Polanski can put fear of God into you

Mia Farrow and Adrien Brody are some of the actors who have famously featured in films by Roman Polanski, and Pierce Brosnan got a chance to see the legend at work whilst shooting his latest thriller, The Ghost."I loved every minute of it," said the former Bond star.
"He can put the fear of God into you, because he can get very emotional at times (doing an impression) 'No why you do it like that, why, why, that's rubbish'. He didn't say that to me though," joked the 56-year-old actor.
Pierce plays former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, in the movie about a ghostwriter who agrees to complete the politician's memoirs.Explaining Polanski's style of filming, Pierce said: "He gets involved in everything, in the props, but more importantly he gets involved in the camera, you and the performance.""The man and the camera and the drama before it is the alchemy and he's always beside the camera," he added.

Polanski won an Academy Award for Best Director for the 2002 drama, The Pianist, which starred Adrien Brody. He was also behind the critically acclaimed 1968 horror Rosemary's Baby, which saw Mia Farrow in the lead role

I will always be James Bond

22/03/2010
In its 56 years, still trying to escape the sticky suit 007, now "Writer", the new film by Roman Polanski, where he plays a mysterious former Prime Minister Tony Blair freely inspired. Pierce Brosnan, who also debuts this month 'remember me' surprises with a new record of a cryptic ambiguity.
To speak with Pierce Brosnan (Navan, Ireland, 1953) must continue to his assistant in the hallways of the hotel and wait a long time the other side of the door of his room, where he heard a conversation in which ensures to want to end this long day coupon to go for a beer in Berlin. Upon entering the room, you see hanging up the phone next to a spectacular picture window overlooking the Brandenburg Gate. A frame as is typical of the Cold War, which fits the former 007. Brosnan appears higher than in the movies (after verification confirms that almost reaches 1.90) and more cordial than it had expected its promotional boredom. Equipped with imprecise diction and accent slow (between U.S. and Irish image and likeness of his dual nationality), the actor plays in the new Roman Polanski, a former British Prime Minister Tony Blair with the air of, role in substance that leads us away more systematic identification of Bond, James Bond.

"Defending this film amounts to Roman Polanski support at this difficult time?
This is an extremely complex (long pause). I can say I was sorry that his detention. I wonder why his arrest comes now, after so long. And sorry for him and his family. I'ma parent too and I do not imagine how hard it can be for their children. Roman is a great man and a wonderful director, who forced me to get the best out of myself. I'm very proud of this film, for its quality and the importance of what counts.

To what extent is like Adam Lang, his character, Tony Blair?
The first thing I asked was whether Roman asked me to do to Blair. I replied: Oh no, man. You limit yourself to act. At first I took it as something liberating about the fact of not having to imitate. But then was not as easy to get rid of Blair. All roads leading to it.

"BLAIR IS LIKE A CHARACTER OF SHAKESPEARE"

"Beware of politicians you both like this movie?
I would trust in politicians, but I can not help feeling disappointed. Especially when we do go to war with false excuses, such as weapons of mass destruction ...

Have you ever voted for Blair?
(His assistant calls go to another question, but answered Brosnan) last time I have a residence in London, but would have no right to vote in Britain, since I live in California for years. In any case, Blair seems to me an interesting guy. It reminds me of a character in Shakespeare, one of the kings of his works have come down and disgraced.

Adam Lang says in the film: The worst thing about my job is to lose touch with reality. Others do everything for you. Would you say the same about your work?
Not at all. There is that danger, but you only have a wonderful family like mine to prevent it. The antidote to the loss of contact with reality is to take your kids to school, share the responsibility of being a father with a wife as great as mine, being part of a community and have a good circle of friends. I can easily live a normal life. Just live it.

"WE ALL HAVE AN ACTOR IN"

The mean dose of political action. You see interpretive techniques in our leaders?
You bet! (laughs). It's amazing to discover what good actors who become few. But not only politicians: all of us and interpret an actor within a role. Everybody acts in front of our heads, to protect us, to get some others ...

As in politics, in your work must also take a predefined strategy?
Clear. Take your career in one direction and keep it aloft requires a strategy. You have to know choosing some roles over others. Sometimes you conform to the image people have of you and others break with preconceived idea so you do not pigeonhole them. And there are times when deals do not have to design strategies and must accept what I propose, like it or not. It is not my current situation, but I've known.


"I WILL ALWAYS JAMES BOND"

What do you call Polanski mean that you do not see him only as James Bond?
I hope so. I've experienced as a reward. This is an important film for me, which I hope to expand my horizon of interpretation.

After 007 has made unexpected changes in registration. A conscious decision?

Yes Everyone likes to see an actor risking. But I had to start my production company (Irish DreamTime) to get roles like Matador (Richard Shepard, 2005). And then came Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008), another great risk: to sing and dance to the world, to risk public criticism and attacks. And there were many, but I ate it with humor.

Is it difficult to take off the dress of 007?
Whatever you do, I'll always be James Bond. When I accepted the role was aware that his suit would, sooner or later, in a straitjacket from which to escape. But it maintains a great appreciation for the character, I became a star. It allowed me to go ahead as an actor and a person. If you renege on Bond, would be a real ingrate.

Pierce Brosnan tells his story

10 March 2010

NEW YORK — Pierce Brosnan is one of those actors who needs no introduction, having played James Bond in four films, and thus having one of the more recognizable faces (and voices) on screen, where he’s been spending a lot of time lately. Besides devoting his usually suave, sophisticated self to “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” (as the half-man, half-horse centaur), Brosnan plays the Tony Blair-inspired Adam Lang in Roman Polanski’s new thriller “The Ghost Writer.” And he’ll soon be a grieving dad in “The Greatest,” which he helped produce, and in “Remember Me,” in which Brosnan, 56, plays a New York mogul and father to Robert Pattison’s conflicted hero.

