Pierce Brosnan has confirmed that he is not going to return to being James
Bond. In fact, Brosnan was fired from the role. That's what the Irish-American
actor told "Sun
Media" and the Swedish "Afton
Bladet". "It's over, it's over, it's absolutely over,"
Brosnan said this week in Nassau, where he sat with media to promote his
latest film, After the Sunset, a heist comedy which
slightly parodies his role as a super-secret agent.
Brosnan said he was willing, even eager, to do a fifth and final Bond,
adding that 007 producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson had asked him to
return, although no contracts were signed. "They invited me back right
before I went to present that film. They said: 'We're so happy with the
success, we want you to come back!' I went on the road as a happy man, you
know. I thought we'd get a fifth and no more. That would be it, really. And
then one day the phone rang - I was here (in Nassau shooting After
the Sunset) - and my agents told me that the goal posts had moved and
that they had changed their minds," Brosnan said with a weary tone, with
a sigh.
The now Irish-American actor added that "It's very hard to find the
truth in that town (Hollywood) or in this business at times. But it was their
prerogative to change their minds. They can do it!" And they might have
done it "to go younger," Brosnan said. "It was disappointing.
It was surprising. And I accepted the knowledge (that his run as 007 was over
for good) after 24 hours of being in shock."
On the other hand, Brosnan admitted that he kind of felt that the end was
coming. "If you have that thought ruminating in your head - knowing that
things are going to change, knowing that you're going to get older, knowing it
only lasts a certain amount of time playing a certain role - then you clearly
prepare yourself for what's down the road, even though you don't know what's
down the road. But you prepare yourself emotionally. So you know something's
going to be finished, it's going to be over. And it comes with a great
disappointment, but it also comes with a great satisfaction of having achieved
the success with it that I had achieved."
Brosnan claimed he harbours no bitterness. "None, none, none! It's not
worth having. If I did, it would make all the great decade, the four films,
the lovely success, meaningless. Bitterness against whom, and for what
reason?"
But he admitted there is some satisfaction in seeing the franchise stumble, with Bond 21 postponed for at least a year. "Go figure!" Brosnan said with a wry grin.
