Pierce Brosnan praises 'razor sharp intellect' of MobLand co-star Tom Hardy
Watch: Pierce Brosnan shares his verdict on MobLand co-star Tom Hardy
Pierce Brosnan has paid tribute to his MobLand co-star Tom Hardy, saying the Venom star "has a very fine mind which is razor sharp".
Although he admits the two actors didn't socialise off-screen during production on Guy Ritchie's lavish new ten-part gangster saga, which hits Paramount+ on Sunday, 31 March, Brosnan was effusive with praise for Hardy, who plays mob fixer Harry De Souza to Brosnan's crimelord boss Conrad Harrigan.
"[Tom Hardy's] brilliant. He's brilliant," Brosnan told Yahoo UK. "He has such an underplayed style, and he really brings you in. He has the voice, and the voice he knows how to use seductively. He has the heart and soul of an actor, and the intellect, he has a very fine mind which is razor sharp.
"He has a rich history of his own life, which he uses, and we got on really well. We didn't socialise or anything like that. I went to work, did the job, and went home."
The series opens with a microcosm of Harry's relationship with Conrad, as the two deal with a turf war that threatens the Harrigan family's illegal empire. Conrad calls the shots, but it's Harry that does the dirty work for him. And it quickly becomes clear that Conrad is not afraid to get his bands dirty himself though.
"[Conrad] is a villain," explains Brosnan, cutting to the chase. "He's a family man, he's a businessman, and he is a very dangerous man, and he's a man that is somewhat imbalanced in life. He has a wife that's even more off-kilter than he is, and the two of them run a family business concerning guns, fentanyl, heroin, you name it. They're from Ireland, they're from the south, they're both joined at the hip emotionally, spiritually."
Watch a trailer for MobLand
Helen Mirren plays Conrad's wife, Maeve, who quickly emerges as a Lady MacBeth figure, and perhaps the true power behind the throne. Brosnan describes Maeve as "a pain in the arse" and "a mad b****", before quickly adding "but she's my wife, I love her". The two first shared credits on 1980's The Long Good Friday, but never shared a scene together. They've now worked together twice in quick succession, filming the adaptation of Richard Osman's Thursday Murder Club in 2024.
"Last summer, [Helen and I] worked together for the first time on The Thursday Murder Club, and that's when this job came across my desk. Guy Ritchie sent me five episodes of the show, I said 'yes', Helen and I have the same agent, and she read it, said 'are you going to do it?' and I said 'yes', she wanted to come back to England, and so did I, so 'I'm in'. Great. Then Tom [Hardy] came on board, we heard that Tom was interested and Tom jumped in, then we had game on."
Filming MobLand over the past five month has been a real sprint for the finish line, with Brosnan still filming scenes for the show the week it hits Paramount+, but it seems like a challenge that he was happy to take on.
"I've been on the road here for five months in England, so it's time to go home to my family," said the 71-year-old actor. "But we had a great time. You show up, you do the work, it goes very fast. If I understand the text and I know the text then you study, you study, you study, you come prepared, and you show up on time, and you do it. And you do that every day, and that's what we did. It really moved fast."
"They're still at work today, they're out in the forest killing people or something like that, i'm not sure what they're doing, but my job is done, bar the shouting. Talking to you, walking down the red carpet, and saying hello to everyone, here's the show: MobLand.
"It's been great fun, I have great gratitude for a job like this at this time, [it was] unexpected."
MobLand premieres on Paramount+ on Sunday, 30 March.
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