John Anderson spoke to him recently at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan.

Q. What’s it mean that an Irishman and a Scotsman — yourself and Ewan McGregor — are in a movie that does such a job on an English prime minister?

A. Oh, that’s the Polanski sense of humor, an Irishman playing the ex-prime minister. That didn’t get beyond me. But I’m not sure why he wanted me, and I didn’t ask. I thought, let sleeping dogs lie. Let’s just have fun. Let’s just play. He likes actors from the British Isles.

Q. What made working with Polanski better, or different, than with other directors?

A. Well, for one thing we shot my last scene in the movie first. We rehearsed in Roman’s trailer and he said, “OK, let’s shoot.” And we did anything but shoot. He fussed with the props, he fussed with the computers, he fussed with the guns, he fussed with my security men and then, right before lunch, he said, “OK, Pierce, after lunch, 27 lens ...” and that’s a big lens, right in your face. And then we shot the scene.

Q. Did you eat lunch?

A. Oh, no! I didn’t eat. I didn’t eat breakfast. You’re at the top of the slalom. It’s the Olympics. There’s nowhere to run.

W. And why did you want to work with him?

A. The man comes out of such a turbulent past and such a history of cinema and tragedy. I’d never met him, but the day I went to have lunch with him in Paris, I already knew him — what he sounded like, what he looked like, his life. It was a great invitation, a wonderful time, a magnificent director. He’s a unique character and wonderful filmmaker, and this character that I play was a great way to step out and play a political thriller.

Q. Are you in fact playing Tony Blair?

A. That was the first question, and he said no — and yet all roads lead to one man. When Roman told me that we needed to do a book-cover shoot — my character, Adam Lang, publishes his memoirs — we went to a studio in Madrid and what Roman had sent me for models were seven or eight portraits of Tony Blair.

Q. “Remember Me” is a different sort of thing altogether.

A. I think it’s very good, beautifully shot and with the young Rob Pattinson working very hard, giving of himself. He has his head on his shoulders, so, really, hats off to him. I want the best for the lad, ‘cause I’m really fond of him. He’s a lovely lad. Has a huge following, and hopefully he’ll stick to his guns and not get overwhelmed by it all.

Q. Like Pattinson’s “Twilight,” you know a bit about franchises, no?

A. There are worse things (laughs). I have nothing but gratitude for the time spent as Bond and the life it gave me as an actor. And yet, in the realm of things, it’s just another character on the landscape of a career. Albeit a huge, iconic, symbolic character. You know going in you’re going to have the devil to pay to get out and try and create a career that still has resonance.

Q. What’s next? Not that you haven’t been busy.

A. We’re noodling around on “Thomas Crown 2” — the structure’s the best it’s been yet, the foundations, for all intents and purposes, look pretty solid. MGM is still behind us, or so they say, and I think they’re sincere. We have to get the characters right. I’m doing “Salvation Road,” in which I play a megachurch preacher; Greg Kinnear is my disciple. And there’s another big piece in the realm of the spy genre. That’s still a plausible field of employment. And why not?

Pierce Brosnan for his new film

Pierce Brosnan for his new film, THE GHOST WRITER -- only on JAKE'S TAKES!

Interview with Pierce Brosnan

Pierce Brosnan has a busy year ahead. With a handful of films being released over the next few months and more to come on his shooting schedule, Brosnan is not complaining at all. His most recent film is The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. Based on the best-selling novel by Robert Harris, the film centers around a ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) who is hired to complete the memoirs of Adam Lang (Brosnan), a former British Prime Minister. Through his research, the ghostwriter begins to uncover secrets that put his life in jeopardy.
Brosnan was thrilled to be able to be a part of this movie and was incredibly flattered and excited when Polanski called him for the role. Tribute’s Bonnie Laufer spoke with Brosnan about his interpretation of the British Prime minister he plays, working with Roman Polanski, and also about his soon-to-be released film Remember Me, in which he plays the father of Robert Pattinson’s (Twilight) character, Tyler.

The debonair Brosnan talks

Pierce Brosnan welcomed me into his hotel suite at the Waldorf-Astoria with lordly courtesy, standing to usher me into the sitting room and looking, in his elegant but understated zippered green cardigan, like an indebted aristocrat who has opened his country manse to tourists. The one-time 007, his debonair good looks still in full effect at age 56, complimented me on my overcoat (a London Fog thrift-store acquisition) and used my Irish sweater as a pretext for some small talk about his homeland, which was also my father's. Gazing out at the mixture of snow and freezing rain descending upon Manhattan, Brosnan murmured, "Ah, it's a fine soft day," in gentle mockery of the Irish tendency to euphemize dreadful weather.

Speaking of dreadful weather, Brosnan and co-star Ewan McGregor — who was entertaining another reporter in an adjoining room, perhaps 20 yards away — had been enlisted to try to normalize the climate surrounding Roman Polanski's new film "The Ghost Writer." With Polanski under house arrest in Switzerland awaiting possible extradition to the United States for sentencing in his late-'70s sex-crime conviction, Brosnan and McGregor had clearly been tasked with refocusing the discussion on the film as a canny, enjoyable political thriller, and on its director's impeccable craftsmanship rather than the ugly and tragic details of his private life. One could argue, in fact, that all the controversy and conversation has only helped "The Ghost Writer," which has opened strongly in New York and Los Angeles, and won Polanski the best-director award at the recent Berlin Film Festival. (According to producer Alain Sarde, Polanski remarked that even if he could have gone to Berlin, he wouldn't have: "The last time I went to a festival to get a prize I ended up in jail.")

