Pierce Brosnan is no longer Bond:
A single, surprising phone call and it was over. That’s how Pierce Brosnan says he learned that his services as James Bond would no longer be required.
“One phone call, that’s all it took!” the 52-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly magazine in its Aug. 19 issue.
Brosnan starred in four Bond films. He says that before they stopped negotiations, the producers had invited him back for a fifth time.
“You know, the movie career for me really started with Bond,” says Brosnan, acknowledging that by the time GoldenEye premiered in 1995, he was already 42.
He then starred as 007 in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Die Another Day (2002).
Personally, I thought he was a great Bond. Connery was still the best, though. Roger Moore and Timothy Dalton were abominations.
John S.
While Roger Moore was certainly a lackluster Bond, he happened to star in one of my favorite Bond movies: View to a Kill.
Best Villain: Christopher Walken
Best Villainess: Grace Jones
Best Love Interest: Tanya Roberts
Best Theme Song: Duran Duran
It was campy as hell, and Moore was like 60 when he did it, but damn that’s an entertaining movie.
Don
I’m amazed how many people disliked Dalton. I was thrilled to have a Bond again who looked like it might actually hurt if he punched you. I also liked that world-weary tone he brought to the role. The stories themselves were stinkers but that wasn’t his fault.
linda
yeah, but NOBODY surpasses sean connery.
bs23
don’t forget george lazenby! i rather liked on her majesty’s secret service. and the living daylights, for whatever reason. though no one holds a candle to connery, i’d like to see clive owen give it a shot.
profbacon
I too was a Dalton Fan.
But please, Connery wasn’t a God. In his last two (Never say Never and Diamonds are Forever), he was horrible.
Tim F
Although Goldeneye was probably the best Brosnan film, Die Another Day was still pretty good. More to the point, the climactic father-and-son scene sums up nicely the relationship between Bush pere et fils. Of course, not counting the part where the son electrocutes the father through the armored laser vest.
Wrye
no, that hasn’t happened…
…yet.
profbacon
Plus, Dalton went to Afganistan in the 80’s (Living Daylights)… you can see Osama in the background, he’s making a movie with Stallone!
Nikki
I’d like to put in my vote for Clive Owen as well. He’d make a damned sexy Bond.
Stormy70
Clive Owen is hotte!
Connery rules.
Yet another Jeff
Dalton suffered from weak scripts and people’s expectations of what Bond “should” be. Dalton was probably the best reflection of Fleming’s original vision of Bond, including Connery.
Also, he was amazing in The Rocketeer
Jimmy Jazz
Ah yes, everyone forgets Poland and Lazenby. I liked him and OHMSS too.
And yes, Clive Owen’s a natural. Sadly though, it looks like the Final Four are a bunch of no names.
capelza
Checked out those names. Ewan Stewart would be pretty good. I’ve seen a whole lot of his stuff over the years. Had read that Daniel Craig had been in the running. He would have been great.
I liked Timothy Dalton, too. Brosnan was very good. I enjoyed his tenure.
jg
There’s was another ‘Bond’. Peter Sellers. Casino Royale.
Jimmy Jazz
That’s the title of the next one. I preferred Sellers as Clouseau. :)
SomeCallMeTim
Dalton was great; as someone else said, it was nice to see Bond portrayed by a man, for a change.
jg
It was a comedy in 67, now apparently its going to be a real Bond movie. Then again some of the recent Bond movies have been comedies, although unintentionally. Denise Richards as a nuclear scientists. Now thats comedy.
TallDave
Brosnan was pretty good. I’d rank him right behind Connery, who pwned that role.
Zifnab
I thought Brosnan did a good job, but by and large, the movies that set him in were kinda weak (with the exception of Goldeye). Nothing like the Goldfingers and Thunderballs of yesteryear.
If the movies had been better (and Connery hadn’t gone on to totally kick ass as a non-Bond actor) I think Brosnan could easily be on par with Connery.
tBone
I think the Bond franchise would be much better off if the producers had been let go instead of Brosnan. They seem to be intent on playing it safe and releasing nothing but tepid rehash after tepid rehash. I’d like to see someone come in and actually make the Bond franchise cool and edgy again.
On second thought, strike that. Knowing Hollywood, the new James Bond would be a UK version of Vin Diesel as “XXX.”
StupidityRules
The Bond franchise has lost its touch. I loved the stunts in the earlier ones, now it’s way too much blue screen, the last one had some really laughable scenes…
Favorite Bond movie – For your Eyes Only.
And I also liked Lazenby, pity that he only made one. I never liked Dalton, pity that he did two. ;)
Boronx
Goldeneye was the best of the four, but the World is Not Enough has by far the best opening of any bond film.
