The PIERCE BROSNAN Appreciation thread - Discuss His Life, His Career, His Bond Films

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  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    QBranch wrote: »
    Happy B'day Brozza, aka 'my' Bond; aka Bond #5 & 7.

    Wouldn t that be 6 & 8?
  • QQ7QQ7 Croatia
    Posts: 371
    Happy birthday to my dearest Bond!
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    Posts: 2,541
    Many happy returns to brosnan =D>
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited May 2019 Posts: 5,185
    Happy Birthday to the Brozzmaster! May he walk among us mere mortals for many more millennia.
  • marketto007marketto007 Brazil
    Posts: 3,277
  • NS_writingsNS_writings Buenos Aires
    Posts: 544
    Happy birthday to the one and only Pierce Brosnan.
    MY Bond. Always.

    564d2fe8-b3e8-11e7-947c-9fe9c5ed1e90.jpg
  • MaxCasinoMaxCasino United States
    Posts: 4,629
    Happy birthday to the second best actor in Mrs. Doubtfire. An underrated comedic talent, PB!
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    QBranch wrote: »
    Happy B'day Brozza, aka 'my' Bond; aka Bond #5 & 7.

    Wouldn t that be 6 & 8?

    Whoever you are adding to the list there... just don't
    giphy.webp
  • Posts: 6,709

    Well done. Bravo!
  • ResurrectionResurrection Kolkata, India
    edited May 2019 Posts: 2,541
    MaxCasino wrote: »
    Happy birthday to the second best actor in Mrs. Doubtfire. An underrated comedic talent, PB!

    Agreed he should do comedy more an underrated gem imo.
  • Posts: 11,425
    Hes a very good comic actor. He should definitely do more.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    00Agent wrote: »
    QBranch wrote: »
    Happy B'day Brozza, aka 'my' Bond; aka Bond #5 & 7.

    Wouldn t that be 6 & 8?

    Whoever you are adding to the list there... just don't
    giphy.webp

    Not counting DAF ?
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited May 2019 Posts: 5,185
    00Agent wrote: »
    QBranch wrote: »
    Happy B'day Brozza, aka 'my' Bond; aka Bond #5 & 7.

    Wouldn t that be 6 & 8?

    Whoever you are adding to the list there... just don't
    giphy.webp

    Not counting DAF ?

    Oh you mean Connery being #1 and #3.
    Interesting, i never looked at it that way.
    I thought you were talking about the other fellas that i won't name.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    00Agent wrote: »
    00Agent wrote: »
    QBranch wrote: »
    Happy B'day Brozza, aka 'my' Bond; aka Bond #5 & 7.

    Wouldn t that be 6 & 8?

    Whoever you are adding to the list there... just don't
    giphy.webp

    Not counting DAF ?

    Oh you mean Connery being #1 and #3.
    Interesting, i never looked at it that way.
    I thought you were talking about the other fellas that i won't name.

    Yes, that was the idea.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    Good point about DAF. If I was a betting man, I'd wager that Pierce will be dubbed 'Bond #7' when he returns in a few years.
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    QBranch wrote: »
    Good point about DAF. If I was a betting man, I'd wager that Pierce will be dubbed 'Bond #7' when he returns in a few years.

    SickKlutzyArthropods-small.gif
  • Posts: 1,165
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    edited May 2019 Posts: 5,185
    "You have a doctorate in that too?"

    Pierce receives honorary degree for environmental advocacy from Dickinson college.


    Little Bond nod at 2:14; 5:49 and many more throughout.
  • QQ7QQ7 Croatia
    Posts: 371
    Well how cool is that...

  • Posts: 4,409
    I'm curious by Pierce' star status prior to taking the role.

    I understand that he had a big gig on NBC's Remington Steele and was the co-lead of the show. However, what was his movie career like?

    From what I can gather, Brosnan was being cast in Hollywood studio films. He was never a theatre actor or someone who preferred thoughtful indie projects.

    He looks like he was always someone pegged for major star-status.

    One of his first ever films was a lead in a John McTiernan move. That's quite a big deal (though the director wasn't on the A-list yet). but the fact he's scoring lead roles so soon out of the gate is impressive.

    Nomadsposter.jpg

    Though, it also seems he wasn't above slumming it on made-for-TV tripe. though this film looks kinda great:

    Death_Train_1993.jpg

    Brosnan seemed to be a very commercial actor - almost certainly due to his charismatic manner and gorgeous features.

    I assume he's not dissimilar to stars like Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, etc. Not exactly ' serious actors' but people that seem destined for commercial success in Hollywood.

