2 days ago
Pierce Brosnan: I would play Bond again in a heartbeat
Pierce Brosnan has said he would reprise the role of James Bond as part of Amazon's reboot of the British spy franchise.
The Irish-American actor played 007 in four Bond films in the 1990s and early 2000s including GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough.
Now 72, Brosnan admitted that the world might not be ready for a senior citizen 007, but that he would seize the opportunity if Denis Villeneuve, the new Bond director, came knocking.
He told Radio Times: 'I don't think anyone wants to see a craggy, 72-year-old Bond but if Villenevue had something up his sleeve I would look at it in a heartbeat.
'It could be lots of laughs. Bald caps, prosthetics… who knows?'
Brosnan was 51 when he appeared in his last Bond film – 2002's Die Another Day – before he moved he went on to star in other Hollywood films including The Thomas Crown Affair, Dante's Peak and Mamma Mia!
Roger Moore was considered by some to be too old to play the spy during his run of seven Bond films. The British actor was 57 when he made his final Bond film, View To A Kill, in 1985.
Sean Connery, who many Bond aficionados believe was the best 007, was in his 30s when he starred in the role in the 1960s and 1970s.
Even when Connery reprised the 007 role for the non-official Bond film, Never Say Never Again, in 1983, he was still a sprightly 53.
Brosnan, who will star in the new Thursday Murder Club film, said he had been keeping a close eye on who the next Bond will be after Daniel Craig bowed out in 2021 after five films.
'My wife Keely [Shaye Smith] and I have been listening to the drumbeat of expectation of who's going to be the next James Bond,' he told Radio Times.
'There are many great candidates out there, and I'm sure they're going to make it a spectacle of delight.'
Bond must be a man
Brosnan recently reaffirmed his view that Britain's most famous fictional spy had to be played by a man after an 2019 interview resurfaced in which the actor claimed it was time 'to put a woman up there'.
At the time, he also said a female Bond would be 'exciting' and 'exhilarating'.
But Brosnan is now back behind a male Bond. He said: 'I'm so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character,' he told Saga Magazine.
'I adore the world of James Bond. It's been very good to me. It's the gift that keeps giving.
'And I'm just a member of the audience now, sitting back saying: 'Show us what you're going to do'.
Brosnan also wished Amazon MGM Studios – which paid $1 billion for the rights for creative control of the 007 franchise – all the best for the new films.
Amid concerns about what Amazon is going to do to one of the world's most famous franchises, Dame Helen Mirren also urged Amazon not to mess with the formula amid concerns about Amazon's takeover of the franchise.
'I'm such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can't have a woman. It just doesn't work,' she told Saga Magazine.
'James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.'
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, known for 28 Years Later and Bullet Train, is among the favourites to succeed Craig.
Though Idris Elba, 52, ruled himself out of contention saying he felt he was 'too old' for Bond, his name is still being touted as a possible replacement.
Theo James (White Lotus), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) and Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts) have also all been linked to the role.
