The James Bond co-star Pierce Brosnan “got very upset with”
Being James Bond is one of the most glamorous jobs an actor can have, but for Pierce Brosnan, that feeling didn’t always extend to his time on set.
Bringing 007 back from the brink following the character’s longest-ever absence from cinemas with GoldenEye, the pressure was on for the sequel Tomorrow Never Dies to replicate that success. Although it tried its hardest, there was nonetheless a notable step down in quality.
Riding high from her starring role in the hit TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Teri Hatcher was drafted in to play Paris Carver, a former flame of Brosnan’s Bond now seen on the arm of Jonathan Pryce’s nefarious Elliot Carver as his trophy wife.
Obviously, the old feelings between the two begin to rekindle, although Brosnan was left less than impressed with his co-star’s timekeeping. “I got very upset with her on the set. She was always keeping me waiting for hours,” he admitted. “I must admit I let slip a few words which weren’t very nice.”
As it turned out, there was a reason why Hatcher was regularly running behind schedule. “Then it came out one morning that Teri was pregnant, and she hadn’t been feeling very well,” he continued. “Still, these things happen.” Naturally, the story became worldwide news and was painted as the two being at loggerheads, something Brosnan sought to shut down.
“The Teri Hatcher incident was blown out of proportion. She was late to set because she was newly pregnant. I didn’t know that until the end of the day,” he told Playboy. “I was vexed because I had a call time of six or seven, and we didn’t do any work until three or four in the afternoon. No one told me her situation until afterwards. By that time, I’d already shot my mouth off and cussed and moaned and groaned. That’s all it was, a storm in a teacup.”
Thatcher was hardly enthused by her time spent being a Bond girl, either, describing her role as “such an artificial kind of character to be playing,” one that didn’t give her “any special satisfaction”. Brosnan may have been miffed, then, but he put his frustrations to the side once he realised his opposite number’s pregnancy was the root of her tardiness.
The future Desperate Housewives star was already three months pregnant by the time production even started, not that it prevented her from playing a pivotal role in one of cinema’s most iconic franchises and doing the job to the best of her abilities.
