THE PIERCE BROSNAN AFFAIR
The Pierce Brosnan Interview by Paul Fischer

From circus fire-eater to 007 - Ireland's Pierce Brosnan has come a long way since discovering the actor within some 30 years ago. He achieved fame on the small screen via Remington Steele, and now he's back on top since donning the famous tux and martini as the world's most famous Secret Agent. The classy Mr. Brosnan continues to define cinematic grace as a wealthy industrialist-cum art thief in The Thomas Crown Affair. Paul Fischer sat down with Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan.

The world of fast cars and beautiful women associated with the perennially chic Pierce Brosnan is a far cry from the loner coping with the frustrations of living in Southern Ireland. Though it's now easy to understand why the youthful 47-year old star became an actor, back when he was a child in County Meath, Southern Ireland, it was the fantasy life that pulled though the tough times. "I certainly had a fantasy life", he recalls at the end of an exhausting day doing press for his new film, The Thomas Crown Affair. "Growing up as an only child in Southern Ireland during the fifties and early sixties in a country town, one DID live in one's imagination. I guess the first theatrical performance was serving Mass, if you want to look at it like that, in terms of standing up publicly. But at THAT time, I never desired to be an actor. I think when I finally found acting and the company of actors, I found sanctuary, home, a place where I could belong with all these exotic people." That sanctuary that Brosnan would finally discover came about, he says, "because of my childhood which was kind of mangled and strange, having grown up in Southern Ireland, before moving from that community to south London in 1964."

Brosnan was 12 when he made that move to London with his family. He arrived in the tough confines of southern London with thick Irish brogue in toe, and describes himself as having been "the token 'Paddy' or 'Mick', trying to fit in, reinvent and dissemble within who I was, so that one could be accepted." For the young Pierce, pretending NOT to be Irish was a question of survival, and pretend he did. "I really set about disguising my voice and became quite Cockney." Even though he didn't recognize it on a conscious level at the time, the actor within was starting to emerge. "In many ways it definitely started in the school yard, and with trying to fit into a comprehensive school system, having come from a school of seven classrooms to a school of 2,000 kids. The question was: How DO you survive? It starts with fighting and ends up hopefully with humor. In MY case, I didn't particularly like fighting, so humor was left." Brosnan spent those formative years imitating those around him - teachers and students alike. It seemed like a kind of us and me attitude, which dominated his youth, but he was able to "fit in with the tribe and my nickname throughout school was Irish." Though the burgeoning actor was prevalent in the young Brosnan, he never considered acting as such, avoided that "whole school play thing" and simply set about "becoming one of the lads."

After leaving school, Brosnan made ends meet as a commercial illustrator and cab driver before turning to acting full - time. After training at the London Drama Centre, Brosnan made his West End stage bow in 1976, and appeared in his first film, The Long Good Friday, four years later. But unlike many of today's significant film stars, Brosnan had his grounding in the theater, an advantage, one would think, as one enters the varying world of film. Asked about the influence of theater on his development as a film actor, Brosnan pauses. "I'm taking a while to answer your question, because I'm still trying to sort it out for myself. I watch myself and I think I have to go back to the classroom; one learns bad habits." Though he was trained in the theater, Brosnan's love of acting was derived through his love of cinema, with which he was infatuated from childhood. "For me, movies were the thing. Even though I started in the theater and enjoyed it, movies always held a fascination and magic for me, as well as a kind of reality. In 1964, a boy from Southern Ireland goes to the pictures, witnesses Technicolor, first weekend in London I see Goldfinger; a few weekends later I see Lawrence of Arabia, then come the more accessible films, the films of Eastwood." His movie idols were many and varied, reflecting the diversity of American films that influenced the young Irish actor-to-be. "Brando to begin with has always held the deepest fascination, so captivating in everything he does. There was McQueen who was one of them, Eastwood, Warren Beatty was another, and later on, Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces and Easy Rider. So my cinematic education began. Then of course when I hooked into this other world of actors, writers, poets and musicians, my world changed."

American audiences got their first glimpse of the charismatic, muscular young actor in the 1981 network miniseries The Manions of America, which followed his screen debut in the classic British gangster film, The Long Good Friday. In 1982, Brosnan was cast as the suave adventurer hero of the weekly TV series Remington Steele. Brosnan is happy to confirm that he was eager to seek out success wherever he could find it. "I wanted it to be the best", he concedes. At the time, 'the best' ended up being series television. "I wanted that because nobody else was offering me anything else, and I couldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I went to America with two grand in my back pocket from the bank manager, plus a wife and children. Remington Steele was the job, and of course it was: Yes please, I'll take some of that." Though it would be an experience ultimately bound in controversy, the actor admits that it was still a learning experience. "I learnt about comedic timing, I think, and it helped me create a certain style for myself, which I still live with."