Interview: Pierce Brosnan on Fast Charlie and how crazy the original draft of The Matador was

Last Updated on December 15, 2023

One of the great things about working for JoBlo is that, over the years, I’ve had the pleasure to speak with some of my heroes. Being a child of the eighties, I tend to be most fascinated by the people I grew up watching. So, speaking to Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and the great Don Johnson have consistently ranked with my fondest moments here with the site. Of course, one of the guys I’ve always wanted to talk to was the great Pierce Brosnan.

Given that I’m the guy behind James Bond Revisited, one could easily imagine why he was a bucket list interview of mine. However, beyond his work as 007, I’m still a fan, particularly of his movie The Matador, one of my favorites. Pierce has a new film out the week called Fast Charlie, which features him once again playing a hitman who’s out to avenge the killing of his father-figure boss, played by James Caan in his final role. In our interview, Pierce told me a bit about working with Jimmy Caan towards the end of his life, how much he enjoyed director Philip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games, Salt) and even revealed a bit about how much crazier the original script for The Matador was before it eventually got made.

Pleasure to talk to you, sir. 

Hello, Chris.  Oh, thank you, mate. Where are you from? Who are you with?  

I’m with JoBlo. I’m in Montreal, actually.  

Alright, excellent. Long time since I’ve been to Montreal. I love that city. 

I remember you filming Grey Owl here. I was in school at John Abbott College. You filmed it at my campus. We were all really excited.  

Oh my God, okay. That’s a memory! Thank you.

So I gotta ask you, first question, you worked with James Caan, just before he passed away, That guy, you know, is one of the giants, I think, of film. I found your scenes together really touching.  

Thank you. Well, it’s definitely a chapter of my life that I will cherish. I was a huge fan of James Caan’s work.  I mean, when the man came onto the screen as Sonny Corleone, the energy, the ferocity of his temperament… We had a great week together. We had a wonderful week, a special time in life for him and myself. You know, he was very frail. At that point and  we were both very aware of time and we were both having a great time playing our roles. You know, it’s (Fast Charlie) a love story. It’s a love story between these two men. 

Then you have Philip Noyce at the helm and he, you know, was one of the main attractions for me.  The script was sent to me by my agent. I love that (hitman) genre.  So, it was a wonderful, wonderful experience. 

Philip Noyce is a great director. And I was surprised to learn that you guys had never worked together before, because it feels like you two would be a natural pairing that would just play really well to each other’s strengths. And I think that you do in the film. I think that your performance is excellent. And I think that his direction is really kind of lean and muscular.  

I appreciate those words very much. I, too, am a  massive fan of  Philip’s work and you know, I was in America in the early 80s, so I saw his influence and (him being part of) this absolutely robust group of men and filmmakers who came over. I’ve always been enamored by his passion for film and then to sit with him and his intellect and his attention to detail, the timing, the space, the place, the props,  it was just a joy to behold and the care that he took with crafting my performance as Charlie Swift… And with the writer (Richard Wenk), you know, it’s all to do with the writing. It starts with that. So when you have that foundation of good writing that is connected to the soul of the actor then you have a great starting point. 

Richard Wenk is a fantastic writer. I love a lot of his screenplays. There’s some really good dialogue in the movie, especially when you’re telling Morena Baccarin the story about your father. I thought that was a great scene.  

Thanks very much. And I really appreciate that, And that just comes from a relationship with Richard. 

As a fan of all of your movies and a lifelong fan of you in particular, I loved seeing you play a hitman because I think probably my favorite movie of yours is still The Matador. I always go back to that movie. But I liked seeing you in this as a different kind of hitman. For me, the interesting kind of parallel between those is that, Julian (in The Matador) was somebody who worked for these really powerful people and was kind of, you know “respectable” because he was an assassin for the government or whatever. And then Charlie works for the mob. But if you see between the two of them, the family relationship and the warmth is with the mob. And I thought the movie did a really good job kind of setting that up and making you invest in his kind of quest for vengeance. You really felt for him.

Well, I can identify with both characters because they both come from my workbench, as it were. I think Charlie is definitely closer to me  in some respects of a time in one’s life. You know Julian (in The Matador) was such a hot mess and anything goes. Anything was viable.  It was so audaciously written by Richard Shepard and if you had read the original text, it was really, you know, he was f*cking everything in sight!  I said, I can’t do that. I’m in, but the world’s not going to accept that. But that was a theatrical kind of venture that was no holds barred. Charlie is a little bit more of a chamber piece  because of the tonality of his life and wanting to be as authentic as possible within the setting. When the curtain goes up, you really are in a specific place and time. It’s a more interior piece. But then of course, you put the gun in his hand and he has to go shoot people.

The black comedy touches were nice though. There’s a GREAT kill with a bottle…

HAHAHA – yes, that was a good kill. That was good. Yes, it was.  

All right. Well, thank you very much for your time Pierce. It was a pleasure to talk to you, sir. 

It was a real pleasure to talk to you Chris. All the best. Stay well.

Fast Charlie is in theaters and on demand now!