New York fast chat with Pierce Brosnan (The Matador)
08-Jan-2006 • Actor News
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In "The Matador," written and directed by Richard Shepard, he plays Julian Noble - a stubbly, alcoholic, un-Bond-like hit man who's been shaken, stirred, chewed up and spit out. But, hey, if going "ugly" can work for Charlize Theron come Oscar time, why not go for it? (It's already earned him a Golden Globe nomination.) Brosnan sat down with Joe Amodio, a reporter and television writer, to discuss this new dark comedy, which opens with the "new Brosnan" in bed with a prostitute and painting his toenails.
Have you ever painted your toenails - or had them painted?
No, no I haven't. [He laughs.] And I have no desire to have them painted.
What drew you to the script?
The hit-man genre has appealed to me. It's such a solitary existence. Richard's take is delightfully perverse. Kind of Joe Orton meets Hunter S. Thompson.
Did the wardrobe help flesh out Julian's character?
I told the costume designer, "Cowboy boots. I see cowboy boots." So she came up with those crazy, Cuban-heeled, commedia dell'arte, phallic boots. And that developed the walk. It was great working on a character like this because most of the time I'm just ... [long pause] ... just being myself. And yet I was trained as a character actor. Got to America and ended up ...
... Just playing an image?
Yeah. Leading Man in Suits. It was great for awhile, and I made a good living from it. But ... the clock was ticking. I wondered how I was going to get out of that box.
Was everyone encouraging you to do this kind of breakout film?
The agents were anxious. And there was a weekend where I had a crisis of confidence and jumped ship. I began to second-guess what the audience was going to think and how to please them. So we sat down and did a few trims of the script.
Julian is a briefs man, I take it.
That scene will haunt me for the rest of my life. We shot it in [our] hotel. And the front desk was, "Hello, Mr. Brosnan." "Buenos dÃas, hola," and I'm standing there in my bathrobe [he laughs]. I remember thinking, "Suck the stomach in." In the dressing room they had all these briefs for me to choose from. "Hmmm, these are a bit too skimpy, can't go there." I thought the ones were the most ... discreet.
How do you think the Bond producers will react if "Matador" is a hit?
Oh, they've seen it. And [producer] Michael Wilson has already written me the most charming letter, he wrote a lovely letter congratulating me on the role.
At times like these, when you're changing directions ... do you think about Cassandra , and what she'd be saying to you now?
Oh, yes. She comes to mind, many times. At times of great happiness, you think about people, the past, y'know, in nanoseconds. My wife, Keely , is an incredibly gracious woman, who has allowed Cassandra's life and memory to be held in high esteem, and talked about. So, yeah, I think Cassandra would be very proud of this time.
Where are you headed for the holidays?
Hawaii. We have a little place out there. Kind of a refuge. My so it's just going to be Keely and the little ones.
Any Brosnan family traditions?
My wife dresses the tree. I usually sip from a nice bottle of Dom Perignon and try not to get involved. We end up bickering. She loves dressing the Christmas tree. It takes days. She's very specific. The first year of our life together I tried to decorate with her. Oh, it was almost ... oh ... it was, it was ... oh! World War III. I just, y'know, "Can't we throw the lights around like this? That's the way I do it." "No, no, no, no." So she does the tinsel decorating and I pour the champagne, dress up as Father Christmas, run around. Yeah.
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