In the new AMC series The Son, the former 007 swaps martinis and an Aston Martin for some whiskey and a horse
James bond. Remington steele. Thomas Crown. Pierce Brosnan has made a career of playing suave leading men. This month, he trades British wit for Texas grit in the Old West family saga The Son (April 8). The series, based on the Philipp Meyer novel, centers on the rise of Brosnan’s Eli McCullough from young pioneer to ruthless oil tycoon. Here, the 63-year-old actor discusses busting genres and beating the Texas heat.
If J.R. Ewing had been born in the mid-19th century and abducted by the Comanche, the irascible Dallas patriarch could have been Eli McCullough, the hard-bitten Texan at the center of The Son, AMC’s new multigenerational Western saga.
Based on Philipp Meyer’s critically acclaimed novel, the new series follows the epic journey of McCullough—“the First Son of Texas, born on the day in 1836 that the former Mexican province became an independent republic,” explains executive producer Kevin Murphy. “At heart, though, Eli is a Comanche pretending to be a cowboy.”
Pierce Brosnan will showcase his paintings at an exhibition in Paris, France later this year.
The GoldenEye star worked at an art studio in London when he was a teenager and later trained at Saint Martin’s School of Art, but left to study acting at the Drama Centre London.
Brosnan has always kept up with his first love throughout his acting career and later this year he will showcase his paintings publicly for the first time.
Pierce Brosnan has come full circle.
The Irish-born actor, who launched his acting career in America in 1982 as the debonair con man of “Remington Steele,” returns to TV on Saturday. In the decades between, he became an international star thanks to a quartet of films as James Bond, which also made him a fabulously wealthy man. He’s been featured in everything from comedies (“Mrs. Doubtfire”) and remakes (“The Thomas Crown Affair”) to star-driven vanity projects (Barbra Streisand’s “The Mirror Has Two Faces”) and even musicals (“Mamma Mia!”), all the while keeping his wits about him and stardom intact. Talk about resilience.
Brosnan will star in and Campbell will direct ‘Across the River and Into the Trees.’
Pierce Brosnan and Martin Campbell, who first teamed up for the James Bond movie Goldeneye, are reteaming to tackle the adaptation of an Ernest Hemingway novel.
Brosnan will star in and Campbell will direct Across the River and Into the Trees, a feature that will be produced by Robert MacLean, John Smallcombe, Kirstin Roegner and Claudia Bluemhuber. William J. Immerman will executive produce.
BAFTA winner Peter Flannery and Oscar-nominated Michael Radford (Il Postino) wrote the script, which tells the story of an American officer serving in Italy right after World War II, facing news of his terminal illness with stoic disregard. Determined to spend his weekend in quiet solitude, he commandeers a military driver to facilitate a simple duck hunting trip and a visit to his old haunts in Venice. As his plans begin to unravel, a chance encounter with a young countess begins to kindle in him the hope of renewal.
Across the River was published in 1950 and was the legendary author’s last full-length novel to hit shelves in his lifetime. The story contains such signature Hemingway themes as love, war, youth and age.
Hemingway based the two leads on real people: The officer was his friend Colonel Buck Lanham, a decorated soldier whose heroics the writer saw first-hand when he was a correspondent, and the woman was a daughter of an aristocrat named Adriana Ivancich with whom he became infatuated (there was a 30-year difference between them).
An October start in Italy is being planned.
CAA is handling domestic sales, while Tribune Bay Entertainment and Silver Reel Partners will co-introduce the title at Berlin’s European Film Market and handle international sales.
The Brosnan-Campbell pairing will actually be the third outing for the duo. On top of Goldeneye, the pair have teamed up for The Foreigner, an action thriller also starring Jackie Chan that is currently shooting in London. The movie, to be released by STX, is scheduled to wrap in March.
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a straightforward romantic comedy, but it appears that Some Kind Of Beautiful (known in the UK as How To Make Love To An Englishman) is aiming squarely for the center of the genre. Pierce Brosnan stars as a Trinity College poetry professor and profligate bachelor who gives up his promiscuous lifestyle after his much younger girlfriend (Jessica Alba) becomes pregnant. When she leaves him for another man three years later, she sends her sister (Salma Hayek) to make sure that he hasn’t reverted to his old ways while caring for their child. Unsurprisingly, romance ensues.
Relativity has set Pierce Brosnan spy movie November Man for release in the U.S. on August 27, the Wednesday before the Labor Day holiday weekend. At the same time, the company is pushing back the release of Natalie Portman’s high-profile Western Jane Got a Gun from its original release date of Friday, Aug. 29. A new release date has not yet been announced.
Directed by Roger Donaldson, November Man is Brosnan’s longtime passion project. The former James Bond star plays an ex-CIA operative who is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil.
The actioner, which is based on the novel There Are No Spies by Bill Granger and a screenplay by Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek, also stars Olga Kurylenko and Luke Bracey.
