Tag: Pierce Brosnan

2023.05.12

Happy 70th Birthday Pierce Brosnan: The Venice interviews (2012)

Next Tuesday, May 16th 2023, Pierce Brosnan will turn 70.

Upon approaching his 60th birthday back in 2012 the Irish James Bond star reflected that 60 was not just another number but a sharp corner that made him stop and think:

"I cruised in over 50, and I was good. 51, 52, 53, a little bit of turbulence. Psychic turbulence. Then you creep up the ladder there, and ... The body, the mind, the judgment of life. You have to stay alert. You become more passionate about being alive and being present with your children. You don't have the same nerves about acting. You still get nerves. Wednesday will be the first day on the set of my next movie with Toni Collette and Imogen Poots, I'm caught between this world and that. But I still have the passion and drive to try to be great."

Pierce Brosnan aired his views on aging at a press junket during the 69th annual Venice International Film Festival. Bond•O•Rama.dk was in attendance and had the good fortune to meet the then 59-year-old actor in an intimate two-on-one session as well as at a larger conference for the European press. Brosnan was in town to promote Danish director Susanne Bier's dramedy "Love is All You Need" (original Danish title: "Den skaldede frisør" = The Bald Hairdresser) which he had enjoyed making. The full transcripts of the two interviews have never before been released but are now made available for free in celebration of Pierce Brosnan's 70th birthday.

I am also quoted in a one-page profile on Brosnan which will appear in the Danish daily Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten on Tuesday May 16, 2023.

● The edited and published Pierce Brosnan interviews (2012) can be found here

One small anecdote: To this day I regret that I missed out on a once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity when I met Pierce Brosnan in Venice. Before the actual interview, which took place in a large white tent, I was waiting around wearing a cream-coloured suit which happened to exactly match the leather couch that Brosnan and I were both standing next to. Pierce, who seemed relaxed and amiable while killing time like me, noticed the similar colours and cheerfully remarked that I was dressed for the occasion. If only I had had the good sense to capture that moment for posterity! Instead you will have to settle for this grainy snapshot of the younger Brosnan arriving at the Odeon Leicester Square for the London gala premiere of "GoldenEye" in 1995 where I was standing behind the barricades in a crowd of cheering fans, all stretching our necks to catch a glimpse of the celebrity guests.

Pierce Brosnan at the London gala premiere of "GoldenEye" at Odeon Leicester Square, London November 21, 1995 - credit © Brian Iskov/Bond•O•Rama.dk

DEN SKALDEDE FRISØR (Love is All You Need)

Danish junket, Venice Film Festival 2012 - 17 mins

Q: Your character in "Love is All You Need" says that he hates our bloody country. What was your impression of Denmark?
Pierce Brosnan: Mine was that I enjoyed your country. Copenhagen I really adored, I had the most fantastic time. Loved the country, loved the artists that I met. I started my career as a painter, as an artist so I was fascinated by the work that was going on there. Susanne's films had intrigued me enormously. The Dogma of it all, when those films came on the stage years ago, that was quite fascinating. There was a challenge in my mind to start with, of how I was gonna fit into this whole scenario. But Susanne just said, don't worry about that. And we *were* fine.

2023.03.10

“GoldenEye”: Tv interview with Pierce Brosnan from “Bogart” (1996)

In this excerpt from the film programme "Bogart" shown on DR (Danish national television) in January 1996, the show's host Ole Michelsen reviews the latest James Bond 007 film "GoldenEye" in Danish and interviews Pierce Brosnan who visited Hotel d'Angleterre in Copenhagen on his promotional tour. The interview clip is in English with Danish subtitles and shows a somewhat defensive Brosnan countering a slightly condescending question from Michelsen regarding the "shallowness" of the Bond character.

Please note that the clip is transferred from a VHS recording of the original broadcast and that this edit does not include the clip from the opening scene of "GoldenEye" which was part of the original broadcast.

