![[chris and charlotte]](http://users.aol.com/cetaami/chrischar.jpg)
|
Pierce Brosnan has confirmed he will be returning to the big screen as the world's most famous secret agent.
Brosnan, in Sydney to promote his latest film The Thomas Crown Affair, put to rest the rumours and speculation about his future as James Bond.
The World Is Not Enough, due for release this year, will be the Irish-born actor's third foray into the secret agent's world and the 19th film in the James Bond franchise.
"The contract is for three [films] with an option for a fourth, so I think I can get away with a fourth," Brosnan said.
But at a premiere earlier this week the actor - who before playing James Bond starred in the television series Remington Steele - also expressed an interest in making more Irish films.
The Edinburgh Fringe begins today, and the international and film festivals next weekend, so whether your preference is an all-Asian Turandot, gumbooted South African dancers, Thatcherite reworkings of Aristophanes, or the work-in-progress of Nick Cave, the cobbled streets of Auld Reekie will soon be ringing with its sounds. Our critics chart a course through the chaos.
Few film festivals have been as successful as Edinburgh in presenting cinema as both art and entertainment. Edinburgh built a reputation as a cineaste's festival with intelligent retrospectives - this year the spotlight falls on Robert Bresson. At the same time the festival has provided a launch pad for big Hollywood releases. The Thomas Crown Affair opens within a week of its UK premiere, as does the comedy Rushmore, though it is already out on video in the US.
Some of the best films on show this year have already proven their worth at Cannes, including Ratcatcher; The Blair Witch Project, the low-budget American hit that has rewritten the rules for horror films; and The War Zone, Tim Roth's film about incest, which is genuinely thought-provoking and cinematically accomplished.
The programmers are not the only ones with a record for shrewd selections: it was only when The Full Monty won the audience prize two years ago that Twentieth Century Fox realised its true potential. Several British features receive world premieres, and the hunt is on for the next Monty. It could be Janice Beard: 45 wpm, the story of a London secretary, co-starring Notting Hill sensation Rhys Ifans. Or the belated sequel Gregory's Two Girls. Or The Darkest Light, written and co-directed by Simon Beaufoy. And there's East Is East, getting its UK premiere after charming audiences in Cannes and Galway.
FORGET the total eclipse. For a real star-studded feast this month, head for the Edinburgh Film Festival.
A crowd of A-List celebrities are jetting into town, led by Pierce Brosnan - the best James Bond since the one-and-only Sean, and the actor lucky enough to land the lead in the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair.
Pierce is bringing along co-star Rene Russo to introduce the film personally and is said to be thrilled that Edinburgh has been chosen for the premiere.
A film company insider confided: "Pierce is genuinely chuffed. Showing his movie here is a real boost. It's a very prestigious event."
This year Scottish moviegoers will be among the first to see Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline in A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as The Blair Witch Project, a small-budget US horror movie that's become a susprise smash in the States.
John Cusack and Cate Blanchett will be there, too, hosting a gala bash for their new film Pushing Tin, while Patsy Kensit will be putting in an appearance to boost her new movie, Janice Beard.
Wacky Welshman Rhys Ifans is also planning a visit, fresh from his scene-stealing role in Notting Hill, and Bill Murray will jet in for Rushmore, where he gives the performance of his life as an eccentric millionaire who befriends a school nerd.
Scottish talent is also out in force this year, with Gregory's Girl director Bill Forsyth and its star, John Gordon Sinclair, anxious to see how its sequel - Gregory's Two Girls - is received at its world premiere during the last week of the festival.
Cannes prize-winning director Lynne Ramsay will also be in town to present the British premiere of her first big feature, Ratcatcher.
Scots-born actress Rebecca Pigeon is also jetting in with writer-director husband David Mamet for their dramatic new version of The Winslow Boy.
But still shrouded in secrecy is one of the festival's highlights - the surprise movie.
Five years ago, filmgoers were thrilled by the British premiere of Quentin Tarantino's smash hit Pulp Fiction and, two years ago, Edinburgh audiences got an exclusive preview of the Oscar-winning LA Confidential.
The movie is traditionally kept secret until the 800-strong audience is seated, but the event is always one of the first to sell out.
The pulling power of the Edinburgh Film Festival is a mark of its standing in the industry. Gene Kelly called it "an inspiration" while Steven Spielberg chose Edinburgh for the first European screening of ET.
Angelica Huston's dad, the legendary director John Huston, called it "the only festival that's worth a damn."
But the festival has not been without its slip-ups. One recent organiser booked Serbian film-makers into the same flat as Croatian guests, and new arrangements had to made - fast.
Hopefully, this year the only fighting will be for some of the festival's hottest tickets.
IT is the rarest of family photographs - James Bond star Pierce Brosnan sits happily with with the Scots father who abandoned him.
After a lifetime apart, the two men seemed delighted to have at last found one another.
Brosnan was willing to bury the past and to try to understand how Glaswegian Thomas, a reformed alcoholic, could have walked out on his mother when Pierce was still a babe in arms. He even took his own son Sean to meet him.
But the old man died before they had an opportunity to rebuild their relationship - and the actor only learned of his funeral after the event.
Yesterday, however, the star's wayward late father was still very much in his thoughts at the UK premier of his new movie, The Thomas Crown Affair, in Edinburgh.
Brosnan revealed how he had played the role as a Glaswegian as a tribute to his late father. He said: "I wanted to make him a Glaswegian because my dad came from the city.
