Out of character
In his new role, Pierce Brosnan moves beyond James Bond
NEW YORK -- Don't mention the ''B" word in front of Pierce Brosnan. In fact, don't even allude to it. Sure he was Bond (oops!), James Bond (sorry!), but that chapter's closed and he's not looking back.
''It's so hard for him," says Richard Shepard, who wrote and directed ''The Matador," which stars Brosnan and opens Friday. ''It's kind of like you get divorced and all anyone wants to talk to you about is your ex-wife."
Still, it's difficult to avoid the topic. After all, during his decade as 007 Brosnan was ineluctably linked to images of slick suits, cool cars, martinis, and beautiful women.
These days, however, he's sporting shaggy long hair and an ungroomed, graying beard -- looking more like a holistic healer than a suave international spy.
''I served my time playing that role," Brosnan says. ''That period of my life allowed me to go on and make other movies. Whenever you have success like that, you try to re-create yourself and explore different options."
Certainly, his character in ''The Matador" could not be more un-Bond-like. In his new film, Brosnan plays a pathetic, lonely hit man who befriends a salesman, played by Greg Kinnear, after a chance meeting in a hotel bar.
In fact, Shepard concedes, there is an almost inside-out Bond quality to Brosnan's character in ''The Matador."
''I think he was attracted to the part because it was a character that had similarities to others he's played but was completely different because at the heart of it, this character is completely alone," Shepard says.
Brosnan, however, says he was drawn to the ''free-jazz style of consciousness" of Shepard's script and says his character, Julian Noble, has no links to Bond. Both their jobs involve guns and shooting, they both have active libidos, and both like their drinks shaken (Noble's a margarita man), but that's all beside the point, says Brosnan.
''This is a piece of theatrical work that stands by itself and has no relationship to anything else," Brosnan insists.
In any case, it's clear that Shepard did not have Brosnan in mind when he wrote the script, which he expected to be a low-budget independent film and sent to Brosnan purely as a writing sample. Shepard was hoping to work on the sequel to ''The Thomas Crown Affair," which Brosnan's production company, Irish DreamTime, is producing. Brosnan rejected him for that assignment but said he wanted to produce and star in ''The Matador."
Had he not been the boss, Brosnan says, he's pretty sure the part would have gone to someone else.
''I don't think I'd be on the top of the list to play this character," Brosnan says. ''You get pigeonholed as Mr. Sophisticated or something else. Every actor is shackled by something."
As part of his ongoing effort to unchain himself from his screen alter ego, he starred in ''Evelyn," the 2002 film directed by Bruce Beresford and also produced by Irish DreamTime.
'' 'Evelyn' would never have come my way either if I hadn't produced it," Brosnan says. ''They would never have said, 'Let's have Brosnan play the working-class Dublin man with three kids.' "
In a sense, Brosnan says, he is starting his career again -- redefining himself and finding out exactly what he can do. He toys with the idea of writing but says he's found the process frustrating.
''I keep journals and write half-baked starts of plays and half-baked film scenarios," he says, slightly wistfully. ''I have to find the passion, the desire and the drive to really write."
Part of what holds him back, he concedes, is a lack of honesty in his work. He's not intentionally avoiding the truth, he says, but something within him prevents him from putting genuine emotions on the page.
''There's a censorship there," Brosnan says. ''I'm always amazed that I'm an actor because I'm a shy person -- cautious in some regards. With writing, I know there's something there, but I hold back."
If and when he unleashes his muse, Brosnan says he expects his first story to relate to his childhood in Ireland.
''They say to write what you know, and I have some autobiographical stories rattling around in my head -- I think I have to get that out of the way if I'm going to write anything," he says.
Brosnan says he might also take a stab at directing a film, but he's not sure when he'll be ready or if he's up to the task.
''I would like to direct, at some point," he says. ''But my sense and intuition about whether I could direct and what I want to direct has gotten curiouser and curiouser."
For now, he's concentrating on acting and producing. Currently he's filming ''Seraphim Falls," a post-Civil War film directed by David Von Ancken, in which he stars with Liam Neeson. He's also producing and starring in ''Butterfly on a Wheel," directed by Mike Barker, in which he plays a kidnapper.
Brosnan says he's undaunted by the fact that his future holds an element of uncertainty that he's not experienced for some time. He says he possesses a strong will to succeed that has guided him through his life.
''I'm ambitious and quite lethal in my own way when I want to get where I want to go," he says.
His drive helped Brosnan rise from hardscrabble beginnings. When he was a baby, his father abandoned him and his mother. ''They had me, and the old man just kind of took off," he says. ''But I had a great childhood. It was certainly filled with a sadness and longing, but it was also filled with the most beautiful landscapes."
He and his mother moved from Ireland to England, where Brosnan joined theatrical workshops as a teenager. Ultimately he landed a job in a street-theater group, where he picked up a talent for eating fire.
''It isn't hard," he explains. ''Put the darn thing in your mouth and make sure you close it quickly."
Skilled as he was at swallowing flames, Brosnan decided to focus on more serious acting and enrolled in a theater school, becoming moderately successful as a stage actor. But he hungered to make movies, so in 1982 he borrowed 2,000 pounds from a South London bank and headed to Los Angeles, where, within two weeks, he landed an agent and a starring role in the television series ''Remington Steele."
''I was happily employed then," he says. ''It was very profitable in many ways -- monetarily and learning-curve-wise as an actor. When you're working on TV, working long hours, you learn a lot about a craft."
When the show ended its run in 1987, Brosnan considered the possibility that his 15 minutes of fame were winding down and finding work might not necessarily be easy.
''I just thought, 'You're hot for a while and then it ends,' " Brosnan says. ''I saw fame and fortune in the height of 'Remington Steele' and then it faded and fell apart, and I thought, 'OK, now I'm back to another kind of looking for work.' "
Happily, of course, he found good work at a good wage when he won the James Bond role in 1994. He made four Bond films, the last, ''Die Another Day," in 2002. Other recent work has included ''Laws of Attraction" with Julianne Moore, ''After the Sunset," with Salma Hayek (both 2004), and ''The Tailor of Panama" (2001), with Geoffrey Rush.
Now, in addition to making movies, he says he is trying hard to maintain a balance in his life by spending time with his family. Brosnan has five children -- three from his first marriage to Cassandra Harris, who died in 1991, and two from his current marriage to Keely Shaye Smith.
Also, he says, he's trying to learn to loosen up. ''I'm hard on myself about the work that I do and the work I've done," he says. ''I try to let go of my own self-criticism quicker these days."
Judy Abel can be reached at Jabel1000@aol.com. 