Extra:

On page 167 of Ole Michelsen's book "Film skal ses i biografen" [Movies should be seen at the cinema], published by Aschehoug in 1997, he gave yet another reason for Pierce Brosnan's grumpy appearence in the interview clip:

"I accidentally insulted him when he told me he was about to do a new version of Robinson Crusoe. I responded: Which part will you be playing?"

2020.03.13

“GoldenEye”: Video report from the Danish gala premiere (TV 2 1996)

The 24 January 1996 edition of the youth programme SuperPuls on Danish network TV 2 covered the Danish gala premiere of "GoldenEye" which took place at Copenhagen's Imperial Cinema on January 11.

The video is mostly in Danish although host Tina Bilsbo is seen interviewing Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007) on the red carpet. The clip also features interview snippets with Brosnan, composer Eric Serra and singer Tina Turner from the "GoldenEye" EPK (Electronic Press Kit). These are in English with Danish subtitles.

The clip is sourced from a VHS taping which explains the poor image quality.

● Watch more rare video clips on the James Bond•O•Rama Vimeo page

2017.05.14

Maryam d’Abo: Exclusive interview (2016)

On September 2, 2016, James Bond•O•Rama.dk had the pleasure of talking to Maryam d'Abo during the "James Bond in Oslo" event.

The British-French actress starred as Kara Milovy opposite Timothy Dalton's James Bond 007 in "The Living Daylights" (EON Productions 1987).

In 2002, Maryam d'Abo co-wrote, produced and hosted the TV documentary "Bond Girls are Forever" in which she interviewed a string of actresses from EON Productions' James Bond film series. The interviews were edited into a tie-in book also titled "Bond Girls are Forever". The book was co-written by John Cork and published by Boxtree in 2003. Maryam d'Abo has since revisited and re-edited the documentary twice, in 2006 and again in 2012.

The following is a transcript of our chat in Oslo. Our time was sadly limited to 15 minutes, as Maryam d'Abo had to rush to the airport.

*Maryam D'Abo (with David Fellowes) as Queen Rosalind of Denmark in "The Prince and Me 2" (2006) - framegrab*

James Bond•O•Rama.dk: Didn't you play the Queen of Denmark in a film – or rather, a queen of Denmark?
Maryam d'Abo: Yes, I did.

I believe she was called Queen Rosalind?
Maryam d'Abo: Can't remember the name, but I did play a Danish queen in "The Prince and Me 2: The Royal Wedding" (2006) with this American actress [Kam Heskin, ed.]. We shot outside of Prague. I went back to Prague after "Doctor Zhivago" (2002), the TV series, yeah.

So you didn't go anywhere near Denmark.
Maryam d'Abo: No. But I've been to Copenhagen. I did something there ... Gosh. I went there a couple of years ago to do something. It might have been a commercial. I was flown in to Copenhagen and stayed in a really nice boutique hotel. Actually, this [Oslo] was reminding me a little of Copenhagen with the docks and all. But it's not as nice as Copenhagen. It was not a movie, more like a commercial or something like that, because I was only there very briefly for three days. But it was definitely a job.

Did you do a junket for "The Living Daylights" in Copenhagen?
Maryam d'Abo: No. Never. I did Vienna, a big junket, and we premiered in Amsterdam.

2017.04.12

“The World is not Enough”: Danish TV interviews and review (DR2 1999)

In December 1999, the film programme "Bogart", broadcast on national Danish TV channel DR2, featured a lengthy segment on the newly released James Bond 007 film "The World is Not Enough" (Eon Productions 1999).

First, actor Ulrich Thomsen talks to journalist Søren Høy about his role as Davidov in the film. This part is in Danish.

Next, director Michael Apted and Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007) discuss the film in junket interviews with Søren Høy. These interviews are in English with Danish subtitles.

The segment ends with a capsule review of "The World is not Enough" in Danish by the show's host, Ole Michelsen.