I had been instructed that Brosnan would have no comment on Polanski's current legal predicament or on the disturbing act of sexual predation to which he pleaded guilty in 1977. Indeed he politely declined to discuss all such matters and has gone only a little further with other reporters. ("The life of Mr. Polanski has been a very turbulent one and one fraught with tragedy," he told David Chen of SlashFilm.)

Rather than beat my head against that wall, I invited Brosnan to expound on his on-set collaboration with Polanski. Perhaps that's illuminating in a different way (and perhaps not). Brosnan's character in "The Ghost Writer," disgraced former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, bears an obvious resemblance to Tony Blair. As Brosnan observes, he ended up "being an actor playing an actor playing the role of the British prime minister." But Lang also bears a bizarre and accidental resemblance to Polanski himself — he's a charismatic ladies' man, well known around the world, who has fled into exile in a foreign country to avoid facing the consequences of his past misdeeds. (Pedantic footnote: Since Polanski is a native-born French citizen, he hasn't literally been an exile or an expatriate since leaving the U.S.)

It must be a little strange to come back to this film, which I know you completed more than a year ago, and have it become a major news event because of these, let's say, extraneous factors.

It's always like that with films, in a certain sense. You revisit them with members of the press, sometime later, and you can't even remember them. As soon as they're done, they're done. Nevertheless, with something like "The Ghost Writer," and a director like Roman Polanski, who is the finest expression of artistic intention — he's quite unique, and it's somewhat indelible, the experience of working with him.

So it was the idea of working with Polanski that drew you to this film?

Absolutely. That's the reason I said yes to this project. I was quite taken with the challenge and the offer from him to play this ex-British prime minister. That's the last thing I ever expected to get, being a good Irishman by birth and heart. I saw the humor in that too. I thought it was quite ironic. I never asked Mr. Polanski, "Why me?" Maybe next time I speak to him, I will: "By the way, why did you cast me?" Ultimately, because he thought I was a good enough actor to pull this off, but with Roman, he's always dealing with metaphor and humor.


Right. Well, having the man who played the most famous fictional British secret agent play the disgraced former prime minister...

An ex-James Bond playing the ex-British prime minister! It all seems to sort of be making sense now!

We don't want to give anything away, because this is a film that takes quite a few twists and turns. But maybe that's a subterranean clue to the nature of the character.

Oh, I don't know. I'm sure it'll be spoken of or mentioned, as we have now. But I thought it was a great book by Robert Harris. I thought it was a wonderful page-turner. These are not the kinds of books I read, but nevertheless they seem to find me. "The Tailor of Panama," "The Fourth Protocol" — there's a ribbon of them in my career, and I find them very enjoyable to be part of. When they're constructed well, they're great pieces to play and great worlds to exist in as an actor. And then, of course, Polanski. It all goes together so well. He was very sincere and genuine to the book, because the book was so well constructed by Harris.

What is Polanski like on the set?

You want to be your best for the fellow, as you want to be your best for every director. But none more so than Polanski, because he's so intense, and so into every aspect of the filmmaking. He gives you line readings, which can be quite abhorrent to an actor. To me, I found it quite humorous, because his accent is so Polish and so thick, it doesn't quite fit into the context of playing the British prime minister.

[Unreproducible "Polanski accent":] "Don't play it like that! It goes like this: 'Give my friend a Calvados!'" I had to say, "Roman, this is doing my head in." You have to match wits with him.

Well, I know he started out as an actor in Poland in the '50s, in films by Andrzej Wajda and others. He's acted a lot, actually.

Oh, he's still an actor. He still loves to play out all the roles. When you enter onto the stage, you're in the domain of Polanski. It's his world. He rules. He ordains every movement and gesture and color, the look of the piece. We shot in Berlin, we shot at Babelsberg [the oldest studio in the world, where many classic German films were made]. That's a potent place of cinema and structure and time.

Right. So that big beach house we see in the film, which is supposed to be in Massachusetts, that was all built in a studio.

All built in a studio, with the classic green screen for the Cape Cod landscape outside. So you're just looking at green when you're sequestered on set.

Is that peculiar, working that way? You're used to doing location work, aren't you?

Not at all, not at all. You know, you're trained as an actor from a very early age to use your imagination, stand on an empty stage and see Birnam Wood come toward you, see the tree of Godot, or see whatever. Well, you've got to have the tree of Godot, sorry! But you know what I'm saying.

So it was more like doing theater, maybe, than most of the films you've made.

Yeah, it's a very theatrical experience. Not that I've done that much green-screen. I did a bit in the world of Bond. Babelsberg, I think, gave us all a feeling of the past, and the presence of Polanski gave us a feeling of the past. You're working with a man who's 76 years of age, and who's acquitting himself on the set like a first-time film director who's passionate for his first movie, and who's deeply knowledgeable about the camera and the presence of actors before the camera, and how to position them for the most effective storytelling.

That set alone, that bunkerlike set, that gave us a lot of ambience. Then, when we were outside — I mean we weren't outside that much; Ewan was outside a bit, when he rides his bike around the island — the desolation of the landscape informs the film. Certainly the film ends on a note of desolation and foreboding.

Your character bears at least some resemblance to a living ex-prime minister, and certainly Robert Harris' novel has been interpreted as an attack on the Blair legacy. How much or how little did you think about that?

Well, that was my first question to Roman Polanski when we met in Paris over lunch: "Am I playing Mr. Tony Blair?" He said, "No, you're not playing Tony Blair." However, all emblems and indications and roads seem to point toward that particular man. I had to hang my hat on someone, so I looked at footage of the performance of Mr. Tony Blair playing the British prime minister, and then I looked to the pages of the novel and the script, the character of Adam Lang, who leaves university, who is a fantastic actor, who is a star prime minister, a populist. Then you come to the role of you being an actor playing an actor playing the role of the British prime minister. So it becomes this kind of play within the play. This kind of Max Escher-like transformation.

