LONDON, ENGLAND: James Bond is easily one of the best-known action-hero characters that has been portrayed by some of the best actors in Hollywood. Pierce Brosnan, who brought a unique charm to the cult character, once divulged his shock when he was suddenly replaced by fellow British actor Daniel Craig.
Brosnan, 70, appeared in four James Bond films and ended his tenure as the ultra-masculine protagonist with the highest-grossing entry in the franchise, 'Die Another Day.' Regardless, he was replaced by Craig. Brosnan later revealed that he did not quit the franchise voluntarily but that the producers fired him.
Brosnan recalled his shock when Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson told him his gig was up. “I was in the Bahamas, working on a movie called 'After the Sunset', and my agents called me up and said, ‘Negotiations have stopped. [Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson] are not quite sure what they want to do. They’ll call you next Thursday," the acclaimed actor said in an interview featured in the book 'Some Kind of Hero: The Remarkable Story of the James Bond Films' by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury. "I sat in Richard Harris’ house in the Bahamas, and Barbara and Michael were on the line —‘We’re so sorry.’ She was crying, Michael was stoic and he said, ‘You were a great James Bond. Thank you very much,’ and I said, ‘Thank you very much. Goodbye.’ That was it. I was utterly shocked and just kicked to the curb with the way it went down.”
The book states that negotiations did not succeed because Brosnan wanted too much money to star in another Bond installation. Furthermore, Craig was deemed the perfect replacement because producers wanted to give the iconic character a gritty makeover. The fifth Bond film, 'No Time To Die', ultimately served as Craig's final appearance as the British secret agent. Brosnan confirmed in a 2004 interview with the Toronto Star that he didn't quit as Bond but was fired instead. “It’s over. It’s over. It’s absolutely over,” Brosnan said, “They (the producers) invited me back right before I went to present that film (Die Another Day) before I went on the road with Halle Berry to sell the movie. They said: ‘We’re so happy with the success. We want you to come back!’ I went on the road a happy man, you know?
The star continued, "I thought we’d get a fifth and no more. That would be it, really. I’d done it. You get bored. You get older. You give of yourself to something, and then you have no more to give. But I thought a fifth would be good. And then one day, the phone rang— I was here in the Bahamas —and my agents told me that the goalposts had moved and that they had changed their minds.”
“It’s very hard to find the truth in that town [Hollywood] or in this business at times. But it was their prerogative to change their minds. They can do it. And they might have done it ‘to go younger. It was disappointing. It was surprising. And I accepted the knowledge after 24 hours of being in shock,” Brosnan added.
