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Brosnan Speaks Candidly About Future, Producers
Pierce Brosnan spoke candidly on the subject of Bond's character's future, as well as his own future with Bond.
News Category: Casino Royale (2006) NewsPosted on March 22, 2004 11:38 AM
In a question and answer session with CHUD.com over the release of his upcoming movie Laws Of Attraction, Pierce Brosnan spoke rather bluntly about the direction the Bond franchise was moving in. He also voiced his personal opinions of Bond's character and where the character should be headed. The interview with CHUD was rather long, and can be viewed here. For the parts that Brosnan specifically speaks about Bond, read below:
Q: But you've got one more dance with Bond - is there anything left to do with the character?
Pierce: Well, the dance...we seem to have taken a break at the moment. The producers have reached an impasse, as far as I can tell. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to move on. A sense of paralysis has set in. So, for me it's business as usual. I shall just carry on with creating work for myself. I certainly would love to do a fifth Bond and then bow out, but if this last one is to be the last one, then so be it.
Q: We've discussed before Michael Wilson's timidity to make a Bond movie in the vein of From Russia With Love and I think that's a real problem...
Pierce: It's frustrating, really, because they feel they have to top themselves in a genre which is just spectacle and huge bang for your buck. For me, I think you can have your cake and eat it. You can have real character work and real storylines and a thriller aspect and all the kind of quips and asides and explosions and the women. I love From Russia With Love. It's one of the finest pieces.
Q: So with the next one, would you want to cut back to a more For Your Eyes Only-type model? More simple, less effects-driven?
Pierce: More of a character-driven piece, yes. Certainly more of a character-driven piece and what is going to happen next in the story because now we're just saturated - it's wonderful the spectacle they create. It's fantastic. But I love the last one and where it was going - until we got to Hong Kong and I was into the suit and into the old straitjacket of playing him.
Q: The stuff in the prison at the beginning was great.
Pierce: Yeah, that was like, 'Huh? This is a Bond movie??' But they broke out of it too soon into the formulaic, safe side. They're too scared.
Q: If they changed it, you'd do more than one more?
Pierce: Oh, my contract is up. They can do it or not.
Q: You say there's a paralysis - are they talking to someone else?
Pierce: They say they're not talking to someone else...
Q: But they might not tell you? (Pierce smiles a knowing smile.)
Pierce: What a game! 'I thought you were my friend! I thought we were friends...' (mimes taking a knife out of his back) This belongs to you, I think!
Q: So, if they changed it to more like From Russia With Love, would you be more inclined to carry on?
Pierce: I'd be inclined to carry on if it were From Russia With Love or anything. Just, the fifth was there. We started talking about the fifth and so this paralysis that set in is rather surprising.
Q: But they finally got back the rights of Casino Royale, but [Wilson] said he wouldn't dare film any of the story, so he just wants to scrap the novel and use the title.
Pierce: Well, that's ludicrous. It's absolutely sheer lunacy because Casino Royale is somewhat the blueprint for the Bond character anyway. If you go to that book, you find out more about James Bond than in any of the other books. But hey, they're a wonderful family that's done it their own way for many years and they're at a point now where they've suffered a great loss in the passing of their mother. They're an Italian family, an American family and they're in the unique position that no one else in this community called Hollywood stands it - they have full control of this franchise. So, I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea.
Pierce: Well, the dance...we seem to have taken a break at the moment. The producers have reached an impasse, as far as I can tell. They don't know what to do. They don't know how to move on. A sense of paralysis has set in. So, for me it's business as usual. I shall just carry on with creating work for myself. I certainly would love to do a fifth Bond and then bow out, but if this last one is to be the last one, then so be it.
Q: We've discussed before Michael Wilson's timidity to make a Bond movie in the vein of From Russia With Love and I think that's a real problem...
Pierce: It's frustrating, really, because they feel they have to top themselves in a genre which is just spectacle and huge bang for your buck. For me, I think you can have your cake and eat it. You can have real character work and real storylines and a thriller aspect and all the kind of quips and asides and explosions and the women. I love From Russia With Love. It's one of the finest pieces.
Q: So with the next one, would you want to cut back to a more For Your Eyes Only-type model? More simple, less effects-driven?
Pierce: More of a character-driven piece, yes. Certainly more of a character-driven piece and what is going to happen next in the story because now we're just saturated - it's wonderful the spectacle they create. It's fantastic. But I love the last one and where it was going - until we got to Hong Kong and I was into the suit and into the old straitjacket of playing him.
Q: The stuff in the prison at the beginning was great.
Pierce: Yeah, that was like, 'Huh? This is a Bond movie??' But they broke out of it too soon into the formulaic, safe side. They're too scared.
Q: If they changed it, you'd do more than one more?
Pierce: Oh, my contract is up. They can do it or not.
Q: You say there's a paralysis - are they talking to someone else?
Pierce: They say they're not talking to someone else...
Q: But they might not tell you? (Pierce smiles a knowing smile.)
Pierce: What a game! 'I thought you were my friend! I thought we were friends...' (mimes taking a knife out of his back) This belongs to you, I think!
Q: So, if they changed it to more like From Russia With Love, would you be more inclined to carry on?
Pierce: I'd be inclined to carry on if it were From Russia With Love or anything. Just, the fifth was there. We started talking about the fifth and so this paralysis that set in is rather surprising.
Q: But they finally got back the rights of Casino Royale, but [Wilson] said he wouldn't dare film any of the story, so he just wants to scrap the novel and use the title.
Pierce: Well, that's ludicrous. It's absolutely sheer lunacy because Casino Royale is somewhat the blueprint for the Bond character anyway. If you go to that book, you find out more about James Bond than in any of the other books. But hey, they're a wonderful family that's done it their own way for many years and they're at a point now where they've suffered a great loss in the passing of their mother. They're an Italian family, an American family and they're in the unique position that no one else in this community called Hollywood stands it - they have full control of this franchise. So, I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea.
