Take a chance on me
Interview | John Millar Pierce Brosnan surrendered the role of James Bond but came out fighting. But who could have guessed that his new creative outlet would be singing Abba songs? voyager met the actor as he awaited this month’s movie release of Mamma Mia! PIERCE BROSNAN IS in the process of reinventing himself, with [...]
Interview | John Millar
Pierce Brosnan surrendered the role of James Bond but came
out fighting. But who could have guessed that his new creative
outlet would be singing Abba songs? voyager met the actor
as he awaited this month’s movie release of Mamma Mia!
alt="Actor Pierce Brosnan says it’s his stamina which has led him to survive the ‘warfare’ of Hollywood">
PIERCE BROSNAN IS in the process of
reinventing himself, with a little help from
Abba. He can’t be who he used to be any
more – “The name is Bond; James Bond” –
and the way he tells it, maybe Brosnan was
never quite who the public thought he was.
“I was getting away with looking like Mr
Sleek and Mr Suave and it paid the rent for
a while and it was good,” he admits frankly. But for someone
who has been confused in the public eye with his character of
a super-smooth international super-spy, he seems more of a
gentle character whose life has been touched by tragedy.
It was in the 1980s that as a relatively unknown actor
Brosnan first tasted international success, as the eponymous
star of television’s Remington Steele, a slick private detective
which saw him being compared to Roger Moore, foreshadowing
his future. The Bond movie franchise was in danger of becoming
stagnant until the elegant Irishman took on the iconic role.
With the blockbusters Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never
Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another
Day (2002), he injected new life into the 007 brand.
alt="On a mission as Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies">
And since the mantle of Bond was passed to Daniel Craig
with Casino Royale (2006), Brosnan, 55, has also proved there
is life beyond the high-octane world of the big screen’s best
known secret agent by reminding us of his versatility as an
actor. His diverse – if less high-profile – new roles have ranged
from a hit-man in the black comedy The Matador (2005) to
a haunted and hunted remnant of the American Civil War in
Seraphim Falls (2006).
Even those who were aware of Brosnan’s talents must
have been surprised by the revelation that he was to tackle
some of the greatest pop songs in Mamma Mia!, the movie
adaptation of the stage musical incorporating the songs of
Abba. It first hit London’s West End almost a decade ago
– conceived as a showcase for the enduringly popular Abba
back catalogue – and has been a global hit.
While Abba fan Brosnan and his family had been to see it
on the stage, could he actually sing its numbers for a movie
version? The public will find out this month when it hits
cinemas, with Brosnan playing Sam Carmichael, one of three
men who might be the father of the main character, teenage
bride-to-be Sophie (Amanda Seyfried).
Brosnan had warbled some Irish melodies in the tender
family drama Evelyn (2002), and his drama school grounding
ensured that he had always believed that he could play lots of
different characters. But Mamma Mia! is the first time on screen
that the actor has really burst into song to deliver pop classics.
alt="in The Thomas Crown Affair">
In the course of filming, Brosnan found himself in the studio
to sing with Abba stars Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson.
“They couldn’t have been more gracious and welcoming,” he
remembers. “They are charming, beautiful guys.” It was made
easier by the fact that the other members of the all-star cast
of Mamma Mia! – which includes Oscar legend Meryl Streep,
British national treasure Julie Walters, posh heartthrob Colin
Firth and Good Will Hunting star Stellan Skarsgård – were not
exactly renowned for their singing prowess either. “It helped
enormously with my fear and anxiety when I looked over at
Colin and Stellan and saw them looking terrified,” says Brosnan.
“We were like deer in the headlights – three thespians about
to sing Abba.” Something that made it a little more familiar for
Brosnan was that scenes were shot on the same giant sound
stage at Pinewood Studios that had been used for 007.
alt="as Remington Steele with co-star Stephanie Zimbalist playing Laura Holt in the 1980s’ series">
The songs that Brosnan performs in Mamma Mia! include
When All Is Said And Done and S.O.S., which he shares with
Meryl Streep. These are numbers which obviously mean a lot
to Abba’s hordes of fans and which Brosnan reckons will have
terrific power on the movie screen.
“The song When All Is Said And Done is from the album The
Visitors, which some people consider Abba’s greatest album.
It’s when they were kind of splitting up and their lives were
going in different directions,” he explains of the Swedish
quartet’s final 1981 release. “So the song has words that are
very powerful and meaningful.”
If he had any doubts about becoming involved in this movie
musical, they were kicked into touch from the moment that
Brosnan knew he would be working with Meryl Streep. While
she is more famous for her roles in darker films such as The Deer
Hunter (1978), (though recently her appearance in the fashion
black comedy The Devil Wears Prada also won her plaudits),
Brosnan was bowled over by her performance in the musical.
