EXCLUSIVE
Pierce Brosnan

Has actor Pierce Brosnan turned in his license to kill?
Brosnan tells us that he won't return as secret agent 007 in another James Bond film:

"That's it. I've said all I've got to say on the world of James Bond. Bond is another lifetime, behind me."

But if Brosnan is out as Bond, who's in?

Actors frequently mentioned include Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, and "King Arthur" star Clive Owen, who said:

"If they come to me tomorrow, I'll consider it."

Owen, a fan of the Bond movies, is flattered that his name has been mentioned for the role:

"There are worse things to be associated with, I can tell you."

Pierce Brosnan says of James Bond, "We went out on a high."

Pierce Brosnan commands respect as one of the film world's most varied, adventurous and skilled dramatic actors.

In addition to his work in front of the camera, Brosnan has always had a keen interest in the art of filmmaking. Having achieved international stardom as an actor, Brosnan expanded the range of his film work by launching his own production company, Irish DreamTime in 1996, along with producing partner Beau St. Clair.

To date, Irish DreamTime has produced four films: The Nephew, The Thomas Crown Affair, Evelyn, and the upcoming New Line release Laws of Attraction. The company also served as Executive Producer on The Match.

The company's first studio project, The Thomas Crown Affair, became both a critical and box office hit and was one of the best-reviewed and highest-grossing romantic thrillers in many years. Evelyn, directed by Bruce Beresford, opened to critical acclaim at the Toronto and Chicago film festivals and also garnered rave reviews. Film critic Richard Roeper of "Ebert & Roeper" proclaimed that "Brosnan gives the most touching performance of his career."

Brosnan's latest project, Laws of Attraction, is a romantic comedy in which he teams with Julianne Moore. They play dueling divorce attorneys who fall in love. The film is due for nationwide release on April 30, 2004. Following Laws, Brosnan stars with Salma Hayek and Woody Harrelson in After the Sunset. The film, directed by Brett Ratner, is due for release from New Line Cinema in November 2004.

Irish DreamTime's sixth production, the character-driven black comedy/thriller The Matador, is scheduled to begin shooting in April in Mexico. Brosnan stars with Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis, playing a hit man at a crossroads in his life who is forever changed by an ordinary, decent couple.

Perhaps best known around the world as James Bond, Brosnan reinvigorated the popularity of the Bond legacy by putting his own stamp on 007 in the box office blockbusters Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Brosnan's first three Bond films earned a billion dollars at the box office, and his most recent smash hit, Die Another Day, was the most successful Bond film ever, garnering almost a half billion dollars worldwide. In addition to the success of his four Bond films, three other Brosnan projects, The Thomas Crown Affair, Dante's Peak and The Lawnmower Man combined have earned hundreds of millions of dollars internationally cementing him as one of the world's most bankable stars.

Other efforts by the actor include his starring role with Geoffrey Rush in John Boorman's film from the John LeCarre novel, The Tailor of Panama. This work earned critical acclaim for Brosnan; People Magazine called him "smoothly perfect," and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone noted that "playing a villain becomes Brosnan…he's looser, sexier, edgier." But perhaps the most telling reaction was that of LeCarre himself who stated, "Pierce, for all his training, retained the animalism of the character. He's instinctive. He's a sexy, decadent figure descending on his prey. There is so much of a man there. With his classical training, he saw the part as a showcase for rage." LeCarre also observed that "within the narrow confines of Bond, Pierce has a kind of subtly, sensitivity and compassion."

The Tailor of Panama continues the London stage-trained actor's character-starring roles in such films as Bruce Beresford's Mr. Johnson and Sir Richard Attenborough's Grey Owl. Brosnan has also shown his comedic skill in such films as Mrs. Doubtfire, The Mirror Has Two Faces, and Mars Attacks. Some of his many accolades include a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2002 Chicago Film Festival, International Star of the Year at Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the Dublin Institute of Technology and an Order of the British Empire honor bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen. This Summer Brosnan will receive another Honorary Doctorate from the University College Cork.

