Post by eef007pb on Sept 12, 2014 9:26:03 GMT -5
ph.news.yahoo.com/pierce-brosnan-lead-simple-life-003000735.html
Pierce Brosnan: I lead a simple life
Cover Media
By covermg.com
EN Interview 1 - Youthful and handsome, Pierce Brosnan, 61, returns to the spy genre in November Man, opposite fellow Bond alum, Olga Kurylenko. The handsome Irish actor is also a producer and environmentalist. He first became known for the TV series, Remington Steele, before inhabiting the iconic role of James Bond from 1995 to 2005. He also starred in such movies as The Thomas Crown Affair, The Matador, Mamma Mia! and The Ghost Writer.
He was married to Australian actress Cassandra Harris from 1980 until her death in 1991. He married American journalist and author Keely Shaye Smith in 2001.
THE INTERVIEW:
Q: What did you think of the movie?
BROSNAN: Well, I saw a screening of November Man a few weeks ago and I was very happy; I was very pleased that we managed to pull this off. And then when you pull up and you are outside the Hollywood emporium at the Mann’s Chinese Theatre and you see all the people and you celebrate the film, it’s like, ‘Whoa, it’s a great joy. A great dream.’
Q: Did you have trepidations about going back to the spy genre?
BROSNAN: No, I thought the timing felt good. I felt there was enough space between my days as James Bond and this moment in time. It took five years in the making and when the curtain fell, surprising so and unexpectedly so on my career as James Bond, or my time as playing that role, there was a certain kind of void and vacuum there of what to do next, how to proceed. I didn’t want to pick up the gun again, even though my wife said, ‘You should; you should do action, action, action!’ But I didn’t, I wanted to go do other things. And I did, and I tried to be an unexpected surprise in another arena, but there was unfinished business, just as I was getting the hang of Bond, it kind of disappeared. And so how do you reinvent yourself in the action genre? November Man. I loved the books, and we took the spine of Book number seven, There Are No Spies, which I thought had a rather eloquently witty little double edged sword to it, so there’s always a certain sense of hesitation yes, can I pull this off, is this the right move? But it felt like it was organically the right thing. I felt that there was an audience out there who enjoyed my work as James Bond, and I thought we could do business.
Q: Why did your wife tell you that you should do action? What was her thinking?
BROSNAN: Because she said I was good at it. (laughter) And she just is a smart woman and thank God for her, I should have done it sooner, but I didn’t. I’d done it when I done it.
Q: What is the biggest change? How is it to be a spy, to play a spy now compared to a few years ago?
BROSNAN: Well you know, you have to work just as hard but you don’t have to try as hard because you just have to be. (laughter) And so there’s a certain mileage of the bones, the heart and the mind and the soul of the actor of the actor who plays it and that is me. So you come with a certain gravitas of time and playing. And you surround yourself with the best people. And everyone came on board because they understood the possibilities that if we got this right, it would be a real kick in the pants all around to step out there.
Q: Have you thought about a sequel already? Is that something you have talked about?
BROSNAN: Yes, of course, there’s a franchise there. There are 13 books and this is the first outing so that was very much a part of our intention, to find a franchise.
Q: Do you always stay in shape or over the years, did you have to do an extra workout for this movie?
BROSNAN: I had to do work. Nothing comes from nothing. (laughter) I like my wine, I like my beer, I like my bread, I like my butter (laughter) and I have to also just like kind of moderate and keep up, just keep up.
Q: So what was that routine like?
BROSNAN: Play tennis, workout, play tennis, workout, play tennis, workout.
Q: What kind of workout do you do?
BROSNAN: What do I do?
Q: Yeah. Do you have a personal trainer?
BROSNAN: I have trained with so many trainers in my day, I am sick of them. (laughter) I was doing this film in Ireland, I had this trainer, he was a marine, and my buddy, Ricky Provenzana and I would take the train into the pub, have lots of Guinness, (laughter) Ricky would say, ‘I see you have another trainer here.’ (laughter) Yeah, you have got to train these boys. (laughter) Smoothies and juices and a couple of pints of Guinness, good protein, so yeah, you have to maintain, you have to keep your stamina going, you have to have endurance. The days are long, 14 hour days, etc, and the constant rush of adrenaline and you want to get it right; you want to get it right every day, every moment of the day because you are going to be judged. You are always judged, constantly, as soon as you walk in the door you are judged or on the stage, so yeah. And then I had my friend and stunt double from the days of James Bond, Mark Martram, he came over and he brought a gang of the guys who I have known, great stuntmen, great fighters, good car guys, bike guys, and they really honed the sequences and the people of Belgrade and Serbia really embraced us. They opened all the doors for us, buildings, mansions and palaces and the backstreets. So we had good energy and great people looking after us.
Q: It sounds like you got a whole bunch of projects coming up. What would you say is the key for longevity in this business as a leading man?
BROSNAN: Just hard work. Just constant doing, and a little bit of luck along the way and knowing the right people, finding the right material, trying to think ahead and yeah, I have done this now for a long time and so standing there the other night outside the Hollywood Mann Chinese Theatre, was just exhilarating. To look over and see my sons, and then to look up and see the image of Robin Williams, beautiful. Lovely Robin, wow, it was just captivating. It was one of those moments that just humbles you and lives with you forever, and the deep sorrow and sadness of our days because of his passing and to see him on the electric screen and then to see that wipe away and my face come on as November Man, those are moments that are cherished.