“Seeing Meryl Streep and hearing her sing The Winner Takes
It All will never, never be forgotten,” he insists.
If Brosnan doesn’t seem embarrassed at switching from
having a licence to kill to having a licence to sing pop, it’s
because, quite simply, he isn’t. The sort of things that really
made him blush were topping the glossy magazine lists of
‘Sexiest Man Alive’ or ‘Most Beautiful People In The World’
when he was Bond. That said, he admits to working hard at
maintaining his appearance: “I try to live a fairly clean life.
I do yoga. I ride the bike, I do weights and swim. I do
whatever it takes. So I work at staying in shape: that’s the
bottom line. I do it for my job. It’s what my profession is
about. Anyone who is worth his or her salt as an actor
should try and keep some discipline.”
alt="In Die Another Day, Brosnan’s fourth and final outing as 007, with Halle Berry">
This October will see the release of the new Bond movie,
Quantum Of Solace, the second with younger actor Daniel Craig
as the hero. As has been well documented, Bond’s producers
decided to drop Brosnan for Craig, who made his debut as 007
about 18 months ago. Press coverage at the time he lost the
Bond crown would have it that Brosnan was dismayed, even
angry. Perhaps unsurprisingly he says he’s philosophical: the
chapter ended and it was time to move on. “I wish Daniel Craig
the greatest happiness and success,” he insists, attempting to
draw a line under the rumours. “He is a wonderful actor.”
If it is without bitterness or rancour when Brosnan refers
to the end of his Bond era that is because he is someone
who knows that there are much more important things in
life than movies. He has had to come to terms with some of
the cruellest elements of the human condition. Brosnan has
known the real tragedy of losing a much-loved partner, when
Cassandra Harris, his actress wife of 11 years, died of cancer
in 1991. Brosnan describes Cassie, as he called her, as “forever
embedded in every fibre of my being”.
Eventually, Brosnan was fortunate enough to find love again
with American journalist and TV presenter Keely Shaye Smith
with whom he will celebrate a seventh wedding anniversary
this August. He and his second wife live in Malibu with their
two sons, seven-year-old Paris and Dylan, 11. The other
members of the family are Sean, now 24, the son he had
with Cassandra; and the children from Cassandra’s first
marriage, whom he adopted, Chris, 35, whose hard partying
has been known to make headlines, and Charlotte, 37.
alt="As a boyhood fan of westerns, the actor relished his role in Seraphim Falls">
“I am a hands-on dad,” he says, adding that he took his turn
at nappy changing and stressing that his family is the essence
of his life. He doesn’t comment on the trouble his step-son
Chris has occasionally been in with the law. “I love all my
children equally,” is his preferred answer to the question.
Irish-born Brosnan, from Navan, County Meath, has spent
most of his working life based in the USA and is refreshingly
enthusiastic about how much he loves Hollywood and what
it has done for him. “It’s a crazy old town. You have to know
where you are with it and take it all with a pinch of salt. But
I will be forever grateful to Hollywood for my career. It was
going slowly nowhere in England. I had dreams and aspirations
of doing movies and then I had the good fortune of coming
here and getting a job on Remington Steele.”
During the Bond years Brosnan was anxious to spread his
net into other film projects, such as Mars Attacks! (1996), The
Thomas Crown Affair (1999) and The Tailor Of Panama (2001),
and he has continued to ring the changes and spring a few
surprises with each film that has grabbed his imagination.
Some of these films have also harkened back to his childhood
fantasies. For instance, saddling up with fellow Irish actor Liam
Neeson for Seraphim Falls was a dream come true because it
reawakened memories of marvelling at movie westerns.
“There are murky memories of black and white movies at
the Palace Cinema in Navan,” he says. “But I suppose it was
Clint Eastwood in The Man With No Name, A Fistful Of Dollars,
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly that had the biggest wallop
for me as a cinema-goer.”
He wishes he had plunged into more demanding, grittier
roles, like those he had in The Matador and Seraphim Falls, a bit
earlier in his career. “I should have challenged myself sooner. There
has always been that nagging question of when was I going to find
some dramas and good comedies and darker pieces.”
alt="Brosnan and Meryl Streep duet on S.O.S. in Mamma Mia! the movie">
Apart from being allowed to spread his wings as a big-screen
star, Brosnan has also been made some intriguing theatre offers.
But right now that appears to be just a touch too daunting.
“I don’t know about going back to the stage,” he says. “I’ve
been invited a few times in Dublin, but it’s a bit scary.”
What is certain, however, is that Brosnan – who has his own
production company, Irish DreamTime – retains the desire and
energy for his screen craft. “I’m still passionate about it,” he says.
“You have to have stamina if you are going to play this game
and you are going to stay at it. If there is anything to tell a young
actor it is keep your stamina going – emotionally, spiritually,
psychologically, physically – because it is warfare out there.”
