'James Bond' Star Makes Switch to Comedy
December 15, 2005

"James Bond" fans should expect a much different Pierce Brosnan in the actor's new movie, "The Matador." "Extra" sat down with the star at his ranch in New Mexico, just after he received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the new movie.

"The Matador" marks a huge role reversal for Mr. 007, who plays a hit man who loses his nerve, mind and even his pants in the film. "It was the right time," Brosnan said. "I was ready to just kind of say, 'That part of life is over.' Then Greg Kinnear came along and you know Greg, he just makes you funny anyway."

In "The Matador," Kinnear plays a traveling salesman, who has to deal with the lonely hit man. "This takes all of the James Bond imagery of Pierce and mixes it up in the churner, and spits it out in a way that you've never seen him before," Kinnear promised.

So it seems the calculated risk paid off, adding up to Brosnan's second Golden Globe nomination. "Suddenly the phone rang and it was the nomination," Pierce told us. "I don't know, you high five and then you go to work."

The sudden role change played well with the critics, but how did Brosnan's wife, Keely Shaye Smith, like it? "She liked it in the end," the actor told us. "I think she might have thought I was barking mad at the beginning, but you know, you've just got to jump off the cliff sometimes."