The character of Ruth [Lang's wife, played by Olivia Williams] really gave me a lot. When I looked at her malevolence within the piece, you know, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth came to mind. None of which was spoken about with Olivia or with Roman. But just the sensation of drama, of Jacobean drama, was very present.

Yes, the portrait of a political marriage the two of you create is very complicated, very tricky, full of nuance. You mean to say you never really discussed it?

She and I had one dinner when she got into town. I remember that my day's work was over, and I called her. She's a true character. She said, "Hello, darling, let's have dinner!" She's a very passionate actor, Olivia. We spoke a little about the life and history of the characters, but beyond that — you look at the text and you play a role.

Well, actors on your side of the Atlantic are mostly free of that American method-acting disease, where you have to write an 800-page biography of the character...

God, no! No! I was taught in the Method by some of the finest teachers of the Method. I've worked the Method and lived the Method, but at the end of the day, if you understand the role, you know how to act the role — pretend the role — then so be it. There are times when, of course, you do use yourself. The age-old adage: What if I were prime minister? What if I were in this situation? The wolves are at the door, the long knives are out, you're running for your life, and you realize you're adrift politically, spiritually, emotionally. You need your wife. And she's not there. How does that feel?

I need to wrap this up by asking you at least one Bond-related question. You're a member of a pretty exclusive club, the former 007s. How do you think Daniel Craig has done with the role?

Well, I know Daniel is a fine actor, and you have to be a good actor to play the role, that's for sure. It's not something easy. I mean, you know, Sean [Connery] is the man I look to all the time — he was the Bond for me. I haven't seen Daniel's performances as Bond. I never really watched the Bond films, to tell you the truth. When I was playing the role, I didn't watch myself. My sons are always saying, "Dad, why don't you watch James Bond with me?" But I have better things to do.

Pierce Brosnan tells

February 25, 2010
Pierce Brosnan tells Peter Travers about the cruel business of Hollywood and working the famous franchise. Also, he and "The Ghost Writer" co-star Ewan McGregor engage in a little bit of song.
Pierce Brosnan on Being Booted from Bond




Berlin Germany

Brosnan and McGregor talk

Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 11:46 AM PST

Los Angeles - Beleaguered director Roman Polanski’s latest film “The Ghost Writer” was nearly complete by the time he was arrested last September. Polanski continued to work on the movie in jail and then at his Swiss chalet, where he remains under house arrest.
"The Ghost Writer," based on a novel by Robert Harris, stars Pierce Brosnan as a former British prime minister and Ewan McGregor as a ghost writer hired to complete his memoirs on an island off the U.S. east coast.
Brosnan and McGregor talk to “Good Day LA” about working on the Polanski film.




February 19, 2010

Red carpet for "The Ghost Writer" but without Polanski
Following its world premiere at the 60th edition of the "Berlinale", the film was presented in New York in the presence of actors Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan. Absent the director, still under house arrest in Switzerland

Pierce Brosnan The Ghost Writer

February 24th, 2010

With all the controversy surrounding director Roman Polanski’s legal troubles, I was quite curious to see his most recent film, The Ghost Writer, which recently premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and opened in limited release in the U.S. last weekend. I found it quite entertaining, a solid thriller with decent performances by leads Pierce Brosnan, Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Williams. Those looking for a political thriller with an all-star cast, a dash of humor, and some outlandish plot twists will probably find it a satisfying ride.

I had a chance to speak with Mr. Brosnan recently. We discussed his role in the film, the politics of The Ghost Writer, and Roman Polanski’s directing style. Hit the jump to read our interview. The Ghost Writer is already playing in NY and LA, and will expand wider beginning this Friday.

Mr. Brosnan, thanks so much for speaking with us today at slashfilm.com. Why don’t you start by telling us about your character in ‘The Ghost Writer.’ Who do you play and what’s his role in the story?

I play a man called Adam Lang who’s the ex-British prime minister, who finds himself, at this time in his life, being held accountable for war crimes. In fact, before that, he’s sequestered away on Cape Cod writing his memoirs. His ghost writer shows up dead on the beach and he employs another ghost writer, and at the same time they do that, the breaking news comes that he is being held accountable for war crimes in the Hague.

Can you tell us what it was that drew you to this project? Was it the screenplay, the director, or the story?

It was Polanski. Roman Polanski directs this movie, and it’s from a book by Robert Harris, which is a great page-turner. Roman Polanski, who is one of cinema’s finest directors and a director of great thrillers, but he’s never done a political thriller. It was the combination of Polanski, the political aspect of this story, the character that I play, this man who finds himself kind of emotionally, politically, spiritually adrift and hunted.

Let’s talk about some of the political elements of the film. A lot of the film seems very relevant, very current, and there are some political themes embedded within the film. I’m wondering if you have any opinion on what the film is trying to say specifically.

That our leaders should be accountable for their actions in life, and the pitfalls and the dangers of politics. Someone like my character, who’s very much a populist, is this man who you begin to feel is just a puppet of a prime minister. As sincere as he was when he started his career, he now finds himself to be maligned every which turn.

Robert Harris has presented this on the pages of his book and then in the hand of someone like Roman Polanski, who’s the grand master of claustrophobic drama and malevolence of characters, it makes for quite a good brew of drama.

In general do you see movies as an opportunity for actors to make political statements?

No. This is pure entertainment, this is no statement by me. I’m not a politician or political animal. This is just, as I said, one of these huge “what if” stories. I mean, it will certainly be viewed and talked about, I presume, in political terms. But it’s pure theatrical drama.

