The “crazy” James Bond director Pierce Brosnan didn’t trust: “He was quizzical of our choice”
Until the Daniel Craig era, the actors who played James Bond didn’t have much input on the stories, scripts, and filmmakers responsible for their globetrotting adventures, which caused some friction when Pierce Brosnan wasn’t sold on a director brought in to oversee his latest 007 outing.
It’s always been a producer-driven franchise, or at least it was until Amazon swooped in to assume creative control and nudge the Broccoli family out the door for the first time in the long-running saga’s history, which meant little more was required of the leading men than turning up, saying the lines, wearing the costumes, doing some of the stuntwork, and then calling it a day.
Some of the actors, but definitely not George Lazenby, would have been consulted on major decisions out of respect and loyalty, but Craig’s co-producer status on Spectre and No Time to Die is the only time the star of a Bond movie has been credited in a behind-the-scenes capacity, so it’s not as if Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, or Sean Connery were able to exert much influence.
Despite The World Is Not Enough being more solid than spectacular, the Broccolis asked Michael Apted to return for his second consecutive 007 flick. Although he agreed, the offer was ultimately rescinded. Several names entered discussions to take over, and with a New Zealander having already done a stellar job on GoldenEye, the producers hoped lightning would strike twice with Lee Tamahori.
He had a decent pedigree after helming Once Were Warriors, The Edge, and Along Came a Spider, but Bond is a different beast. As it turned out, Brosnan needed some convincing that he was the right man for the job. “Any problems Pierce had in the past had always been down to the director,” Michael G Wilson recalled. “He was quizzical of our choice at first.”
“It was trusting this guy,” the actor explained. “I had done three, he’s coming in, and it was really on my behalf, wondering if he was paying enough attention to what I was doing.” Brosnan admitted “one has to have patience” dealing with Tamahori, who didn’t “come with all the shots lined up and polished,” which led to a terse conversation between them, where everything was aired out.
“I can’t have you freaking out because you think I’m shooting a different picture to you,” the director told him. “You have to find a way to trust that I’m looking after your best interests.” After their heart-to-heart, Brosnan noted that “we settled into it,” but maybe he was right not to trust Tamahori, seeing as Die Another Day is easily one of the worst Bond films.
It wasn’t the swansong he wanted, and he wasn’t thrilled with the way his exit from the role was handled either. As much money as it made at the box office, Die Another Day is ridiculous, and not in a good way. Reflecting on his experience with Tamahori, Brosnan described him as “a wildcard, a wildcard indeed,” saying that “he had an edge to him which was quite brittle and crazy, but we got on all right.” Shame the movie was crap, though.
