Michael Madsen Says That Brosnan Is Out

Michael Madsen, who played NSA chief Damian Falco in "Die Another Day" and who is a friend and a neighbour of Pierce Brosnan in California, has told the Toronto Sun that Pierce Brosnan is finished with James Bond. "Pierce lives right down the beach from me. Our kids play together," Madsen said during interviews for his own new movie, Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 2. "And he told me he doesn’t want to do another one."

Madsen went on saying that he was told that Brosnan will be replaced with an Australian, although he did not know who and could not confirm if it was Hugh Jackman, who has been touted as a possible future Bond. So has Englishman Clive Owen.

Pierce Brosnan has said in recent interviews that the producers don’t seem to want him back. As CBn reported before, he was quoted saying that a "certain paralysis has set in." He repeated several times that his future as Bond was "opaque".

Madsen also said he himself is interested in the new Bond because he was supposed to get a role in it, again as Damian Falco. "Well, I was going to do it with Pierce but, now that Pierce is out of the Bond picture, I don’t know what is going to happen. If Barbara Broccoli calls me up and says: ‘Michael, I want you to be in the James Bond picture,’ I’ll probably go do it, but I’m not going to call her. I don’t know the new Bond guy. I’ve never seen anything he’s done. I don’t even know what he looks like. I can’t remember the guy’s name. I would have to feel like he’s going to be a good Bond for me to want to do it."

He also told the newspaper about his experiences on the ‘Die Another Day’ set: "You know, making a Bond film is not an easy thing to do. That’s a heavy shoot, man. That’s a long, long, big, big, heavy thing. The Bond thing is a tremendously gigantic production and the last one was hugely successful. For Pierce, that was the fourth one that he did. He’s tired, man. You know, he’s James Bond. He doesn’t have to do another one. Why would you? Why would you bother?"

Be sure to discuss the article in this thread in CBn’s Bond 21 forums! And many thanks to forum member [dark] for the alert!

Pierce Keeps Pressure on Bond Producers

Pierce Brosnan is keeping the pressure on Bond producers by once again speaking out at a press conference in Mexico City where he’s currently shooting The Matador, a film in which Pierce plays a hit man at the end of his game. This time Brosnan added a new detail to story, stating that the producers had invited him back last year to play 007 in Bond 21. This was widely reported at the time, and is still pointed to by some news sources as “confirmation” that he will return. Yet Pierce’s comments yesterday seem to imply that the offer is no longer on the table.

When asked directly about the Bond situation by reporters, Pierce (now sporting a moustache for the new film) had this to say:

Pierce: “The producers last year invited me back, and I said ‘Yes.’ They now seem to be in a malaise of confusion as to how to go forward.”

When asked who he would like to be the next James Bond, Pierce leaned toward his microphone, locked eyes with the reporter and answered:

Pierce: “Me.”

Pierce summed up his thoughts on the situation with what has become his standard final word to Eon:

Pierce: “They know where to find me if they want me for the next one.”

Are Pierce and the producers locked in a Mexican standoff?

Eon has yet to comment.

SOURCES: Associated Press. BBC News.
Thanks to [dark] and Jim for the tip.

‘…I don't know what's going to happen. I have no idea.’

Pierce Brosnan has just given yet another "opaque" interview to CHUD.com and added some more information to his recent "They don’t know what to do"-statement.

Q: But you’ve got one more dance with Bond – is there anything left to do with the character?

Pierce: Well, the dance…we seem to have taken a break at the moment. The producers have reached an impasse, as far as I can tell. They don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to move on. A sense of paralysis has set in. So, for me it’s business as usual. I shall just carry on with creating work for myself. I certainly would love to do a fifth Bond and then bow out, but if this last one is to be the last one, then so be it.

Q: We’ve discussed before Michael Wilson’s timidity to make a Bond movie in the vein of From Russia With Love and I think that’s a real problem…

Pierce: It’s frustrating, really, because they feel they have to top themselves in a genre which is just spectacle and huge bang for your buck. For me, I think you can have your cake and eat it. You can have real character work and real storylines and a thriller aspect and all the kind of quips and asides and explosions and the women. I love "From Russia With Love". It’s one of the finest pieces.

Q: So with the next one, would you want to cut back to a more For Your Eyes Only-type model? More simple, less effects-driven?

Pierce: More of a character-driven piece, yes. Certainly more of a character-driven piece and what is going to happen next in the story because now we’re just saturated – it’s wonderful the spectacle they create. It’s fantastic. But I love the last one and where it was going – until we got to Hong Kong and I was into the suit and into the old straitjacket of playing him.

Speaking of timidity; Brosnan sounds a lot like Sean Connery did after "You Only Live Twice" in 1967. Seems he’s a bit tired of playing "usual" Bond.

Q: If they changed it, you’d do more than one more?

Pierce: Oh, my contract is up. They can do it or not.

Q: You say there’s a paralysis – are they talking to someone else?