Some people including the author Richard Harris have pointed out that there are similarities between your character in the film and the person of Roman Polanski in real life. Can you talk about what it was like for Mr. Polanski to direct you and whether any of those similarities came across during your working process?
The life of Mr. Polanski has been a very turbulent one and one fraught with tragedy, and a life of looking over the shoulder. The book was written three years before any of what’s happening to the life of, say, Mr. Tony Blair right now who is in the spotlight for his term in office, and to the world of Mr. Polanski who is now under house arrest. I think it seems to be a wonderful time for Mr. Robert Harris. I think even he has been blindsided by the compliments of stories and history.

Working with Roman is a unique experience. He’s someone whose work I’ve been very enthralled by for many many years. His life is so well documented, and certainly he’s a figure on the cinematic landscape that I was very fascinated by. He creates a world that no other director that I know of, of intrigue and foreboding, claustrophobic characters on a landscape.

Specifically in terms of working with him, how would you compare him to other directors that you’ve worked with. What do you feel are some of his trademarks as a director of actors?

I think it’s an articulation of the camera, which is uniquely his. The composition of characters. The use of every specific element of cinema. He involves himself with the production design, all the way to having the courage to wait for the weather that he wants on a set. Within the confines of making a movie, which is time and budget, he has the grandiosity to say that we will wait, the cameras won’t roll, and in our particular case we wanted bad weather, and there was one week where we had good weather.

He had the balls to say “We’re just going to wait for trhe weather to be right for our filming.” He is so specific with his camera, and with the relationship of the actors before the camera, and he involves himself with the sets, and he involves himself with every aspect. When you’re on the set, you’re in the domain of roman Polanski. You are in the world of Roman Polanski.

As an actor, you’d better know your performance, you’d better know your performance, and why you’re there.

Let’s talk about some of your other projects. We’ve heard in the past couple weeks that ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ sequel might still be in motion. I’m wondering if you have any details on how that’s coming along.

We have a script, of which I think this is the third one or possibly the fourth one. But structurally it’s the soundest one we’ve had. This has been a work in progress for at least the last three years. We hope that we will have a script in its entirety, meaning characters and the relationships of these characters within this structure. It’s as close as we’ve come to having it up on its feet.

Other than that, can you tell our listeners what you’re working on next?

I’m going to do a movie called Salvation Road, directed by George Radcliffe. It’s Greg Kinnear and myself with Ed Harris. It’s about a mega-church preacher, and his disciple is Greg Kinnear. It’s a black comedy.

My last question is about ‘The Ghost Writer.’ I believe it premiered recently in Berlin. What’s it been like to see the reception for this film?

It was a magnificent night at the Berlinale Film Festival, and to present a film like this to an expectant house of Berliners and cinema aficionados at a festival that’s 60 years old. The only sad thing was the absence of Mr. Roman Polanski. The stage, there was an empty space there for him. It was a brilliant night, nevertheless, and it got very well received.

Pierce Brosnan is cool

Feb. 23, 2010
Pierce Brosnan is cool even when he's exhausted.
The Ghost Writer
With four movies opening in as many weeks, including director Roman Polanski's latest "The Ghost Writer," Brosnan has been on a non-stop promotional tour, and one would think that the veteran actor would have no time to relax."You're my last interview today," the actor said in a soft, tired voice. "After this, I can go downstairs to the hotel bar and have a lovely, stiff martini."
"Gin or vodka?" we asked of the man who played James Bond, a fictional devotee of the vodka school of martini-drinking. "Vodka, of course," he said without hesitation. We waited futilely for "shaken, not stirred," but then remembered that Brosnan only played 007 in four films; he wasn't actually a British secret agent. Those Bond days are long gone – the last one that he starred in was "Die Another Day" in 2002 – and the 56-year-old Irish-born actor has settled into a surprisingly comfortable niche as a character actor. Brosnan, who holds dual Irish and American citizenship, plays important roles in all four new films, but he is clearly not the handsome young lead in any of them. Well, he's still quite handsome, but he's not playing the role he would have a couple of decades ago, and that suits him just fine.

In Polanski's thriller, which opens Friday, Brosnan plays a Tony Blair-like former British prime minister under fire for his controversial decisions (and support of a certain American president) during the war in Iraq. Ewan McGregor is a ghost writer hired to pen the prime minister's autobiography. It is based on the 2007 novel "The Ghost" by Robert Harris, who co-wrote the screenplay with Polanski.

See photos from "The Ghost Writer" and Pierce Brosnan through the years

Brosnan also appears in a movie called "The Greatest," in which he plays the patriarch of a family dealing with the death of a teenage son. He shares top billing with Susan Sarandon and Carey Mulligan, who is nominated for an Oscar this year for "An Education."

A third film role is in "Remember Me," playing the father of "Twilight" heartthrob Robert Pattinson, and he also co-stars in the family fantasy film "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," which made nearly $130 million worldwide in its first 10 days of release. In this interview, Brosnan discusses the new character-actor phase of his career, why he doesn't miss the Bond movies and how much he liked his own singing in "Mamma Mia!". He also explains how the death of first wife Cassandra Harris to cancer in 1991 led to the political activism that he and second wife Keely Shaye Smith have undertaken in recent years.

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: How do four of your films end up coming out at the same time?

PIERCE BROSNAN: Well, one of them, "The Greatest," was made two years ago. It went to Sundance, the company that bought it fell apart financially and then it got re-sold to a new company. I believe they held it until now because they knew I had these other films opening.

Q. Still, isn't that a lot of work?

A. Honestly, they're all character roles, so I get to pack my bags, go away for a couple of weeks and then come home.

Q. Do you like this new stage of your career?

A. It's absolutely delightful. It allows me to spend time with my family (he has two small children from his second marriage, and three grown children from his first), and it allows me opportunities to work with great directors like Roman Polanski.

