Pierce Brosnan, one of the elite six who have played 007 on the big screen, admits to Access Hollywood that he has yet to see a James Bond film starring his successor Daniel Craig.
In this video interview conducted during 2012 The Toronto Film Festival, while talking up his new film Love Is All You Need, the topic of James Bond and the character’s upcoming 50th Anniversary was something that could not be overlooked, and Access’ Scott Mantz first asked Brosnan to reflect on his contribution to the enduring legacy of the series from 1995 to 2002.
“It’s a small group of men now who played this role. So I’m deeply proud to be a part of it. It changed my life. It in many ways allowed me to make my own company, make my own films, the Thomas Crown (Affair), or The Matador, or Evelyn. And it’s just the gift that keeps giving. So once you are that man, and if you embrace it, celebrate it, you can have a great time.”
But there was an unexpected response when asked about moving past the series and his reaction to the first time he saw Daniel Craig’s performance as the legendary secret agent in Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace.
“I haven’t!” he laughed.
“I haven’t seen his movies. I haven’t looked,” said the actor, who starred as 007 in GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day.
“I think it’s time, Daniel. I know you’re doing great out there,” he said to camera to the current Bond. “I know he’s stealing thunder as he should and will continue to do so,” he added regarding his friend Daniel Craig.
He honestly elaborated his concerns on following Timothy Dalton’s two film stint as 007. “It was so difficult to enter into that that mansion, that world. And then to do it, and to get away with it and to have it live around you. And you to be the character, and when it finished I just had to keep looking in another direction because it’s a hard one to dig yourself out from under. Or to move on. Or how do you move on from it?'” he admitted.
But that’s not to say that Brosnan has not had the opportunity to check out the newer films in the series. He recalled a time when he was confronted with the perfect chance to watch Casino Royale, as an in-flight movie no less.
“I was on a plane years back and Casino Royale came on, and I thought ‘Ah well, 37,000 feet. It’s a good vantage point to watch it, to see what this lad’s up to, you know Daniel,”‘ he recalled.
“He and I know each other, we’re friends. Anyway, I was watching it, it broke down, and I was like ‘Excuse me? Can I just, you know? Kaput.’ And so it started up again, and it broke down. And then I tried it a third time and it wouldn’t work. And I thought ‘Alright, time enough. Time enough for that. I’ll come and see it.’ But it’s what a celebration. I mean there was no other movie like it in the history of the films in fifty years.”
There probably would have been double take after double take on that plane, as people passed by Brosnan’s seat and catching a glimpse of James Bond watching a James Bond movie. But for Brosnan, there may be little escaping the upcoming onslaught of the fantastic Skyfall (reviewed on NerdyRottenScoundrel.com here), which like GoldenEye, could not do the series more proud as a defining, if not a re-defining chapter.
SOURCE: Access Hollywood
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