 4.
you forget the oft forgotten George Lazemby, from "on her majesty's secret service" he did just the one movie.
oddly enough, the most often forgotten actor who played bond, is the only one who was actually english.
I always thought that Mel Gibson would have made a great Bond. I guess Mel is now too old to play Bond.
Didn't Peter Sellers (or was it David Niven?) play Bond in the quazi-comedy Casino Royale?
Yes but in the books Bond was actually Scottish like Sean Connery. Actually half Scottish and half Swiss.
What an ungrateful jerk. I remember when he was on Remington Steele and complaining that he should be picked as the next James Bond. He whined about that forever.
I thought it was Woody Allen who played "Jimmy Bond".
Nobody by Sean.
Clive Owen is supposedly the frontrunner.
I thought the same thing back in the 90s! He would have been the perfect age back then, but you're right, he's too old for the part now.
No, no, no. Clive Owen. He's not a pretty boy like Brosnan is, but is still very handsome and devonair.
Brosnan was clearly the second best Bond. Lazenby was a hunk of beef, Moore was a sneering elitist, and Dalton was colorless.
Connery, of course, was the best Bond. Probably always will be.
I though they were going with a female bond this time.
Halley Berry was mentioned a few times.
I love Clive Owen (have loved him since Gosford Park), but I think Mr. Parker is a little more patrician, an asset in the Bond role. But I could live with Clive if I had to.
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