Lawrence Makoare talks about life as Mr. Kil in Die Another Day

04-Jan-2003 • Die Another Day

New Zealand actor Lawrence Makoare, who played henchman Mr. Kil in "Die Another Day", talked to the New Zealand Herald about his Bond experience:

So what`s Mr Kil`s first name?

Um, Don`t Die. Don`t? Mr Don`t Kil?

You were never told?

No. I was never told. All I had on my dressing room door was Mr Kil. And next door was James Bond.

Was his dressing room much bigger than yours?

I wondered that when I was sitting in mine. I could hear his TV going so I went and had a look. I opened up the door and Pierce Brosnan was having his breakfast and he said, "Come in, come in" and his room was huge. I only had a little bowl of fruit. He had a whole room of fruit and he had a fridge and he had a bed and he had a stereo. Hey, why are you so special?

But Pierce was great because I had taken over a lot of taonga - pounamu just to give out as presents. I had given Lee one and Pierce was looking at it. I gave Halle Berry hers and one to Rosamund Pike... so I made him wonder when he was getting his.

So I went to give him his, and check out his room as well, and he said, "Have a seat" and I said, "Well, this one is bigger than Lee`s" and he`s like: "Fantastic. I was actually eyeing up Lee`s and I had to ask where he got his. Thank you for the biggest."

You`re not in the film that much. But he`s a definite presence.

The character is supposed to be more seen and not heard. I like those characters because you don`t have to remember your lines. So you don`t stuff them up.

So it`s not the hardest acting you`ve ever done?

No. It`s working in those prosthetics in The Lord of the Rings that was really hard and the Maori Merchant of Venice, remembering those lines was really hard.

Mr Kil is sort of the mother of all nightclub bouncers, isn`t he?

Yeah. But it was just good to be on set and watch. I got to sit in James` Aston Martin. That was a bit small. I was sitting there with Pierce and I thought I always wanted to do this and I`m going to do it... "Home James."