Q: How do you balance the exhilaration and the judgment? You said you are judged all the time, so how do you balance this pressure to keep healthy?
BROSNAN: Keep a simple life, have a great wife, beautiful boys, go home. At home, I ain’t the boss, (laughter) and to have good friends and I try to keep it as simple as possible and enjoy life and just love people. I get out, I don’t sequester myself away anywhere and that’s my job. It’s just a job but it’s a glorious job. It’s like a hobby actually, but I get paid for it. And that’s it really, just a working actor really.
Q: You are also a producer. What’s it like bringing projects you like to the screen?
BROSNAN: You have to be as tough as old boots. You have to have great tenacity and courage and forbearance to traverse the financial waters. But there’s money, there’s money out there and if you have the balls to stay in the game and the courage to do it and you can get your movie made. And if this makes good business, then it will allow me maybe to do another one, or maybe come back and try and do Thomas Crown, which has been on the cards for a long time. I might be able to get in just under the wire on that one, before the clock ticks too far past the hour of believability with a younger woman. (laughter) Whatever, I don’t know, but we will write it accordingly. I love making them and it’s just a thrill to do and then you find other ways to make your money.
Q: What’s your opinion on getting older and action movies?
BROSNAN: Well the body will tell you, or the audience will tell you. (laughs) They will be pretty vocal about it, ‘Sorry, times up, get off the stage. Just play granddads, just be the age you are.’ And that’s probably closer than I think. (laughter) Maybe, who knows? You never know.
Q: Do you still think you have some left in you to do this?
BROSNAN: Oh God willing, yes. To do this kind of work well, you will have noticed that there’s a younger man in this game. (laughter) So yeah. So it goes back to days off. If we were to go through this again, you send a younger man out there. I will just deal with the woman this time out. (laughter)
Q: You said once that you enjoyed sex scenes in a movie and there were not many here.
BROSNAN: None, there was none. We just thought, well it wouldn’t be appropriate to look for your daughter and be having sex on the side. (laughter) Brushing my teeth was about as sexy as it got there in that moment, in that bedroom scene. But you are not quite sure if they have or if they haven’t. It’s kind of intimated at. She’s in bed, I am in the same room, but we just thought to keep to same through line of a father trying to get his daughter back. However, if there were to be another one... (laughter) we shall see.
Q: Did you share some Bond experiences with Olga?
BROSNAN: Not really, I mean, we talked briefly about our days doing the Bond and my doing the Bonds, but not really.
Q: Was it a coincidence that she ended up in this movie with your shared Bond history? People will make that link.
BROSNAN: They will make that link, but we wrote it for her and the idea was suggested and I loved the idea because of her lineage with Bond and mine and I think there’s a nice blending on the palate of characters of actors and Olga has never been better, I think. It was great to watch her inhabit this character and play the duality and sit on the emotion of who she was, and the secrets of what she endured. She’s a young woman and she’s got the beauty and the grace to go on and really be a fine actor if she chooses.
Q: You managed to shake the label which is very difficult to get rid of and Olga managed to do it also. Is it something that you actively tried to do or did it happen naturally?
BROSNAN: Well you have to be aware of it and I was fully cognisant of it when I signed up to play Bond that if I were to make a success of it then I would have the devil to pay to reinvent myself. So I was aware of that because I had seen similar men go down the same road. And it’s such an iconoclastic role, and so big and all pervading over a man’s life. It’s like being ambassador to a small country. (laughter) And you kind of have to hold it lightly, wear it with pride and surrender to it and not be tripped by any ego or fear. And just have the utmost confidence and the tenacity and a sense of that you can go on and create other worlds. I will always be one of the Bonds, the Irish Bond, whatever. (laughter) And it’s the gift that keeps giving because it allows you to move through the fare in a really glorious way, anywhere in the world, I mean anywhere in the world. It’s staggering and never ceases to amaze me wherever I may be. And I remember doing the press conference for Golden Eye and I was going off to New Guinea actually to make a movie, Robinson Crusoe, so I had a beard. So the press conference was a baptism by fire, and it was just a room there in a hotel in London with 600 members of the world press, and I just remembered finishing the day’s work and going back to my little hotel which I have always stayed at, and I was laying on the bed and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I done? What have I said yes to?’ And I woke up that next morning and I got all the press and there was my life laid out, old girlfriends, everything. Went on the plane, went to Papua New Guinea, I am jogging through the bush the next day, and these kids went, ‘James Bond!’ (laughter) And it was just the tentacle of that man and what it means to everyone. So it’s a wonderful celebration for an actor and if you go to higher ground, you can only go to higher ground with it. Then you can endure and go on and have fun and make a career and make a life.
Q: Do you still enjoy it?
BROSNAN: Yeah, you know what to expect going in. If you are highly against that and if you give that any resistance or any negative energy, then it will just eat you up. It will just evaporate. And so you celebrate. I was honoured to it and I was proud to do it. I got away with it and saved the world four times. (laughter) Gosh darn!
Q: Thank you.
Cover Media/Viva Press
Love it! Thanks!