Q. Had you ever met Polanski before this?

A. No, but I have always been fascinated and enthralled with his work. It all starts and end with Roman Polanski.

Q. Could you describe your first meeting with him?

A. I was in London promoting "Mamma Mia!" and my agent said Mr. Polanski had an offer for "The Ghost." I found those words beguiling and intriguing, so I hopped on a train to Paris and had lunch with him.

Q. What was that like?

A. I felt like I already knew the man. I knew what he looked like, I knew what his voice sounded like and I knew so much about his life. He's such a controversial legend in his own space and time.

Q. Did the legend live up to your expectations?

A. He was so charming and soft-spoken. We talked about our lives, and about the losses in our lives. He talked briefly about Sharon (Polanski's wife Sharon Tate was one of five people murdered in 1969 by followers of Charles Manson).

Q. How does that come up in a conversation?

A. I can't really remember. We were just two men speaking openly about our families and children. I talked about the loss of my first wife to cancer, and then he spoke of Sharon.

Q. Did the movie role come up at that lunch?

A. Ever so briefly. I asked him if I was playing Tony Blair, and he said I wasn't playing Tony Blair, although all roads lead to one man, and that man is Tony Blair. We didn't dwell on how I was going to play the role, or even the political aspects of the role.

Q. How did he sell you on the role?

A. Oh, he didn't have to sell it. The book was such a page-turner, he didn't have to sell anything. But it's interesting that the book is so Robert Harris, and the screenplay is so Roman Polanski.

Q. In what way?

A. In every way – from the opening shot to the tonality to the gestures to the description of the weather. His imagination is so fertile.

Q. Is it possible to go into a project like this without thinking about what he's going through in his personal life (Polanski is fighting extradition to the United States after his arrest in September more than 31 years after he fled the country to avoid imprisonment for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor)?

A. I respond to the story on the page, and the man as a director. Although one is aware of his life, and the tragedies that have befallen him, that does not impact the work.

Q. Did you ever discuss his extradition fight?

A. In fact, he was arrested after my involvement in the film so it would have been impossible.

Q. Let's get back to these four films opening at about the same time. Does it fill you with dread, or does it excite you about the prospect of having so many films in theaters at once?

A. It is an embarrassment of riches, but it doesn't have an effect on me at all because it is out of my hands. I wish them all well. I did the best I could, and I did my part in the selling of the movies, but it's not my call.

Q. Of the four, the most unlikely for you seems to be the "Percy Jackson" family film. What's the back story on that?

A. I did that one so that my 8-year-old boy could see his daddy in a movie. He doesn't get to see a lot of my movies because they're too adult.

Q. And you really don't mind giving up the leading-man roles for character roles? You have been a leading man since the TV show "Remington Steele."

A. When I started out as an actor, I saw myself as a character actor, but the leading-man roles came to me, and I ran with that. Now, it's time for a new phase, and as long as the roles are good, it doesn't matter. If you want a lengthy career in this business, you have to be flexible.

Q. And you don't miss Bond at all?

A. No, not at all. It all fell into place in its own time. I have nothing but gratitude for my time as Bond. It allowed me to do other kinds of work, and created a special life for me.

Q. And did you have any idea that "Mamma Mia!" would have such an impact?

A. None of us did. We had a strong feeling that it would find an audience because of ABBA's many fans, but it became an avalanche of joy and celebration.

Q. Did you enjoy singing?

A. You have to have broad shoulders to stand up there and sing an old war horse like "SOS," but I assumed that people would get the joke of having an old James Bond singing these songs. I had the time of my life doing that movie, and the last laugh was on the naysayers.

Q. My wife and mother-in-law thought you were great.

A. (laughing) I'm sorry you had to be dragged along for the ride.

Q. You and Keely seem to find so much time to be active in various political and environmental causes. What started you on this life of activism?

A. The activism, particularly for the environment, had been there quietly for many years, and that had to do with Ted Danson and the wonderful work he does. Then, when my wife was stricken with ovarian cancer, I began working on other related causes.

Q. Many actors have been criticized over their political activism. Has that ever concerned you?

A. I never see myself as a political activist. I see myself as a man concerned about certain issues. When you dip your toe into causes such as clean air, clean water or the burning of fossil fuels, you're going to bump into the jagged edge of politics, and people will try to shut you down, but ultimately, you have a responsibility to follow your heart as a father and a citizen.

Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor talk

February 23 2010

Pierce and Ewan

Pierce Brosnan on 'The Ghost Writer'

Watch CBS News Videos Online

his role in the new movie "The Ghost Writer," working with director Roman Polanski, and his successful career.

The Ghost interview

Pierce Brosnan on Visiting

Pierce Brosnan on Visiting the End of the Road with Roman Polanski
19 Feb 2010

Pierce Brosnan has a unique take on the controversy surrounding Roman Polanski. On the one hand, it’s to be expected: Having played the deposed British prime minister Adam Lang in Polanski’s new thriller The Ghost Writer (opening today in limited release; going wide March 5), Brosnan is a little too close to the man for mere dogma. On the other, his perspective on the director is so refreshingly, infectiously admiring that it transcends judgment — a bracing tonic in an era when even the whisper of the name “Polanski” can instantly polarize a room. Despite a resume boasting four James Bond films, the global blockbuster Mamma Mia! and his recent reinvention as a sort of burnished indie statesman, by the end of 20 minutes with Brosnan you can’t help but wonder if Lang was the role he knows he was born to play. Not that the influential, embattled man under suspicion by everyone from his biographer (Ewan McGregor) to his equally suspicious wife (Olivia Williams) bore any resemblance to himself. But as Brosnan thoughtfully explained this week to Movieline, the timing and meaning of the thing proved an opportunity almost too good — and maybe even too valuable — to be true.