Boronx
Hey, “XXX” was good fun.
Don Surber
Best Villain: Christopher Walken Gert Frobe
Best Villainess: Grace Jones
Best Love Interest: Tanya Roberts Ursula Andress
Best Theme Song: Duran Duran Live and Let Die
Don Surber
Darned slashes didn’t work!
Best Villain: Gert Frobe
Best Villainess: Grace Jones
Best Love Interest: Ursula Andress
Best Theme Song: Live and Let Die
Zifnab
Hey! I liked XXX. I mean, certainly not as a Bond film. But still.
State of the Union sucked. But that’s neither here nor there.
Steve
Halle Berry gets no love, for some reason.
tBone
No offense to XXX; I actually haven’t seen it. I did hear it was pretty good, especially considering the meathead who starred in it.
But I think we can all agree that a tattooed x-treme version of the real Bond would be one of the Seven Signs, right?
DougJ
I’ve heard that the new James Bond will be Rob Schneider.
Mr Furious
LOL! Good one DougJ!
I liked Brosnan a lot. He was pretty good. Dalton got screwed by his scripts and the awkward “redefining” of Bond. He was pretty good too. The young Connery was definitely the best.
A vote for Clive from me too.
Boronx
Vin Diesel would make an excellent Bond villain of the Oddjob variety.
Otto Man
Connery will always be the gold standard, but I thought Brosnan did a great job. Goldeneye might not have been Goldfinger, but it came damn close.
M. Scott Eiland
He started late and lasted quite a while: excluding Connery’s turn in “Never Say Never Again” (which was a remake of “Thunderball” that resulted from a lengthy lawsuit over rights to the Bond movie series), only Moore–who is older than Connery–was older when starring in a Bond film (Moore looked practically mummified by the time he made his last Bond film–it was definitely a case of riding that horse way too long). Brosnan lost out on a couple of Bond films because he was trapped in his “Remington Steele” contract for one year too long–if not for that, he might have worn the mantle for about fifteen years–as long as Moore did and substantially longer than Connery.
Matthew J. Stinson
Clearly, a mark of cultural backwardness here in China is that Roger Moore is preferred to all other Bonds.
A lot of people are on the Owen bandwagon but as you can see in his King Arthur film, he really needs more charm. He has a lot of brute strength to him, which may make his performance more like Dalton’s.
Mr Furious
Good point. Owen would have the bad-ass part down, but can he pull off the charming, debonaire “Shaken, not stirred” part?
I know the ladies might disagree with me, but he might be a bit TOO rugged?
J. Michael Neal
Dalton was far and away the best James Bond; it was just the scripts that sucked.
They way he played Bond, you could understand why he drank like a fish, smoked like a chimney and slept with everything that moved (even though he didn’t in those two &*@#)#% movies); he absolutely knew that none of these would be what killed him. Death was real for the Dalton Bond in a way that it never has been for any of the others. They tried to make it seem that way with Brosnan by dredging up endless numbers of “old friends and comrades”, but it was a pale imitation. Though, the opening scenes in Die Another Day were a very good attempt; unfortunately, the second half of the movie sucked so badly, and was so ridiculous, that it diminished the impact.
Gaijin Biker
John S:Tanya Roberts as the best love interest ever? I didn’t know they let mental patients surf the Internet.
And yeah, Dalton was a good bond. Only Moore stands out as a complete tool.
M. Scott Eiland
An amusing trivia note: Ian Fleming described Bond carefully in the first book in the series–Casino Royale–and noted that Bond–aside from the livid scar on his cheek–was a dead ringer for Hoagy Carmichael, the then-famous composer. Clearly, that image of the master secret agent was just not going to do for the purposes of Hollywood.
MisterPundit
OT but still entertainment related …
Who is watching Rockstar INXS? I can’t believe Ty Taylor wasn’t in the top 3 last night. Seriously. WTF is this world coming to?!? And Deanna in the bottom 3? That’s just sad.
ape
Moore was the best Bond, Goldeneye was perhaps the best film.
However, I speaking as someone who doesn’t particularly like James Bond. I don’t find any of the Connery ones even bearable. This is aside from the fact that I separately consider him one of the worst actors in cinema history – watch Highlander. Check out his irish accent in ‘Untouchables’.
The Bond films only work for me when they’re tongue-in-cheek. I recall thinking ‘For Your Eyes Only’ was the best once..
Moore can actually crack a one-liner! Connery never could. That one also has the car chase straight down the mountain and the monastery at the end.
