Dec 11 2009 By Rick Fulton
IT'S just possible that Jedward, the terrible twins of The X Factor, are better singers than Pierce Brosnan.
While there's talk of a musical career now that their mentor Louis Walsh has signed them up, Pierce's singing career was over before it really got started.But at least his movie making is on-song. The former Bond, who looked so dashing in a dinner suit, raised a few eyebrows when he took on a singing role in Mamma Mia! singing Abba songs such as SOS.Although the film was a hit, his singing certainly was not.
No wonder it won him a Razzie - the very opposite of an Oscar - for Worst Supporting Actor.
Asked if he's had any singing offers since Mamma Mia!, Pierce, 56, laughed: "Nope. Never.
"No, that was it, I think. "Once bitten, twice shy."
Would he do it again? "Sure I would."Maybe a spot on Britain's Got Talent is his only hope, or some begging to Louis Walsh, who will support any Irish act on The X Factor. Just ask Jedward.
Still, Pierce isn't complaining. Last year, Mamma Mia! the movie, which starred Pierce as Sam, Meryl Streep as Donna, Colin Firth as Harry and Julie Walters as Rosie, became the UK's fastest selling DVD.
It's been re-released this Christmas, with new bonus features, including sing-a-long on-screen lyrics for 22 musical numbers and deleted song The Name Of The Game.
The star of four Bonds from 1995's GoldenEye to Die Another Day in 2002, Pierce knows all about big box-office.So it's surprising to hear that,even though it was based on Abba songs, he didn't think Mamma Mia! would be such a phenomenon. He said: "I didn't expect it to be such a big success.
"Abba I knew, because I love music. I'd seen the great glory of their success and I'd also seen the ridicule they endured."But the overriding factor was the great success and happiness of love songs that they brought to people's lives."That, partnered with Meryl Streep, who was impeccable, and that a woman who was going to direct it, meant I felt fairly bullet-proof going in as an actor.
"But it's still fairly scary and daunting to sing."Since his departure as Bond, Pierce has forged a second career.
He has continued to produce and act. He was Golden Globe-nominated for the 2005 dark comedy The Matador and starred alongside Liam Neeson in western Seraphim Falls.
Next year, he will be seen in a new film with Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson, called Remember Me.
He'll also be in Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, a fantasy adventure directed by Chris Columbus.Then there's The Greatest, which he produced and stars in with Susan Sarandon, and the new Roman Polanski film, The Ghost, with Ewan McGregor and Kim Cattrall.
Of course, the film is now best known for being the one the director was working on when he was arrested in September in Switzerland, where he was collecting a lifetime achievement award at a festival.
Swiss police took Polanski into custody at the request of authorities in Los Angeles.
They want to extradite the Oscar-winning director 31 years after he fled the US before he was to be sentenced for having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.
Last week, after two months in prison, he was released, under house arrest and $4.5million bail, while the Swiss government makes a decision on the extradition request.
Pierce, who plays a former British Prime Minister in the film, adapted from the Robert Harris novel, defends Polanski despite the accusations against him.
He said: "There's a sadness to the whole situation. What happened was wrong in every way, but I just wish the man well and closure for this time in his life, at this moment in time.
"He's a magnificent director. He's iconic in the world of cinema.
"I think we've made a good film, the cast is really top class and I just hope that justice will be served with some dignity and compassion, and swiftly."We had dinners, we talked, I met him before and we got on very well together, but I don't know the man.
"I certainly knew the history of the man, and my heart goes out to his family, to his wife and to his children and, as I say, I hope this chapter can be closed quickly."Of course, to younger film fans, the most important thing is that he's worked with Robert Pattinson, the heartthrob star who plays Edward in Twilight.
"I think when you see Remember Me, you'll see Robert giving a fantastic performance. He's really working hard to work on his performance and acting and who he is."
Fans of Bond will see Pierce in a wheelchair in new family film Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. He plays the Centaur Chiron in the movie, about a young boy discovering he's the descendant of a Greek god.The all-star cast includes Sean Bean as Zeus, Kevin McKidd as Poseidon, Uma Thurman as Medusa and Steve Coogan as Hades. At the beginning of the film, Pierce is a paraplegic teaching the boy Percy, played by Logan Lerman, but becomes a Centaur - half man, half horse - when he is transported into the mythological world.
"I have some CGI, and I look pretty good in blue tights. After Mamma Mia!, I'm used to tights," Pierce laughed.
"I was on stilts, so for the CGI, I had to wear blue tights with orange spots.
"It was a performing arts piece, really."
Before he leaves, there's one last question for Pierce.
No, not a Bond one. It's for the man who was born in Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland.
What did he think of the Ireland being eliminated from the World Cup finals by France, courtesy of a blatant Thierry Henry handball.
He said: "Handball, handball, completely, absolutely...
"Of course, I was upset, it's just b******t.
"Absolute bull, complete utter b******t. Sorry."
Maybe Ireland should demand Pierce sing for Henry as punishment?
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