Brosnan’s Irish DreamTime and Das Films produced the project, in association with The Solution Entertainment Group, Merced Media Partners and Palmstar Media Capital. Beau St. Clair and Sriram Das are the producers on the project.
November Man is the second teaming of Relativity with Donaldson, who directed 2008’s The Bank Job. Relativity picked up November Man for U.S. distribution in early April.
Relativity Media has set “November Man,” which stars Pierce Brosnan as a former spy, for an Aug. 27 release in the U.S.
Brosnan starred as the iconic spy in four James Bond films, the last of which, “Die Another Day,” was released in 2002.
“November Man” centers on an ex-CIA operative who is brought back on a personal mission. He finds himself pitted against his former pupil in an operation involving high-level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.
Roger Donaldson directed “November Man,” which is produced by Brosnan’s Irish DreamTime and Das Films, in association with the Solution Entertainment Group, Merced Media Partners and Palmstar Media Capital.
The script was adapted from Bill Granger’s novel “There Are No Spies.” Producers are Brosnan’s longtime partner Beau St. Clair and Sriram Das. Michael Finch and Karl Gajdusek wrote the script.
Irish DreamTime announced “November Man” in 2012 at Cannes as the launch title in a multipicture financing and distribution deal with the Solution.
The action-thriller from director John Erick Dowdle tells the story of an American family living in Southeast Asia who get swept up in a violent revolution.
The Coup, from director John Erick Dowdle and starring Owen Wilson, Pierce Brosnan and Lake Bell, has begun shooting on location in Thailand.
The film tells the story of an American family living in Southeast Asia who find themselves caught in the middle of a violent military uprising. Wilson and Bell play the American husband and wife, and Brosnan a heroic government operative.
Dowdle co-wrote the script with his brother Drew Dowdle.
Bold Films is financing, with Drew Dowdle, Michel Litvak and David Lancaster producing. Lancaster previously worked in Thailand on Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bangkok-set art house exercise in dreamy violence, Only God Forgives, starring Ryan Gosling.
Thai-based production company Living Films, which has worked on previous Thailand-set Hollywood projects including The Hangover 2, is facilitating the shoot.
“The producers of the The Coup had a wide choice of countries in which they could have based this production,” said Living Films founder and executive director Chris Lowenstein. “The fact that they chose Thailand is a great testament to the skills of the Thai crews and the resources that Thailand offers. We are delighted to help bring this project to the screen.”
Lancaster said he was back in Thailand because his prior shooting experience had been “wonderful.” But he added that Thailand should consider creating a tax incentive if it wants to attract more foreign productions.
“It is definitely an issue, as more and more countries have moved into the area of incentives. We only hope that Thailand can follow suit as the country already has a terrific crew and equipment base in place,” he said.
Despite the entreaties of Lousiana, North Carolina and Canada, Pierce Brosnan’s indie comedy “How to Make Love Like an Englishman” is shooting where it’s set — in Los Angeles.
The 25-day shoot started Oct. 14 with “Southland” star Ben McKenzie, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba and Malcolm McDowell starring. Tom Vaughn is directing from Matthew Newman’s script.
Brosnan plays a university professor who finds a woman (Hayek) who forces him to reevaluate his life of hedonistic excess — after he gets her grad student stepsister pregnant.
“It’s set in L.A. so we shot it in L.A.,” said producer Beau St. Clair, Brosnan’s longtime producing partner in Irish Dreamtime. “We could have saved money if we had shot in New Orleans or Wilmington, but it would not have looked like L.A. So we thought it would be better to work with a lean lean budget and shoot here instead of trying to fake it in some place like Vancouver.”
St. Clair said the budget was $30 million when the project was first developed in 2006. “It’s a lot less now,” she added.
She also said 40% percent is shot in Malibu. According to the FilmL.A. permitting agency, shoots have taken place at Los Angeles Center Studios, a restaurant on Wilshire in Westlake South, a downtown loft and a private residence in the mid-city area along with downtown driving shots.
Besides St. Clair, producers are Richard B. Lewis and Kevin Frakes as part of a co-production between Palmstar Media Capital, Southpaw Entertainment, Irish Dreamtime and Envision.
The Solution will be selling international rights at the upcoming American Film Market.
Feature film production in Los Angeles jumped 19.5% in the third quarter, concentrated in small-budget projects such as Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded “Wish I Was Here.” FilmL.A. noted in that report that the activity level lags far behind the record setting numbers of 1996.
FilmL.A. reported Tuesday that the most active film last week was Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller “Nightcrawler” with 18 permitted days. The movie is receiving a $2.3 million allocation from the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program.
Momentum has been gaining to improve the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which is far smaller than rival incentive programs in other states with a $100 million annual limit in credits and exclusion of features with budgets over $75 million. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently appointed Tom Sherak as film czar to address the runaway issue and several state legislators have announced plans to increase the scope of the incentive program.