Don Surber
I forgot Jill St. John. Not as glamorous as Ursula Andress (who may have been the only one to do two Bond movies — if “Casino Royale” is considered Bond because it is non-Broccoli) but she seemed to be the most fun
Seal Pool
Peter Sellers was the best Bond, followed by David Niven, then Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond.
Bond movies actually have pretty bad plots, crappy special effects, and poor acting.
The politics and sexual dynamics are deplorable as well.
I think it’s best to have enjoyed them when you were a teenager, then to put away your childish things.
Another Jeff
I like Sean Connery, but he’s gotta stop being so mean to Alex Trebek when he’s on Celebrity Jeopardy.
Slartibartfast
Um…never having seen Casino Royale, I’d thought Bond was played by David Niven.
Marcus Wellby
I think Brosnan is a great actor, but cannot watch any of the post-Moore Bond films. Not that Roger Moore was great, but the Bond movies have changed. As someone upthead said, they are turning into “XXX”.
I want the secret agent of the old movies, not some superhero. Granted, Bond was always the comic book hero of sorts, but the new movies are just too much.
Dalton was great in the underated 1980’s Flash Gordon. One of the Best. Movies. Ever.
p.lukasiak
I’d like to suggest Robert Carlyle for the new Bond.
Bond should be sexy because he’s dangerous, but for far too long he’s been “dangerous” because he’s sexy.
But the reality is that the Bond franchise as it exists currently is completely played out — indeed, the whole idea of movies as special effects extravanganzas is played out, as seen by the anemic box office for films this summer.
What the franchise needs is a Doug Liman, who had a high profile book (the Bourne Identity) that most directors would have turned into just another high budget, special effects laden spy “thriller”. Instead, Liman gave us something far closer to Hitchcock, and made tons of money doing it.
As far as the best Bond, Dalton is my choice—because he faced a far more difficult task than Connery ever did as Bond, and somehow managed to create a living, breathing James Bond out of practically nothing in terms of script. Dalton refused to engage in self-parody as Bond — something Connery began to do in Goldfinger, and continued to do as the franchise became more absurd with each new film.
The best “movie” with Bond as a character, is, of course “From Russia With Love”, but the best “Bond movie” will always be Goldfinger.
Of course, there will always be a place in my heart for Casino Royale, one of the biggest messes ever put on celluloid (Woody Allen as the villian, little Jimmy Bond? Jackie Bisset as “Miss Goodthighs”?) Its irresistable.
KC
Man, I liked Roger Moore. Don’t get me wrong, Connery’s still the best, but I enjoyed Moore quite a bit. Yeah, some of his Bonds were pretty silly, but he also got some classics in there. I mean, I think Spy Who Loved Me was a great Bond film, one of the best. View to a Kill and For Your Eyes Only were pretty good too. I couldn’t even finish Brosnan’s last film, I thought it stunk so bad (Invisible car?). It is too bad he got into the Bond thing so late though because I really liked his first two films. Oh well, here’s to the next guy.
Mike
“p.lukasiak Says:
I’d like to suggest Robert Carlyle for the new Bond.
Bond should be sexy because he’s dangerous, but for far too long he’s been “dangerous” because he’s sexy.”
I agree with this sentiment, but arrived at a different conclusion as for who it should be. I vote for Jason Issacs (the guy that played the evil Col. William Tavington in “The Patriot”, and is in the Harry Potter movies). This guy exudes a cetain “coldness” that a killer like Bond should have. Additionally, the guy is a classically trained actor, who went to the same school as Sir Lawrence Olivier. The only things he got against him is his height (he’s on 5’11”), and the fact he’s a cartoon villian on the Harry Potter movie franchise.
ape
truly, a remarkable number of Dalton enthusiasts.
cd. a sociologist derive conslusions about Balloon Juice readers?
Don Surber
Rob Schneider as James Bond
“M. The M-inator. M-ster. The M-woman …”
Profbacon
Because
“Timothy Dalton Should get an Oscar and beat Sean Connery over the head with it”
Andrew from the Buff trio.
Anyhow, even though Bond is British, Connery was Scottish. Bronson is Irish. Lazanby was a fucking Kiwi for Chirst sakes! The best British Bond was Dalton, he was the hard ass. Moore was the the silly bond. Connery was the sexy Bond. Bronson was the suave Bond. But really the first 2 Bonds… Thunderball and Dr. No weren’t that great. Connery was in two amazing Bonds, Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.
Moore made some good ones. Like “Live and Let Die,”
Pierce was the best I’ve had in my life, and I will miss him.
Michael
Brosnan was shit! as were these new movies by and large. Nothing tops Moore’s clownification of Bond though.. And Dalton wasn’t quite dislikable.