How did this project come to you, and how did you determine that Adam Lang was your guy?
I think if Roman Polanski had asked me to do the phone book, I would have said yes. It was Roman Polanski. It all starts and ends with Roman Polanski. The invitation intrigued me to no end. I was in London doing promotion for Mamma Mia!, and I got this call from my agent to go to Paris and meet Roman for lunch. And so I did. By this time I’d read the book and read the screenplay. The invitation was very intriguing. Of course I said, “Yes.” My first question to him was, “So am I playing Tony Blair?” He said, “No, no, no, no, you’re not playing Tony Blair.” And intellectually I knew I wasn’t. I knew this was an impressionistic interpretation of Tony Blair.

In what ways did your own perception and feelings toward Blair inform that interpretation?
In very little ways. The overall piece does so much for me as the actor. I do very little to perform like Tony Blair, or to sound like Tony Blair. But all roads lead to that one man — in the book, in the screenplay, and on the screen — because of the emblems of weapons of mass destruction or the Iraq War. Then there’s the characterization of Ruth Lang and her relationship to Adam Lang. You just see the echoes and similarities of the Blairs. You know as an actor that Robert Harris was good friends with the Blairs. So with all of this information I began to look at it more closely, and it felt almost like Shakespearean tragedy, or Jacobean tragedy — especially the part of Ruth, who emanates a sort of Lady Macbeth persona.

Robert Harris once explained that all political careers essentially are tragedies — that they’re over very quickly, and after that your life is never the same.
He has such a way with words. Every time we would do press junkets, I’d hear myself as the stuttering actor trying to formulate some intelligent, cohesive answer. But any political questions that came Robert’s way were so beautifully handled. Or, if they came to McGregor or Brosnan, we’d always decline to Mr. Robert Harris, erudite fellow that he is.

[Long pause] The irony is that we find ourselves here opening this movie at the Berlinale. On one side of the curtain is Tony Blair and the Chilcot spotlight, and on the other side is Roman Polanski’s incarceration. So you have this vortex of life, drama and moviemaking sitting there for the whole world to see. Surely it’s a cinematic “what-if” story — a glorious question, beginning, middle and end. What if a British prime minister was inveigled into the CIA? It’s a huge “what if.”

The buzz for this film without Polanski around is so strange, the kind of effect we expect from reclusive filmmakers or maybe a posthumous release. Polanski seems like a ghost himself. How might that affect the way people receive The Ghost Writer?
Well, I’ve only been part of one presentation at Berlin, and that was front-row and center. The world press was there. The press conference was a full-court press. I have never seen the likes of it. Even having played James Bond, in my first introduction to that character all those years ago, I’ve never seen the likes of what we saw in Berlin. I can only go by the reviews and the reception that have been overtured toward the film, and they’ve been very positive. And I do believe the film works in the most glorious Polanski way. All the ingredients and life history and force of him as a storyteller and a cinematic director are quivering at full force here.

What exactly does the “Polanski Way” mean to you — as both an actor and a viewer?
I think he ingests so much of his own legend and turmoil of life into the choice of each film that he makes. That he can examine what it’s like to be on the run, to be an outsider. What it’s like to be in close quarters with relationships with people. The somewhat perverse observation of characters on the landscape. You always come up against the claustrophobic world in a Roman Polanski movie. There seems to be no air left in the room. There’s no road left for these characters. Yet they’re always on the road, on a passage in life, going from one dramatic moment in their lives to the next.

When I did the movie, I’d never seen Knife in the Water or Repulsion. So I went back and saw them, sitting there in my hotel room on cold winter evenings. They were staggeringly potent pieces of film by this young man. The other one I watched was Tess. I’d seen it when it first came out. It was just gorgeous — the prevalence of weather and how he uses it. How he uses the slight gesture of minor characters, and the repetition of their presence in scenes that are absolutely the high sea of the main character’s life. What I mean by that is, as in Tess, you see them man clipping the hedge, clipping the hedge. The clipping — the sound of clippers — on the hedge becomes this subtext of anxiety for the character. You see the man sweeping the leaves in The Ghost Writer — constantly sweeping the leaves, trying to put them in the wheelbarrow, and they keep blowing away. They keep blowing away! And these rather mild observations by this central character become this foreboding presence.

Even the location — this angular, exiled beach house in winter — speaks a lot to the public figure Polanski has become.
I read the book and I read the screenplay, and I had this image of the house. But the shock of seeing it was something else. Going to Babelsberg sound stage that day to enter into that set was like going into this Bauhaus bunker of meaningless art. The staircase comes out of the wall like knives. You could fall off the precipice at any time. It was a dangerous stage to be on. There wasn’t even a banister.

Right? It’s supposed to Lang’s safe haven, yet there’s peril in every room, around every corner.
There’s no joy or love. There’s no sense of the human heart there. There’s just desolation. And at the end of the movie, it’s on a par with Chinatown. That desolation of character and landscape is something he does brilliantly. And certainly the two endings in the street have similar echoes.

Of course, by the end of the film, your character is long gone. Having not been there to observe those last few incredible set-ups, what was your reaction seeing that ending for the first time?
I just couldn’t breathe. The passing of that note is just an exquisitely executed piece of drama. Olivia’s close-up and that whole conclusion of what “the beginnings” mean was spellbinding. Utterly spellbinding. You think he gets away, and even though I’d read the script, I thought he got away. Then the eyes of the hunter are upon him. Then there’s the image of Adam Lang — the overseeing, all-prevailing eye of Adam Lang is throughout, on all the books and behind her shoulder. [Laughs] It was brilliant. Just brilliant. As you know, the book doesn’t finish that way particularly, and my character’s demise doesn’t finish that way. The letter-like intensity with which I go out and with which the piece crescendos is… I don’t know. It’s Polanski. They keep saying Hitchcock, but it’s Polanski.

