By L awrence Ferber
photo by The Weinstein Company

In his cheeky new film The Matador, Pierce Brosnan tweaks his sauve image. Our interview with the heartthrob and writer/director Richard Shepard will leave you both shaken and stirred.

Pierce Brosnan needs little introduction. The Irish-born actor's smolderingly handsome looks and dashing manner helped land him the titular role of TV's Remington Steele, turns in The Thomas Crown Affair, The Mirror Has Two Faces, Robinson Crusoe, The Long Good Friday (as a gay-baiting IRA assassin), and, of course, the plum role of James Bond in a handful of films and video games between 1995-2004. Yet what does require a little introduction and explanation is Brosnan's latest appearance in The Matador, playing a sort of distorted -- and queered-up -- mirror image of Bond.

Brosnan plays Julian Noble, a burned-out, gone-to-pot, debauched and sexually ambiguous hitman. One night in a Mexico City bar he chums up to Danny (Greg Kinnear), a tense businessman in town for a make-it-or-break-it deal, During their conversation Julian remarks that two things taste better in Mexico: "Margaritas and cock." Not in the market for a gay affair -- his wife Bean (Hope Davis) is anxiously awaiting news at home -- Danny is aghast, but a strange camaraderie develops between the men, and they end up helping each other out in very unexpected ways.

Written and directed by Richard Shepard, The Matador was produced by Brosnan's (and partner Beau St. Clair's) Irish DreamTime productions. During the Toronto Film Festival, I had the opportunity to sit down with Brosnan and Shepard. Brosnan, taller than I expected, sported a silvery beard and a cheeky sense of humor and sassy bite: this Bond fires back. In the sexually ambiguous spirit of the film, and that cheekiness, he even held hands with Shepard during our discussion of The Matador, Mexican cocks, and whether Bond would sleep with a guy to accomplish a mission.

Let's get this out of the way: Is Julian bisexual?

Richard Shepard: We think he's a try-sexual. He'll try [fucking] anything in front of him. It was so important in the beginning when Pierce came on board [that he agreed to play it that way]. I was like, "Very early in the movie there's this 'margaritas and cock' line and either we're gonna do this or we're not doing the movie." Ultimately, I want everyone to think Julian is a try-sexual and will sleep with anything because it adds to the tension of the movie all the way through. If you think that Julian and Danny might have had something maybe in secret in Mexico... And Pierce was like "No problem, I want to." I get the idea that this script, this story and this character interested Pierce because he wanted to stretch. He was just looking for the opportunity to walk through a hotel lobby in his underwear.

Pierce Brosnan: It's as simple as that. I've been an actor for many, many years and to have a jewel like this come across the table and to have your own company and make your own choices ... that would never have happened if I sat at home waiting for the phone to ring.

So do the cocks taste better in Mexico?

PB: I wouldn't know. No cocks. I say the line, let it fall out of my mouth.

RS: Great question! There are many people on the crew [who might know] -- we can take a poll.

During the first few minutes of the movie, after waking up with a prostitute, Julian spots her bottle of nail polish and paints his own nails. Was that polish your shade, Pierce?

PB: Sure it was my shade. Love it. Want to see my toes now? I'm wearing it.

Pierce, would you have liked to see a gay twist to the Bond character while you played him? Logically, you think Bond would have had to sleep with a guy at some point to achieve a mission, right?

PB: I don't know, buddy. [Bond creator] Ian Fleming put it down in a kind of rough perverse way, and they diluted [the character] a long time ago.

Would Bond sleep with a guy to get the info?

PB: Um. Possibly.

Really good info?

PB: (Resigned) Sure.

Richard, what made Pierce your ideal choice for Julian and what did he bring to the role?

PB: My cock.

Good answer.

RS: The casting is all about the couch.

PB: It is. Should we hold hands now? Come on, sweetheart. Really. (They hold hands)

RS: This whole movie rests on the actors because it's not a movie with car chases and everything like that. Pierce is really the perfect person to play this role because I was looking for a really good actor to do something different. You have the fun of not only the character of Julian, but also the fun of seeing an actor who people like stretch and pull it off. And Pierce got it, got what this character needed to do and understood the decadence of everything in his life. The debauched nature of him from beginning to end.

PB: Little did you know. I've been sitting in the wings a long time.

Julian is constantly frazzling Danny. Did you enjoy making Greg Kinnear uncomfortable?

PB: Sure. Greg is such a standup guy about the whole thing. Julian is a very flamboyant character and if he wasn't as up on his game as he always is I would've had nowhere to go.

RS: Greg was so great in helping the comedy. If Greg weren't there to look at Pierce's performance in the movie it wouldn't have been as funny. Greg is our eyes. Very grounded in a way, many of the biggest laughs are Greg looking at Pierce after he says [something shocking].

PB: With a lesser actor I would have been dead in the water and looked like a prick.

You also had a gay moment or two, with Woody Harrelson, in the film After The Sunset.

RS: If it's got him in bed with another man it's automatically on his desk.

Of course, you've tackled gay material and been involved with gays in the industry for many years, Pierce. Any memorable experiences during your early acting days?

PB: I was at a theater called the Glasgow Citizens Theatre run by three guys who are wonderful and gay. Their company was extremely outrageous -- everybody always wanted to be in the company because of the theatricality of the performances they would give, but few were chosen. They would do four-hour productions of The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi. The boys would all be fagged-out and the girls would have their tits out. The most magnificent shows.

Was there any fear when you did The Long Good Friday, your first feature film role, that playing gay or sexually ambiguous could hurt your career? Did anyone advise against it?

PB: At that point in your career you'll do anything, but no. Nobody's ever said [anything against it]. I think The Matador was the first time my agent got a bit squirrelly! My wife got a bit squirrelly! So I think they all breathed a sigh of relief it was as entertaining as it was.

I look forward to where you go from here. Do you think you'll get lots of offers to play degenerates now?

PB: Probably.