    Was that the vibe back in Brosnan's pre-Bond days? I know he was flouted as a candidate for Batman at one point.
  • edited June 2019 Posts: 16,162
    I'm curious by Pierce' star status prior to taking the role.

    I understand that he had a big gig on NBC's Remington Steele and was the co-lead of the show. However, what was his movie career like?

    From what I can gather, Brosnan was being cast in Hollywood studio films. He was never a theatre actor or someone who preferred thoughtful indie projects.

    He looks like he was always someone pegged for major star-status.

    One of his first ever films was a lead in a John McTiernan move. That's quite a big deal (though the director wasn't on the A-list yet). but the fact he's scoring lead roles so soon out of the gate is impressive.

    Nomadsposter.jpg

    Though, it also seems he wasn't above slumming it on made-for-TV tripe. though this film looks kinda great:

    Death_Train_1993.jpg

    Brosnan seemed to be a very commercial actor - almost certainly due to his charismatic manner and gorgeous features.

    I assume he's not dissimilar to stars like Ryan Reynolds, Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine, etc. Not exactly ' serious actors' but people that seem destined for commercial success in Hollywood.

    Was that the vibe back in Brosnan's pre-Bond days? I know he was flouted as a candidate for Batman at one point.

    I think he most certainly wanted movie star status. He caught a pretty good break landing REMINGTON so soon after moving to L.A. An even bigger break when the show turned out to be a hit.

    Strangely, I've never seen NOMADS. I really should track it down. I think doing films like TAFFIN, and especially THE FOURTH PROTOCOL, along with REMINGTON STEELE helped his future Bondian potential. Things had been going so smoothly for him, snagging THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and becoming the 4th Bond seemed inevitable and a natural progression to movie star status.

    It really seemed like a done deal. Funny how life can then kick you hard in the groin right when things seem on track. Such a bitter blow that I believe Pierce then focused on finishing his REMINGTON contract and getting whatever cool parts might come his way afterwards.
    TV miniseries like NOBLE HOUSE and AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS were pretty cool roles for him. I thought he did some wonderful work during that period, but still had to deal with people questioning him about Bond constantly. That must have been like salt in the wound.

    Then came another blow when Cassandra became ill. He carried on taking smaller films like MISTER JOHNSON ( a wonderful performance and rare gem of a film, IMO).
    In the meantime he'd do many television films and made made for cable adventures. I've always felt those movies were worth watching just for Pierce's presence. DEATH TRAIN (DETONATOR) was a pretty cool spy thriller, IMO.

    I believe THE LAWNMOWER MAN and MRS DOUBTFIRE paved the way a bit in terms of getting Pierce back on the big screen for wider audiences.

    GOLDENEYE was perfect timing. He really was mostly known in the U.S. as the guy who could have and should have been Bond. Pretty much everyone at the time agreed he was the right man for the job.

    I think it's unlike today in which actors like Tom Hardy, Elba, and Hiddleston are touted in the press as ideal Craig replacements. Perhaps the cinematic image or idea of Bond has changed to the extent that virtually anyone can be named as a possible Bond and it be taken seriously?

    By comparison, say had Jason Alexander who had a huge TV hit in the '90's been named as a possible Dalton replacement, if it were today, forum members might be debating Alexander's strengths and why he'd be perfect as Bond.

    I miss the simpler times when Pierce perfectly embodied what the public's image and perception of Bond should be.
  • mattjoesmattjoes Julie T. and the M.G.'s
    edited June 2019 Posts: 7,021
    From what I can gather, Brosnan was being cast in Hollywood studio films.
    Actually, not that many Hollywood studio films in that post-Remington Steele, pre-James Bond period. With Steele he became famous, but after it, he was alternating between doing television (not necessarily all bad television, mind you, with Noble House and Around the World in 80 Days, but probably some clunkers there), and films made outside of Hollywood, such as The Fourth Protocol, The Deceivers and Mister Johnson. (The former was a Forsyth adaptation, potentially with high commercial value but according to Michael Caine, it didn't do great business in the USA. However good or bad they might've turned out, the latter two appear to be fairly classy projects, though apparently small ones.) As @ToTheRight points out, The Lawnmower Man and Mrs. Doubtfire were a step up for him. Lawnmower --a New Line Cinema release (along with Live Wire, also released in 1992)-- was a hit, as was Mrs. Doubtfire. The rest of the decade, he obviously had a higher profile, being James Bond and all. It was then that he appeared in Hollywood studio films, whether in supporting capacity --as in Love Affair and The Mirror Has Two Faces-- or as a leading man in Dante's Peak, etc.

