Pierce Brosnan gave an interview to BBC TV to explain his departure from the role of James Bond 007...

Pierce Brosnan - I'm A Free Agent
5th November 2004

Pierce Brosnan appeared on the "Tonight With Jonathan Ross" BBC show in the UK on Friday 5th November 2004 to talk about his latest movie "After The Sunset", and more importantly to 007 fans about his departure from the role of James Bond.

The End Of An Era

JR: I'm actually properly gutted that you're not making another James Bond movie.

PB: Well I was, until the news came down the pike. I was set up to do a fifth, I had done four which had done really well, they invited me back basically - the producers. And I said yes, and then... they changed their minds in the middle of negotiations.

JR: Why was that? Do you know why?

PB: No. It's very hard to find the truth from that town [Hollywood] when business goes down like that.

JR: As far as I know they haven't got anyone else lined up.

PB: As far as I know they haven't, no.

JR: And to be honest with you, I'm not just saying this because you're here, but they are hard shoes to fill now because of you. There was a part that had gone a bit astray, and you came in, and you became Bond for a whole new generation - and even older fans who loved Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton... I liked George Lazenby! I thought you were a fabulous Bond, almost a definitive Bond. PB: Thanks. I tried to do the best I could. I was a big fan of the movies. The first movie I saw was in '64, young lad eleven years of age, Putney high street was Goldfinger. I didn't want to be James Bond, but I fell in love with the movies. Time went on, I became an actor, and it came into my life in '86, went out of my life in '86 because of Remington Steele, came back in again. So it's always come with a certain drama, doing this role. Right: Pierce Brosnan appearing on the Jonathan Ross show (BBC).

"It was... a bit of a pisser. I must say. It really was"

Crushing

JR: That must have been terrible when you were offered it the first time, then it was sort of snatched away from you. I would have thought that would have been quite crushing.

PB: It was... a bit of a pisser. I must say. It really was. I was living in America, I had been there four or five years, and they offered the job. My late wife and I planned to come back to England, we put the children in to boarding school here, and then at the last moment - the eleventh hour - they just wouldn't let me out of the contract.

JR: Well then you went back to Remington Steele and they only did like 6 more episodes?

PB: Yeah, they picked it up for six, it should have been 32, but we did six and then they pulled the show. It's just business, you know.

JR: You seem to have a very even-handed way of dealing with these things that get thrown at you. Most people, losing a part like Bond, they would be furious.

PB: You know, if you get uptight, and you get pissed off and really bitter and angry about it, then it just does your head in. Goes nowhere. So you gotta let that go.

Calling Time

JR: In many ways, maybe it's a good thing for you, because I know you want to do more [other projects] and I'd like to see you in more, but you're leaving before people want you to go. You're leaving us wanting more, and that's a pretty good thing to do.

PB: It's pretty smart. I gotta say, you know, when Michael [G. Wilson] and Barbara [Broccoli] told me, gave me the decision, I was angry. The conversation was pretty short and sweet. But I said, OK, thank you very much, goodbye. I think they were pretty cut up about it themselves. I'm not sure, there is some political situation going on between them and the studio. You never know. And then I felt this great sense of liberation. I though, this is great, I'm a free agent - so to speak. I've done it, they did well, I didn't embarrass myself, I don't think.

JR: Certainly not. When you're making movies, Bond movies, certainly you're aware that all films are smoke and mirrors. Does it lose the magic for you, something that is so much a part of growing up, for both of us I'm sure?

PB: No, I love it. I just love it. Luckily I still have a passion about the work that I do, a passion about being an actor, and never knowing where it's going really. That's part of the adventure.

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