Brosnan was born in County Meath, Ireland, and moved to London with his family when he was 11. At the age of 20 he enrolled in drama school. While living in London he performed in several West End stage productions including Franco Zeffirelli's Fulimena and Tennessee Williams' The Red Devil Battery Sign as well as Malcolm Taylor's Wait Until Dark at The York Theater Royal. Before landing the role as James Bond, Brosnan achieved worldwide recognition as investigator Remington Steele on the popular television series of the same name.

In addition to his stellar film and television career, Brosnan, together with his wife Keely Shaye Smith, has been drawn into a passionate leadership role in environmental issues. They have been actively involved in numerous conservation organizations, particularly in support of marine mammals. They have lobbied against legislation designed to weaken federal standards for labeling canned tuna "Dolphin Safe." From 1997 to 2000, they worked with the NRDC and IFAW to stop a proposed salt factory from being built at Laguna San Ignacio on Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Their unprecedented victory prevented the destruction of the last pristine breeding ground for the Pacific gray whale. Both the Environmental Media Association and Women In Film have jointly honored them with humanitarian awards for this work. Brosnan is also devoted to women's healthcare and children's issues and serves as Campaign Chairman for the Entertainment Industry Foundation, which distributed $15,000,000 last year.

PIERCE BROSNAN BIOGRAPHY

Born: 16 May 1953
Where: Navan, Ireland
Awards: 1 Golden Globe Nomination
Height: 6' 2"
Filmography: All about Pierce

Many, many actors are typecast due to their looks. Some are perennial villains, others knockabout dudes, or British aristocrats. Their talents are made obsolete by their faces, their actorly training is all for nothing. Feel sorry then for the man who is James Bond. For not only does Pierce Brosnan now star as Agent 007, but he's such an obviously perfect choice for the role that audiences considered him to be Bond even before he was. Throughout Timothy Dalton's tenure, even towards the end of Roger Moore's, Brosnan was Bond-in-waiting. Every character he played was seen as either a stop-gap or practice for the day he'd load that Beretta and slip behind the wheel of that Aston-Martin. It came as no surprise that, when he did take over, the ailing Bond franchise enjoyed its greatest successes ever.

Yet Brosnan's story is far more interesting than just a long, long wait for GoldenEye. He began as a stage actor of major repute in London's West End. He was a Golden Globe-nominated TV star and found major fame as Remington Steele. And, throughout his "lost" years, he turned in a series of notable performances in unheralded movies - he was just as likely to play a disturbed psychotic as a smooth sophisticate. His personal life, too, has been far more interesting (and trauma-ridden) than most.

He was born Pierce Brendan Brosnan on the 16th of May, 1953, in Navan, County Meath. Popularly known as An Uaimh, it's about 30 miles north-west of Dublin, just inland from Drogheda. His father, Thomas, was a carpenter who left mother Mary (known as May) before Pierce was a year old. Needing a career to support her son, May travelled to London to train as a nurse, leaving young Pierce with her parents, Philip and Kathleen Smith. Sadly, when he was 6, both grandparents died, so he was moved on to stay with relatives. He recalls spending lots of time in his aunt's pub, feeling lonely and abandoned. "But maybe that's where the acting comes from", he says "from spending so much time alone with your thoughts".

Eventually, he was taken into a lodging house by one Eileen Reilly. And there was Catholic school, young Pierce suffering under the severe regime of the Christian Brothers. Here he was beaten and "Religion was rammed down my throat. It was pretty brutal. I've got some resentments". Due to an expose in the News Of The World, the school would be shut down some months after Pierce left.

But leaving didn't mean things were exactly easy. In 1964, May brought her son over to live with her in Putney, London. By now she'd met a gentle Scot named Bill Carmichael and the couple wanted to marry. May, though, wanted Pierce's approval - which he duly gave. One of the first treats Bill gave Pierce on his arrival was to take him to the cinema. And the movie they saw? Goldfinger. Brosnan has since claimed that this was when he first considered a career in acting.

Pierce was enrolled at Elliott Comprehensive, and here it was rough. Though six feet tall by the age of 11, he was still bullied for being Irish - Irish was, in fact, his nickname. Painfully aware of his difference, he schooled himself in the London accent, becoming more of a Cockney than a Navan country-boy. Having to study his peers, copy their movements and voices, would stand him in good stead later.>>>Continue

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