● Watch more rare James Bond 007 videos on Bond•O•Rama's Vimeo page

2016.07.10

“Tomorrow Never Dies”: I biffen – 007 Special (TvDanmark 1997)

To mark the Danish theatrical release of "Tomorrow Never Dies" in December 1997, TvDanmark produced this 007 special as part of their regular "I biffen" show ["At the movies"]. The special features interview segments with Danish actress Cecilie Thomsen (professor Inga Bergström) and actor Desmond Llewelyn ('Q').

The show also includes footage from the Copenhagen gala premiere of "Tomorrow Never Dies" at the Imperial cinema, as well as interview segments with Michelle Yeoh and Pierce Brosnan, both seemingly sourced from an EPK press kit.

Apologies for the inferior image and sound quality (the material was sourced from a second generation VHS copy).

Interview segments are in English (Llewelyn, Yeoh, Brosnan) and Danish (Thomsen).

● More rare videos at James Bond•O•Rama's Vimeo page

2016.05.16

“Love is All You Need”: Interview with Pierce Brosnan (2012)

Today, 16 May 2016, is Pierce Brendan Brosnan's 63rd birthday.

The fifth man to portray James Bond 007 in the EON Productions film franchise (from 1995 to 2004), the Irish actor has also appeared in a Danish feature film. He played the co-lead opposite Trine Dyrholm in Susanne Bier's romantic dramedy "Love is All You Need" from 2012. And by the way, the original Danish title, "Den skaldede frisør", translates as "The Bald-headed Hairdresser".

"Love is All You Need" premiered at the Venice Film Festival that same year. I seized the opportunity to interview Pierce Brosnan – twice, in fact. An intimate two-to-one conversation was followed by a larger session with an international group of journalists. And yes, I shook his hand, which in James Bond terms makes three for six (I've also met Daniel Craig and George Lazenby).

Sadly, the year after this interview was conducted, Pierce Brosnan and Cassandra Harris' daughter, Charlotte Brosnan, died from cancer at the age of 42.

INTERVIEW WITH PIERCE BROSNAN, "LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED"

From Bond to Bier

Brian Iskov for Dagbladenes Bureau, September 2012

Working with Susanne Bier and her Danish ensemble of actors became a happy release for Pierce Brosnan after the straightjacket that was James Bond 007. Playing a cancer widower in Bier's romantic comedy ”Love is All You Need”, the Irish movie star drew on his own life experience

VENICE, ITALY – ”Tak” [thanks]. "Tusind tak" [thanks a lot]. And "du er smuk" [you are beautiful].

During his tenure as Agent 007 James Bond, Pierce Brosnan killed [Danish actor, ed.] Ulrich Thomsen and took private lessons in "Scandinavian tongues" with Danish model Cecilie Thomsen. But when we meet Brosnan during the Venice Film Festival in 2012, the Irish-born gent freely admits to a Danish vocabulary limited to the three phrases mentioned above.

brosnan_venice 2012 — *Pierce Brosnan (right) meets the Danish press in Venice 2012. Photo © Brian Iskov*

No wonder that the then 59-year-old actor felt apprehensive when he ventured to Copenhagen in 2011 to prepare for his first lead ever in a Danish motion picture: ”Love is All You Need” (Den skaldede frisør) directed by Academy Award winner Susanne Bier.

– I was worried about my participation in it, am I gonna rock the boat? I was very nervous that I would take people out of the movie. Also, the actors all had such close proximity to each other. They've grown up together and been friends, lovers, whatever, Pierce Brosnan says.

– Someone like Kim Bodnia has powerful force. You look across the table at the dude, and he's gonna come at you. But he's funny!

Brosnan needn't have worried. From day one, everyone on the Danish film crew welcomed their colleague from abroad with open arms.

– I came into a tribe where I was cared for, nurtured, and laughed at in the best possible way for trying to speak the language, Pierce Brosnan says in his soft-spoken brogue.

– Luckily, the character [a British businessman living in Denmark, ed.] lent himself to this. I believed that [my character] could run this fruit company and never really got the hang of this Danish, always asking my secretary, "what are they saying?". The conceit, I think, was well founded.