Insider
How Pierce Brosnan Became James Bond
Finding the fifth actor to don the tux
On April 12, 1994, The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill actor, Timothy Dalton, announced he was stepping away from the role of James Bond.
“This has been one of the hardest decisions of my life,” declared Dalton at the time. “But it has been six years since the last Bond film and if I committed to the new one. It would be another two years of my life, what with timing and promotion. I think the time is right to say goodbye to it all.”
The search for a new Bond was on — “We looked at younger people and different kinds of people who were available,” said GoldenEye co-producer Michael G. Wilson. “I think we all came to the conclusion early on that Bond is a veteran” — but there was always one name in the frame. After Roger Moore departed the role following A View To Kill, one of the actors who came in for an audition was Pierce Brosnan. The star of US TV show Remington Steele, Brosnan auditioned on May 12, 1996, playing scenes opposite Annie Lambert before being put through his stunt paces by Clive Curtis. Yet, there was a sticking point.
“We made it a stipulation to his agent: if he could be cleared completely out of his TV series, cutting all ties with the network, we’d consider him,” said producer Cubby Broccoli. “Pierce was wildly keen to play the part. But when talks began with the network, there was a lot of stalling. In the end, his TV contract was renewed and our search had to continue.”
As well as the legal complications, there were other factors at that time that ruled Brosnan out of The Living Daylights.
“In terms of looks and style, he’d have taken us down a Roger Moore route,” continued Broccoli. “At that time, we were looking for a harder-edged actor who could take Bond into a new dimension.”
When the role became free again following Dalton’s departure, Brosnan was going through a period of career disappointment tinged with personal tragedy. In 1987, his wife Cassandra Harris was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer, causing the actor to put work on hold until her passing in 1991. So, at the point 007 became available again, Brosnan chose not to pursue it.
“The moment Timothy jumped ship I thought, ‘No, it wouldn’t happen a second time,” Brosnan observed.
Ultimately, lightning did strike twice. Brosnan was announced as the fifth James Bond at a press conference that was transmitted globally on June 8, 1994. At the same time, the film’s title was announced as GoldenEye, inspired by the name of Ian Fleming’s house in Jamaica where he penned the novels and short stories.
Two days after the announcement, Brosnan was back on location in a remote village in Papua New Guinea shooting drama Robinson Crusoe. During a break in filming, the actor was approached by a gang of children shouting “James Bond! James Bond!”
“I was dumbstruck,’ recalled Brosnan. “Here I was, in the middle of nowhere, being recognised as Bond as a result of all that international publicity. At that moment any lingering doubts I had that GoldenEye was just another film left me completely.”
