More than a decade after his James Bond tenure came to an end, Pierce Brosnan keeps signing onto spyish international thrillers. I will happily watch him in any one of these that actually gets made; I just hope some of them manage to come to fruition!
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Brosnan is now attached to a new assassin thriller co-scripted (somewhat oddly) by talk show host Craig Ferguson (along with Ted Mulkerin). Although Ferguson is the funniest guy in late night these days, the film is not a comedy.
Last Man Out is based on the novel
The Ghosts of Belfast (which, confusingly, is also known as
The Twelve) by Stuart Neville. According to the trade, Brosnan will play Gerry Fegan, a former IRA hitman freshly released after serving 20 years in prison. Fegan finds himself haunted by the ghosts of his innocent victims, and decides that the only way to appease them, and to redeem himself, is to systematically assassinate the men who gave him his orders. It will be cool to see Brosnan actually play an Irishman, which he rarely gets to do! But he
has played an IRA hitman before, very effectively. If only he'd been serving 30 years instead of 20, it would be tempting to view
Last Man Out as an unofficial follow-up to
The Long Good Friday, revisiting his assassin character from that film all this time later. The trade reports that U.K.-based "sales and finance banner" Ealing Metro is trying to sell the film (which has not been shot) at the Berlin Film Market this week. I hope they find a buyer, because it definitely sounds like something I'd like to see! Newcomer Terry Loan is on board to direct, with shooting hoped to commence at the end of this year.
Last Man Out isn't the only Brosnan thriller seeking distribution in Berlin. Additionally,
Variety reports that
The Solution Entertainment Group is hoping to sell the Roger Donaldson spy thriller
The November Man (based on the novel
There Are No Spies by Bill Granger) with Brosnan attached to star. We first heard about this one
almost a year ago, and I'm very excited to see it happen, so I
really hope SEG is successful as well! Meanwhile, there's at least one Brosnan thriller on the horizon that we'll
definitely see: he's finished shooting
The Coup, alongside Owen Wilson.
Exciting news. I hope it gets made. Sounds like it will be as character-driven as he wanted his Bonds to be. Is that pic of Brosnan a recent one?
ReplyDeleteYes, Brosnan is great in those types of roles! I hope it gets made too. Honestly, though, I'm not sure how recent the picture is. A friend posted it on Facebook a little while ago, and it was such a good "spy" picture of Pierce (with the trenchcoat and all) that I had to grab it. And then the opportunity to use it came up sooner than I'd anticipated! But I'm not sure where he got it from. Anagnostis, any chance you're reading this comment?
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