Pierce Brosnan says Guinness is secret to young looks as he makes age admission
The former James Bond star - who turned 72 in May - admits he struggles with his new identity as an "older" person after spending so many years as a Hollywood hunk.
He told Saga magazine: "I don't see myself as an old man at all. But I suppose I would be considered an old man by some and I am getting older, that's for sure."
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The Drogheda actor's latest movie project is a big screen adaptation of Richard Osman's best-selling book The Thursday Murder Club - about a group of pensioners who solve murder mysteries - and Pierce hopes the film will show older people in a different light.
He said: "It will bring great comfort to people who are getting old. We don't really look after the elders in our society, they get pushed to the side. It's a story of dignity and hope."
His co-star in the film, Dame Helen Mirren, 80, added: "The great thing about a movie like this is that it reminds everyone: 'As an older person I have a brain. I have agency, energy, commitment, passion and intellect. It doesn't all stop when you're 40'."
Pierce recently credited his love of "Guinness" for helping him keep his hair thick and healthy as he's aged. James Bond legend Pierce Brosnan and wife Keeley. (Image: piercebrosnan/Instagram)
Speaking to New York Post column Page Six at the premiere of The Thursday Murder Club, Pierce noted his father Tom also "had good hair" and suggested it could be linked to his Irish roots and diet.
Pierce said: "I don't know. "It's all in the hair, the old Celtic hair." The former James Bond actor suggested that "potatoes, butter" or "the Guinness" is responsible for the lack of baldness in Irish men of a certain age. When told that he is ageing like fine wine, Brosnan replied: "I'm doing my best!"
The actor plays retired trade unionist Ron Ritchie in the upcoming Netflix film but he explained it isn't the first time he's taken on a character who is "rough-around-the-edges".
He told the publication: "I've done rough-around-the-edges before. [I've] been so entrenched in the world of the sophisticated man and Mr. Slick and Mr. Elegance, you know, sometimes you paint yourself into a corner with your own ... you get hoisted by your own canard so to speak!"
However, the actor pointed out playing suave roles hasn't served him too badly. The star - who played James Bond in four films between 1995 and 2002 - concluded: "It's paid the rent over the years!"
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