The Ghost Writer and Remember Me cap a pretty prolific and very eclectic streak of roles for you, I guess starting with The Matador (right) and going through Married Life, Mamma Mia!, The Greatest, Percy Jackson, and now this. How do you choose roles? What are you looking for?
It’s just… I want to do as much as I can with the time I’ve got. I want to explore the world of performance and acting. Bond gave me so much of my life as a salable commodity and an international name, and that is to be valued — to give one at least some longevity as an actor, and the opportunity to make eclectic choices and play characters where you can be an unexpected surprise.

You can often trace a thematic continuity in actors’ choices. Would “surprise” be yours?
Well, I have to work. I want to work. I love to work. I mean, I don’t want to go back to workshops. I don’t want to go try out my chops. I’d rather find a piece like The Greatest, which is well-founded by a young woman like [writer-director] Shana Feste, and bring in Susan Sarandon and Carey Mulligan and go out there and work. I’d rather explore my place as an actor rather than wait for someone to come give it to me. Nobody would have given me The Matador if someone else had had it. [Brosnan co-produced both The Greatest and The Matador. - Ed.] So having my own company — and having a partnership with someone like Beaumarie St. Clair, who really thinks and works like a producer — allows me to go and explore other avenues of myself. I was trained as an actor and taught to believe at a very young age that I could be anything and do anything, and then you find yourself painted into a corner by your own image or persona. Now’s the time to challenge myself and go do some acting

The Ghost Street Hotel

The Ghost Street Hotel on February 18, 2010 in New York City Download

The After Party For The Ghost

Actor Pierce Brosnan and musician The Edge of U2 attend the after party for the Cinema Society & Screenvision screening of "The Ghost Writer" at the Crosby Street Hotel on February 18, 2010 in New York City.

Talk The Ghost Writer

The Ghost-Writer

Pierce Brosnan in OÖN interview

17. Februar 2010

Roman Polanski's thriller "The Ghost Writer", made by the bestselling novel by Robert Harris, who was previously one of the key events of the Berlinale 2010th Pierce Brosnan, 56, plays the former British prime minister Adam Lang, who can write his memoirs of a ghostwriter. As it turns out: a dangerous job. Starting Friday in Austrian cinemas.

OÖN: What was it like working with Roman Polanski?

Brosnan: A very great experience. His films have influenced my life, my career. I must have been just 17 when I "Rosemary's Baby" saw and was fascinated. This was a time when I was looking my way as an actor. Of course, I looked in the sequel even this crazy vampire film "The Fearless Vampire Killers" and the brilliant film "Chinatown." Polanski as a director: Because you can never be tempted to goschert be, because one immediately notices that he knows exactly what he wants.

OÖN: At the Berlinale press conference you said that the figure of Adam Lang is not Tony Blair is modeled. How so?

Brosnan: No. The run is meant: You have me at first told only that I am a man named Adam Lang games, against the investigation of war crimes. Suddenly, I got sent from author Robert Harris seven photographs, each with different facial expressions of Tony Blair. There was clear to me how the rabbit runs. In addition, Harris was once indeed a good or almost good friend of Blair. At the latest by the book "Ghost" is likely to have changed. I believe, 2009, Harris no longer receive Christmas card from Mr. Blair ...

OÖN: Polanski turned the film finished during his detention and the period of his house arrest in Switzerland. If you have still contact with him?

Brosnan: The visiting arrangements were difficult. But we currently do anything to help the film on its feet and find a wide audience. And for him, we all hope that this episode in his life is a swift and dignified end.

OÖN: In "Ghost Writer" we often encounter astonishing parallels between Adam Lang and Tony Blair. What do you think of Blair?

Brosnan: I can say nothing, because when he came into power, I was already in the U.S. at home and a great political theorist, I am not.

OÖN: They live in Malibu, California. An old dream?

Brosnan: Insofar as it was during my childhood in Ireland, a dream, even live on the water. After California, it's me then professionally crafty.

OÖN: They have represented four times James Bond. Have you ever been afraid of not getting rid of this mighty shadow?

Brosnan: The fear was there, and somehow it still rings in my ears, if that name is. But it was certainly a time for which I am very grateful. When it was over, I said to my agent: "Search for me in the most diverse roles as actors so I'm grown!"

OÖN: Well, you were, for example, "Mamma Mia", you are in "Percy Jackson" a centaur, and now Adam Lang

Brosnan: Yes, yes. From the horse's ass as Prime Minister. What a Career ...

OÖN: "Mamma Mia" was her first musical. Tired, so try what again?

Brosnan: What? You really want to hear me sing a second time?

OÖN: If you ever publish your memoirs - because they would employ a ghostwriter?

Brosnan: No, I would write everything himself. There have been an offer and I have begun to sketch the most important stages of my life. I think it will be interesting for my children to know more precisely the life of her father.

OÖN: What is more important: family or career?

Brosnan: The family has become the cornerstone of my life, and I have enough behind me. I lost my first wife to cancer and had the luck and the grace to find later another wonderful woman.

OÖN: You put up very much a concern for the environment?

Brosnan: Yes, and I'm angry that trees can be cut down in California, which existed even before Columbus.

OÖN: With the consent of Arnold Schwarzenegger?

Brosnan: Yes, unfortunately. And I may have Arnold, his films very been good for me. We also visit the same Starbucks. Often when I come, they tell me, "Mr. Schwarzenegger was just there!"