Post by Ace on Feb 1, 2006 21:29:52 GMT -5
Brosnan recalls time with Taylor
Liz Smith
Jan 27, 2006
PIERCE BROSNAN began his movie life, as he puts it: "As a male ingenue opposite Elizabeth Taylor!" The movie was 1980's hilarious "The Mirror Crack'd." Pierce played a wordless bit in the film's movie-within-a-movie (Miz Liz, as the loony actress, was in costume as Mary Queen of Scots; he was her lover.) He laconically remembers, "She was very gracious. We spent the day in a big four-poster bed. She told me about her bad back. And funnily enough I was late that day - my first day on a movie set!" He sums up, "Oh, it's just a capsule in time."
Brosnan moved from this bit to TV stardom as "Remington Steele" and then on to movie superstardom as James Bond. He has also done some excellent big-screen, non-Bond work - his "Evelyn" of 2002 jumps immediately to mind. But this star isn't one for a lot of elaborate chat. Calling from Malibu the other day, after hours of meetings and reading an upcoming script, he is polite and to the point. He doesn't suffer flattery. Try talking to him about his current highly praised "The Matador." In this he plays against type, without a shred of vanity, a drunken, pathetically insecure hit man, who hooks up with a troubled business exec (the excellent Greg Kinnear.)
Brosnan isn't self-indulgent about the acting process. He'll credit his director, the script, his co-stars, (about Kinnear, he is unusually effusive), and Hope Davis (she does a very funny turn as Kinnear's gun-fascinated wife.) "A lucky thing, yes," he says of this one. "I think Richard Shepard, the director and writer, conceived it as a plot-heavy stream of consciousness bit of business that might never be made. He was surprised when I showed interest. And I think he was surprised it turned out to be so amusing. You can't take something like this too seriously. It's tongue in cheek, though the men in the film are desperate characters."
When we praise one early moment in the movie where he looks longingly at a martini - displaying an open hunger the suave 007 would never show - Brosnan says flatly, "Well, he was an alcoholic. That scene was devised by others, though I knew the impact of the moment as it might appear on screen. Enough said, you know."
I ask, is this a deliberate deconstruction of James Bond? "I don't see it that way. I don't think of my work that way. I go from film to film, and approach each for its own merit. I hope for the best, as we all do. The James Bond years were marvelous but only part of what has been a long career. The Bond phase is over now. It was just another job, you know." He used this same phrase when we spoke of the possible career-changing effects of "The Matador." Even over the phone, he conveys a casual shrug. (But never say never, I say. Sean Connery came back several times!) And what of the new 007, Daniel Craig? "Why, he is already an accomplished actor and I wish him many years of Bond. He'll be marvelous." There is not the slightest trace of regret, envy or bitterness. Mr. Brosnan has moved on.
The star ready to return to reading his script of the moment - "a dark Irish drama. After 'Evelyn,' I don't know that I want to go there again." He has at least three films in the works - "Seraphim Falls" "Butterfly on a Wheel" and "The Topkapi Affair." Wow, quite a schedule, I say. "Yes," replies the actor, "Work has always been there."
Before we hang up, Brosnan shows his one real moment of interest. With lazy amusement he says, "Now, what are you going to do with all this verbiage? Is it really interesting?" I assure him it is.
Some actors "act" all the time. Publicity is an extension of their life in front of the camera. Brosnan turns it off when the arc lights dim and cool. He lets his work speak. In "The Matador" it shouts. This is the performance of his career. But don't tell that to Pierce Brosnan. It's just another job.
Liz Smith
Jan 27, 2006
PIERCE BROSNAN began his movie life, as he puts it: "As a male ingenue opposite Elizabeth Taylor!" The movie was 1980's hilarious "The Mirror Crack'd." Pierce played a wordless bit in the film's movie-within-a-movie (Miz Liz, as the loony actress, was in costume as Mary Queen of Scots; he was her lover.) He laconically remembers, "She was very gracious. We spent the day in a big four-poster bed. She told me about her bad back. And funnily enough I was late that day - my first day on a movie set!" He sums up, "Oh, it's just a capsule in time."
Brosnan moved from this bit to TV stardom as "Remington Steele" and then on to movie superstardom as James Bond. He has also done some excellent big-screen, non-Bond work - his "Evelyn" of 2002 jumps immediately to mind. But this star isn't one for a lot of elaborate chat. Calling from Malibu the other day, after hours of meetings and reading an upcoming script, he is polite and to the point. He doesn't suffer flattery. Try talking to him about his current highly praised "The Matador." In this he plays against type, without a shred of vanity, a drunken, pathetically insecure hit man, who hooks up with a troubled business exec (the excellent Greg Kinnear.)
Brosnan isn't self-indulgent about the acting process. He'll credit his director, the script, his co-stars, (about Kinnear, he is unusually effusive), and Hope Davis (she does a very funny turn as Kinnear's gun-fascinated wife.) "A lucky thing, yes," he says of this one. "I think Richard Shepard, the director and writer, conceived it as a plot-heavy stream of consciousness bit of business that might never be made. He was surprised when I showed interest. And I think he was surprised it turned out to be so amusing. You can't take something like this too seriously. It's tongue in cheek, though the men in the film are desperate characters."
When we praise one early moment in the movie where he looks longingly at a martini - displaying an open hunger the suave 007 would never show - Brosnan says flatly, "Well, he was an alcoholic. That scene was devised by others, though I knew the impact of the moment as it might appear on screen. Enough said, you know."
I ask, is this a deliberate deconstruction of James Bond? "I don't see it that way. I don't think of my work that way. I go from film to film, and approach each for its own merit. I hope for the best, as we all do. The James Bond years were marvelous but only part of what has been a long career. The Bond phase is over now. It was just another job, you know." He used this same phrase when we spoke of the possible career-changing effects of "The Matador." Even over the phone, he conveys a casual shrug. (But never say never, I say. Sean Connery came back several times!) And what of the new 007, Daniel Craig? "Why, he is already an accomplished actor and I wish him many years of Bond. He'll be marvelous." There is not the slightest trace of regret, envy or bitterness. Mr. Brosnan has moved on.
The star ready to return to reading his script of the moment - "a dark Irish drama. After 'Evelyn,' I don't know that I want to go there again." He has at least three films in the works - "Seraphim Falls" "Butterfly on a Wheel" and "The Topkapi Affair." Wow, quite a schedule, I say. "Yes," replies the actor, "Work has always been there."
Before we hang up, Brosnan shows his one real moment of interest. With lazy amusement he says, "Now, what are you going to do with all this verbiage? Is it really interesting?" I assure him it is.
Some actors "act" all the time. Publicity is an extension of their life in front of the camera. Brosnan turns it off when the arc lights dim and cool. He lets his work speak. In "The Matador" it shouts. This is the performance of his career. But don't tell that to Pierce Brosnan. It's just another job.
