Pierce Brosnan on the sage wisdom he gave—and learned—as Black Adam's Dr. Fate
Even if he absolutely does not want to discuss James Bond, Pierce Brosnan reflected on the differences between action filmmaking between the '90s and now
Pierce Brosnan absolutely does not want to talk about James Bond—and who can blame him? It’s a role, for decades, that has come with endless expectations, speculation, and judgment, which explains why there’s almost a refreshing distance from the legacy he’s a part of whenever he’s publicly quoted. But also, if as an interviewer you get too close to asking a question about it, his understandable impulse may be to shut down the conversation immediately.
The other reason for him to tire of Bond questions is because he’s frequently terrific in other films—especially Black Adam, where he plays Dr. Fate, a conjurer and mustachioed dispenser of wisdom to his scrappy young costars. Brosnan recently spoke to The A.V. Club about his scene-stealing role opposite Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, and others, which evidences an approach to acting that’s no longer beholden to the public’s expectations—until this press cycle began, anyway—and discussed how his black box theater work enabled him to play a part where so much of what he did was gussied up (or otherwise invented) in post-production.
The A.V. Club: Having in the past played roles where you shouldered significant expectations from a lot of people, how did this compare in terms of either anticipation or perhaps judgment?
Pierce Brosnan: I’ve actually felt it acutely more these last few days as I’ve begun to talk about it and we’re coming to showtime, curtain up. When I was offered the job of Doctor Fate in Black Adam, I was just absolutely enamored and charmed and honored to be part of such a magnificent movie. I was aware of Black Adam a little bit, and Dr. Fate—my sons are comic book aficionados. And so they told me that I was absolutely right for the job, and what a spectacular opportunity it was for me. And the making of the movie was relatively easy and kind of casual and there was a big responsibility there, but the cast was so welcoming. And the character, Dr. Fate and I seemed to fit. We seemed to meet at the right time in life. And the look of the character, the costume by Bart and Kurt, was just magnificent. The digital effects were spectacular. I didn’t know what I was going to look like. My character puts on the helmet and then he becomes Dr. Fate, so it was really just jumping into the kind of the wild blue ether and the whole theatricality of it all.
AVC: Your character dispenses sage wisdom to these younger statesmen. As a person who has a different kind, but a greater experience than a lot of the people who are your costars, what if anything did you teach them, or perhaps learn from them?
PB: I learned a lot from them, actually. They gave me the greatest energy, of wisdom in their passion and their own intellect. And as I say, just from today, as they speak, because I’ve been sitting here for the last few days listening to Aldis talk about the research that he did and the passion for the character. This film works on so many different levels—politically, socially, culturally, and of course, theatrically. It’s a spectacle. But just their voices as a company is so rich to listen to and so invigorating. And it was the same when I was on the set working with everyone. You know, I’ve been in this business many, many years, and to come in as the elder, so to speak—you look around, you’re the oldest man on the set—and to see the wisdom and the passion of these players was invigorating. And we became a family. There was a real kinship between us. So I want the world for each and every one of them.
AVC: There’s a tremendous ease to this character, particularly as a juxtaposition to the typical anxiety superheroes have. What reasoning did you come up with to explain how a person who knows everything that’s going to happen can take it all in stride so effortlessly?