Pierce: They say they’re not talking to someone else…

Q: But they might not tell you?

Pierce (smiles a knowing smile): I’d be inclined to carry on if it were From Russia With Love or anything. Just, the fifth was there. We started talking about the fifth and so this paralysis that set in is rather surprising.

Q: But they finally got back the rights of Casino Royale, but [Wilson] said he wouldn’t dare film any of the story, so he just wants to scrap the novel and use the title.

Pierce: Well, that’s ludicrous. It’s absolutely sheer lunacy because Casino Royale is somewhat the blueprint for the Bond character anyway. If you go to that book, you find out more about James Bond than in any of the other books. But hey, they’re a wonderful family that’s done it their own way for many years and they’re at a point now where they’ve suffered a great loss in the passing of their mother. They’re an Italian family, an American family and they’re in the unique position that no one else in this community called Hollywood stands it – they have full control of this franchise. So, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have no idea.

A lot to discuss about.

Be sure to join the CBn community and discuss this piece of news in this thread in CBn’s Bond 21 forum. Thanks to SeanValen00V and Moi Davarro for sending in the news!

Brosnan Speaks Out in Detail on His Future as Bond

Pierce Brosnan confirmed this morning on AMC’s Sunday Morning Shootout that his future as 007 is still very much in doubt. Pierce once again used the word ‘opaque’ but this time elaborated in more detail. When co-host Peter Bart asked if he was coming back for a fifth James Bond [Bond 21] film, this was his answer…

Brosnan: “That’s a good question, Peter. I don’t know. We’re in a very opaque land at the moment. I’m certainly willing to come back for a fifth and final one. But I think the producers are certain a kind of paralysis has set in. And they don’t know where to go, how to go with this film. So if it happens, great. If it doesn’t, I’ve done my four – the contract was for four…”

Peter Guber: “Do they have a script?”

Brosnan: “No, there’s no script.”

After a brief comment by Peter Bart on how Hollywood uses multiple screenwriters, Pierce concluded this section of interview with this…

Brosnan: “We set a fine bar there with the last picture. And from what I can gather from Barbara and Michael, they don’t know what to do.”

At the end of the show during the fade out, this exchange was overheard…

Peter Bart: “Good luck on the Bond film.”
Brosnan: “Thanks. If not, see you on Kauai [Brosnan has a house there].”
Peter Bart: “Unless they pay you a fortune.”
Brosnan then nods.

Brosnan appeared with director Bret Ratner (‘After the Sunset’) who confirmed that he was in the running to direct Die Another Day per Brosnan’s request.

UPDATE 3/15: Windows Media Player & Realtime users… Watch the entire ‘Shootout’ eppisode with Brosnan. Courtesy of Yahoo movies.

To discuss this news visit this thread on the Cbn Forums.
Thanks to Bryce (003), ChandlerBing, Tim007, & ZenCat.
Quicktime footage from ‘Shootout’ © AMC tv.

Purvis & Wade Back For Bond 21

Robert Wade & Neal Purvis, the screenwriters who brought us The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, will as well be writing for Bond 21.

Last night, March 8, at the Orange Screenwriters Seminar at the British Library in London the duo talked about writing for Bond…

PURVIS: “We started writing the new one two weeks ago – so obviously all the cliches are already in place. As far as we understand it, Pierce Brosnan is Bond. He’s a great Bond and he gives you a lot to work with as a writer because he’s very good looking. Seriously, he is very good at suggesting an undercurrent of – you don’t know what. He shows that there is a shadow on this man.”

WADE: “I don’t think there’s a more difficult task, it’s all been done. The twentieth film was harder than the nineteenth. It’s very difficult to think of new ways to blow things up! But character is the thing; it’s finding new ways to explore the character.”

The information about Brosnan being back, however, differs from information given to Commanderbond.Net recently. They also commented on the failed Jinx movie…

PURVIS: “We spent two months with Stephen Frears on it and it’s all down to the studio. Halle Berry was very happy, Stephen and the producers were happy and we were happy – but the studio didn’t want to make it. It was going to cost $80-90 million and Charlie’s Angels and Tomb Raider hadn’t done well, so they didn’t want to risk it.”

To discuss this news visit this thead on the CBn forums
Thanks to thuffner, level007, & empireonline.co.uk

Pierce Brosnan A Little Frazzled?

Cindy Adams, an interviewer with the New York Post, caught up with Pierce Brosnan at an Oscar party. She asked him what was up with the 007 franchise and was he going to be doing the next film?

Pierce responded, “Well, I really can’t say. Actually, it’s not for me to say. I mean, I don’t know. I’m certainly willing. I would think, I guess, that the people you should probably be asking are the producers, not me.”

This is yet more evidence to confirm that something is certainly on the edge in the Bond universe.

To discuss this news visit this thread on the CBn Forums.
Thanks to Martin Aston and the New York Post