Paris, Nov 20: Pierce Brosnan, the actor playing super-suave superspy James Bond, now has a licence to publicise as he began the promotional tour for his latest adventure as 007.
The 49-year-old Irish star flew in to Paris the day after the worldwide premiere of "Die Another Day", the 20th official Bond film that got a royal screening in London late Monday. A greeting from Queen Elizabeth II at that glitzy event seemed natural for the man incarnating the fictional hero on her Majesty's secret service.
At a media conference in an upmarket hotel in the French capital late yesterday, Brosnan said the screenwriters were "messing with the formula" on his fourth outing in the Bond tuxedo.
The aim was to make Bond "as real, as human as possible" without forsaking the keynotes of the hugely lucrative cinema franchise which began 40 years ago with Sean Connery in the lead role. "I think we've broken new ground with this one," Brosnan said, wearing jeans and a black shirt and sitting alongside co-stars Halle Berry and Rick Yune.



"Die Another Day" dishes up all the set pieces Bond fans expect - exotic locales, glamorous women, gadgets and spectacular stunts - but it also kicks off with an unusual first for the ultra-competent secret agent: Bond is taken prisoner after a job in North Korea and tortured for 14 months, only to be released in a prisoner exchange.



Bureau Report