Actor Pierce Brosnan in "The November Man." (Relativity Studios)
BEVERLY HILLS , Calif., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Irish actor Pierce Brosnan admits lingering regrets about his dismissal from the James Bond film franchise in favor of younger actor Daniel Craig compelled him to once again play a spy in the new thriller The November Man.
"After my four outings as James Bond, there seemed to be unfinished business in the way that the Bond finished in my life and the way that the demise of Bond, going off stage left into the night, seemed like there was a certain void there of... as I say, unfinished business," the 61-year-old actor -- who played Secret Agent 007 in a quartet of Bond movies from 1995 to 2002 -- said at a recent press conference in Beverly Hills.
The actor went on to recall how Beau St. Clair, his longtime partner in his Irish DreamTime production company, approached him with the idea of playing an entirely different secret agent in a potential franchise.
"She and I had made numerous films, The Thomas Crown Affair and The Matador, so we had a good friendship and understanding of each other's lives and lived so much life together with families and the Bond was so big and mighty in my career and it is the gift that just keeps giving and I wouldn't be here today, in the company of you all talking about November Man, if it hadn't been for James Bond."
He went on to say he got to "take the gloves off" with his latest character.
"So, there was a desire, a want and a need to make this film, The November Man. I love the title. It has a sensuality and mystique to it and the writing of Bill Granger had a complexity of character and a punch and a grit to it, which gave me the opportunity to really take the gloves off and be hard as nails and be ambivalent in my moral values as a character. So, there was a complexity there that was seductive and enticing."
Brosnan's Dante's Peak director Roger Donaldson helmed his latest movie, which is based on Granger's bestselling novels about Peter Devereaux, a highly trained, ex-CIA agent and master of international espionage whose code name is "The November Man."
Co-starring Luke Bracey, Olga Kurylenko, Will Patton and Bill Smitrovich, The November Man is in theaters now.
