Landing a high-profile role like James Bond can be a blessing and a curse. Look no further thanPierce Brosnan, the sixth actor tapped to play the famous MI6 Secret Service Agent behind Sean Connery, David Niven, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, and Timothy Dalton. Brosnan portrayed the dashing intelligence agent in four Bond films between 1994 and 2004, resulting in a decade of popular exposure and confining typecast. One year after Brosnan took off the tux, the Irish actor delivered arguably his freest, funniest, and most well-rounded performance in a little movie calledThe Matador.
Starring and co-produced by Brosnan,The Matadorisa pitch-black dark crime comedyabout an alcoholic assassin at an existential crossroads. Along with Brosnan showing colors rarely seen on screen, the comedic two-hander also excels thanks to the comedic chemistry with Greg Kinnear, who plays a straight-laced businessperson looking to strike a lucrative deal. For James Bond fans desperate to see another side of Brosnan’s comedic acting chops,The Matadorcomes highly recommended.
The Matador
How Pierce Brosnan Got to The Matador
Pierce Brosnan is an Irish actor who debuted on the big screen in the cult crime classicThe Long Good Fridayin 1980. Brosnan began earning higher-profile Hollywood roles after starring in John McTiernan’sNomadsand the popular TV showRemington Steelefor five years and 94 episodes. In 1993, Brosnan earned rave reviews for his comedic performance opposite Robin Williams inMrs. Doubtfire,in which he played the role of Stuart Dunmeyer. Due to his dashing charms and starry charisma, Brosnan was tapped to play British MI6 Agent James Bond for the first time in 1995’sGolden Eye.
After winning critics and audiences over with his elegant and sophisticated turn, Brosnan was invited back to play James Bond thrice more.Brosnan’s additional Bond movies includeTomorrow Never Dies(1997),The World is Not Enough(1999), andDie Another Day(2002). After voicing the role in the 2003James Bond 007: Everything or Nothingvideo game, Brosnan officially passed the torch to fellow British actor Daniel Craig. While losing an iconic role like James Bond would hurt one’s confidence, the liberation Brosnan must have felt led him to take the biggest cinematic risk in his career.
What Is The Matador About?
Written and directed by Richard Shepard,The Matadoris a mordantly dark crime comedy that follows the unruly exploits of Julian Noble (Brosnan), a jaded and cynical assassin losing his grip on his profession. When Julian randomly encounters a staid traveling salesperson named Danny Wright (Kinnear) in Mexico City, the two form a strange and unlikely bond that takes on a therapeutic quality over time. Stuck in a midlife crisis, Julian is haunted by a botched job and begins assessing what went wrong and why he froze up. To combat his unease, Julian drinks excessively, and his loose, boozy demeanor plays hilariously against Danny’s uptight behavior.
The plot kicks into overdrive when Julian demonstrates his lethal profession to Danny and asks him to assist with a hit. Danny reluctantly agrees, and soon the two form a bizarre odd-couple friendship that leads to an unpredictable ending. The movie jumps to Denver six months later, where Julian conscripts Danny into a dangerous assassination attempt on Julian’s boss, Mr. Stick (William Raymond). From Denver, the two travel to Tucson, Arizona to kill Mr. Stick so that Julian can retire to Greece.
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Despite the dark material,Brosnan gives a tour-de-force performance as Julian unlike any he’s given in his career. After a decade of playing James Bond with the same suave countenance, dapper comportment, and moral rectitude,Brosnan’s freedom to strip all that away and play a deeply flawed, fully-rounded character is remarkable.
Brosnan portrays Julian with hilarious outward bravado and a tinge of melancholy below the surface. He’s confident yet vulnerable, tough yet sensitive, in control yet a total mess, and despite being a professional assassin, grapples with the ethical quandary his latest job presents. As such, it’s no surprise thatBrosnan earned a Golden Globe nod and a Saturn Award nominationfor his outstanding performance.
Brosnan’s Role in Getting The Matador Made
Far from just an actor for hire,Brosnan shaped his movie performanceas Julian Noble by co-producingThe Matador.Part of his producorial responsibilities included crafting the physical appearance of Julian, which was deliberately designed to depart from Brosnan’s famous James Bond persona. According to Shepardvia Ain’t It Cool:
“I really want to change Pierce’s smooth ultra-cool look. The mustache was heavily important. I also love the skinny body with pot belly look – I told Pierce that the first time I met him and he looked at me like I was talking Swahili. But he had a great sense of humor and was really willing to try anything. The underwear lobby scene was not in the script. It was something I came up with two days before we shot. One take.”
The underwear lobby scene entails Julian storming through a hotel with nothing but sunglasses, tight briefs, cowboy boots, and a cigarette and cocktail in tow. As stunned onlookers watch, Julian ignores them all and stumbles toward the hotel pool before awkwardly peeling off his boots and sipping his drink as he jumps into the water.It’s a brilliant silent slapstick comedy momentthat exposes Brosnan’s acting chops and shows a side of him viewers have rarely had the pleasure to see.
Beyond playing a wounded character for laughs, Brosnan admitted that the emotional core drew him to Julian,he told CHUD:
“It had humanity and a certain sincerity to it. It was twisted and dark, and doing dark comedies are not easy, because you’re always pushing the audience away and then bringing them in and then pushing them away and bringing them in. Sometimes, you can leave them out there hanging, and then you’ve lost them. The relationship Richard wrote with Danny and Bean was so idyllic, sweet, loving and tender and soulful and then juxtaposed between Julian’s vulgarian, twisted ways. I thought it was good drama.”
Although Pierce Brosnan may always besynonymous with James Bond,he gives his best and most convincing performance inThe Matadoras a wayward soul looking for spiritual redemption. The role allowed Brosnan to shed his 007 image, flex his acting range, and show the world that he could play dark and twisted characters and still make them just as lovable as his most iconic character.
The Matadoris available to stream on Apple TV+