    He was never a theatre actor or someone who preferred thoughtful indie projects.
    Never his main focus, looking at his career, but he started out in the theater and even starred in what I believe was the British premiere of Tennessee Williams' play, The Red Devil Battery Sign.


    I remember seeing part of Death Train's sequel, Night Watch, on TV several years ago. I'm curious to watch it again, but with Patrick Stewart, Death Train seems like an even more entertaining prospect.
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,176
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    Strangely, I've never seen NOMADS. I really should track it down.

    Are you in the UK, @ToTheRight? Talking Pictures TV got the rights to it a few months ago and it shows up on their schedule regularly (this is how I caught it).

    I highly recommend the Smersh Pod episode on Nomads, which made me cry with laughter.
  • Posts: 16,162
    Agent_99 wrote: »
    ToTheRight wrote: »
    Strangely, I've never seen NOMADS. I really should track it down.

    Are you in the UK, @ToTheRight? Talking Pictures TV got the rights to it a few months ago and it shows up on their schedule regularly (this is how I caught it).

    I highly recommend the Smersh Pod episode on Nomads, which made me cry with laughter.

    No, I'm in the U.S. Looks like the film is available now on Blu-ray. I may get a copy sometime just to see it.
  • Agent_99Agent_99 enjoys a spirited ride as much as the next girl
    Posts: 3,176
    It's quite a thing. No idea why Pierce had to do a French accent throughout but props to him for keeping it up.

    Death Train is also worth a watch (and I've been informed that the sequel is on Amazon Prime currently, so I'll be trying that too).
  • Posts: 17,756
    Quentin Tarantino on Brosnan as Bond:
    …And it turns out Tarantino had a few things to say about the James Bond actors.

    Tarantino said: “Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, then just a little under him, Roger Moore.
    “And then everybody else. Connery’s at the top, but I really, really like Pierce Brosnan.

    “I didn’t care for the movies that they put him in, which I always thought was a bit of a tragedy, because I thought he was a very legitimate Bond.

    Speaking with Daily Mail last year, Brosnan said that bar Goldeneye his take on Bond was “never good enough.”

    He said: “I was caught between Sean Connery’s Bond and Roger Moore’s Bond, and it was only really in Goldeneye that I did my Bond.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1138834/James-Bond-actor-ranking-Quentin-Tarantino-Sean-Connery-Roger-Moore-Pierce-Brosnan
  • 00Agent00Agent Any man who drinks Dom Perignon '52 can't be all bad.
    Posts: 5,185
    He has great taste.
  • I wonder if Pierce known how much he is loved in Africa(at least in Mozambique, South Africa, Angola) he is the Bond.
  • edited June 2019 Posts: 11,425
    Quentin Tarantino on Brosnan as Bond:
    …And it turns out Tarantino had a few things to say about the James Bond actors.

    Tarantino said: “Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, then just a little under him, Roger Moore.
    “And then everybody else. Connery’s at the top, but I really, really like Pierce Brosnan.

    “I didn’t care for the movies that they put him in, which I always thought was a bit of a tragedy, because I thought he was a very legitimate Bond.

    Speaking with Daily Mail last year, Brosnan said that bar Goldeneye his take on Bond was “never good enough.”

    He said: “I was caught between Sean Connery’s Bond and Roger Moore’s Bond, and it was only really in Goldeneye that I did my Bond.”

    https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/films/1138834/James-Bond-actor-ranking-Quentin-Tarantino-Sean-Connery-Roger-Moore-Pierce-Brosnan

    Interesting. Well I'd never put Brosnan above Sir Roger - not as Bond anyway. Tarantino seems to be ranking his favourite actors more than his favourite Bonds.

    I have some sympathy for what Tarantino is saying though. The Brosnan era films are all pretty awful, but I've seen Brosnan giving a strong enough performance in other films to believe that he could have done a good Bond movie, with the right script and direction. Brosnan definitely needs good/firm direction. Look how his performances improve when he's being directed by someone like Polanski or Boorman - he's almost unrecognisable from when he's playing Bond.

    I think if Tarantino was to direct a Bond film then Brosnan would have been the right fit. Shame we will never see it. I'd have liked a period Bond film as well.

    Pretty much agree with Brosnan's views on his own tenure as well, which he's expressed in previous interviews. Feel sorry for him in a way. I don't think EON ever particularly rated him and they certainly never really tried to mould him or his films to his strengths as an actor. The films just degenerated in quality as if EON had given up on him.

    Probably the low point in the history of EON and cinematic Bond, but I guess it was a transition period. Brozza probably deserved better.
  • 00Agent wrote: »
    He has great taste.
    Indeed
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