"There are countless Scots who have become very successful businessmen - like Thomas Crown.
"Also, I love the Glaswegian accent - it is very earthy and sexy-sounding.
"I've spent many happy years there working at the Citizen's Theatre, so I didn't need any help with the accent."
Thomas deserted the 46-year-old star when he was a baby and they only met up when Brosnan was 33.
Thomas died in 1988, but because their meetings had been so low-key, Brosnan did not find out until after the funeral.
As well as paying tribute to him in his latest film, Brosnan also named his son Dylan Thomas, now two, in memory of him.
But the loss of the father he barely knew is not the only tragedy to mar Brosnan's life - eight years ago, he had to come to terms with the death of his wife Cassandra from ovarian cancer.
She had been a key figure in his life, the woman who had persuaded him to chase his dream and go to America, where he landed a role in the detective series Remington Steele, which ran from 1982 to 1987 and made him a star.
Brosnan recalls: "I was much more cautious about going to America than Cassie was. I would say things like, how can we go when we've just bought this bloody house, and she'd say ... don't worry, we'll find a way."
Brosnan met and fell in love with Cassie, who had two children - Christopher and Charlotte - from a previous marriage, while he was still a struggling actor.
They were married for 11 years, during which time they had a son - Sean, now 15 - and she helped transform him from mini-serial regular into a big screen star.
But he put his career on hold to look after her when her cancer was diagnosed in 1987 and was given just six months to live.
It was a tribute to her willpower that she lasted four-and-a-half years, through sheer strength and determination to fight the cancer.
And now, even though Brosnan has a new love in his life in the shape of Keely Shaye-Smith, he believes Cassie's spirit lives on in the children. He says: "It's wonderful. It's one of those magical things in life - one of those things that make you think there is a God in heaven - when you have a memory of this fine person you knew and loved and who changed your life.
"And now I have a partner who has changed my life again."
Brosnan had a troubled upbringing - after his father walked out his mother, a nurse, struggled to make ends meet. She left him in the care of his grandparents in County Meath, outside Dublin, when he was four.
When his grandparents died, he moved in with an uncle and aunt until he was 11, when his mother was able to look after him again.
He went to live with her in Putney, but was teased because of his Irish accent and nicknamed The Paddy.
Now Pierce has become an international star thanks to his role as James Bond - and is also making a name for himself as a producer.
As well as producing Scottish football film The Match, Pierce also starred in and produced The Thomas Crown Affair - a remake of the 1968 Steve McQueen heist thriller.
Pierce was the star attraction at last night's gala premiere of the film, which also stars Rene Russo.
He plays a rich industrial businessman who becomes a gentleman thief and who is the prime suspect when a priceless painting is stolen.
Former model Rene plays an investigator out to trap him.
Pierce admitted that although his time as James Bond has made him used to comparisons with other actors, playing a character made famous by Steve McQueen made him sick with worry.
He says: "I was so nervous, I nearly had a breakdown."
It had all been different months beforehand, when Pierce and his co-producer Beau St Clair had decided to make the film.
He says: "At first I thought it was doable. I loved the original film, Beau thought a remake of Thomas Crown could work and I agreed.
"But two weeks before filming, I was trying to find reasons not to show my face. I kept asking myself what had I done.
"It was a big risk. My neck was on the line. McQueen was an icon and I am a big target."
Taking on the Bond role is what has helped make him such a big target.
Had it not been for a quirk of fate, Brosnan might have once again been following in Sean Connery's footsteps.
He recently discovered that the original Thomas Crown Affair was offered to the Scot, but he turned it down, so the makers turned to McQueen.
Had it turned out otherwise, Brosnan would not have done the film.
He admits: "If Sean had played Thomas Crown rather than McQueen, I wouldn't have taken the role.
"The comparisons with Sean are odious at the best of times - you have to have broad shoulders.
"I only found out about Sean's involvement half-way through filming - it was ironic, but what the heck."
Brosnan's career is following a similar path to Connery's at the moment. The Edinburgh-born star's latest film, Entrapment, also featured him as a thief who falls in love with an insurance investigator.
Although he clearly doesn't appreciate too many comparisons, Brosnan is keen to emulate one aspect of Connery's career - longevity.
He has just finished filming the 18th Bond - The World Is Not Enough, which also stars Robert Carlyle and Robbie Coltrane - and he denies he will quit the 007 role after his next Bond film, which will be his fourth.
He says: "I had a great time making The World Is Not Enough. My contract is for a fourth and I'll certainly do that.
"I don't want to go if the gate is still open. But I have been going like the clappers with the last three Bonds I've done and I've no intention of retiring just yet.
"I want a career that has longevity, which means doing other things as well. And I know you can't do action films forever."
The World Is Not Enough is released in November and Pierce will also star in the Richard Attenborough-directed Grey Owl, about a Scottish conservationist.
But now he plans to take more time to be with his young family - girlfriend Keely, 33, and son Dylan Thomas.
He says: "Keely is writing a book and together with the baby, they are portable. It is hectic at times, but we travel well, although we live out of suitcases and in hotels a lot of the time."
But Pierce won't reveal whether he will make Keely the second Mrs Brosnan.
He says: "We may marry - just do it quietly and suddenly.
"I don't know yet because I've been up to my neck with work for the last two years. I need some thinking time."