They can cast anyone they like now, but 1) he’ll never be as Bond as Connery and 2) the movie will suck with its usual formulaic way anyway.
M. Scott Eiland
IIRC, Bond’s father was supposedly Scottish and his mother was Swiss–so Connery was arguably the most “authentic” as far as background goes.
Actually, “From Russia With Love” was the second Connery Bond, and it was a pretty fun ride–though switching SPECTRE in as the villain instead of SMERSH for political considerations was a mild desecration of the novel’s plot, IMO.
John S.
Yes, Gaijin Biker, apparently they do, and you are living proof. I mean how can a person be so snarky about someone else’s opinion on something so trivial?
Sheesh.
docG
My favorite buggy whip is the Flank Cracker 200, the Ass Snapper 3000 is all hype!
Tim F
The shoelace prussik hitch at the end pwned. You don’t get that many genuinely useful survival tips from Bond movies and, assuming that you have kevlar shoelaces, that was one of them. Another one was the hotel-room spyproofing in Live and Let Die.
J. Michael Neal
Not as glamorous as Ursula Andress (who may have been the only one to do two Bond movies—if “Casino Royale” is considered Bond because it is non-Broccoli)
Maud Adams was in both The Man with the Golden Gun (though not as the main love interest) and Octopussy.
Profbacon
Maud Adams can also be seen in the background of View to a Kill, you have to know where, and freeze frame it… but there she is.
Pan Pan anon...
Dalton offered strong acting skills with a close approximation of Fleming’s Bond, being tough, gritty, and emotional but also exuding professionalism and experience. License to Kill shows Bond going off the deep end, and it works because Dalton offers a believable character whose emotions get the better of him.
Connery, at least in the first four films he made (and especially Dr. No), had by far the best combination of screen presence, physical attributes, and that youthful animalism that was also very much key to Fleming’s Bond. He set the bar so high that even he couldn’t live up to his past performances when he twice resumed the role in 1971 and 1983.
Moore carried the role with class, charm and a warm, British elegence, very much unlike the imagined character. Nonetheless, in acting to his strengths by alternating between stylish wit and professional severtity, he was enormously successful in the role. He made one too many films, however.
In the film that comes the closest to reproducing the mood and style of Fleming’s original, Lazenby was forced to bring alot of maturity and sensitivity to the role. In some ways, he comes very close to Fleming’s vision, particularly with his enormous physical presense in fights and his playboy sensibility. On the other hand, his Bond is probably the least edgy and threatening of them all.
Brosnan was the cold, cruel and sensitive Bond who might have brought a strong new dimension to the character had the screenwriters allowed it. As it is, the films took a wrong turn in the 90s and character development was always eclipsed by thunderous action sequences. Still, Brosnan’s ability to portray a hungry, rapacious professional, particularly with the women, did set him apart.
Gary Farber
So what you’re saying, John, is that Brosnan is still not James Bond?
Gaijin Biker
John S., you are obviously unfamiliar with the fine and longstanding practice of movie-related Internet smack talk. My remark was in the finest Kirk vs. Picard tradition.
M. Scott Eiland
Glad you pointed that out, Gary–I thought I had read reports about Brosnan being out as Bond before, but I was starting to think I had been mistaken.
John S.
I am familiar with zagnuts who post on blogs and take trivial issues far too seriously. I don’t know about the ‘fine tradition’ of calling someone mentally handicapped, but a little trash talking – especially in movie circles – is perfectly acceptable (since you’ve established you are the latter rather than the former).
Incidentally, Picard was way better than Kirk. Only a moron would think otherwsie.
=P
Gary Farber
“…but I was starting to think I had been mistaken.”
I’m thinking it’s a Francisco Franco thing: Brosnan will keep on being reported to no longer be Bond right up until the next movie. It’s news! He’s still no longer Bond! Again!
Hire that press person, because whomever it is, she or he keeps convincing folks that it’s still news. I mean, this has now literally been running for years. Great job.
Gary Farber
You really don’t read your own comments. Why have them? What’s the point?
Tap the Fem Tart
Brosnan was always a Bond “poser.” The site of him in one of my favorite roles made my ‘nads ache.
Slartibartfast
I just can’t imagine that prussik loops made from shoelaces could be very effective. Better than falling thousands of feet to your death, sure, but it’d take a LONG time to climb any vertical distance. The nice thing about rope prussiks is they give up their cinch fairly easily, after you take the weight off.
Now, if he’d managed to fasten a couple of Jumars out of belt buckles and other metal accessories, that would’ve rocked.