Pierce Brosnan hits back as actor defends his contentious Irish accent in Mobland after critics claimed it was 'all over the place and a huge distraction'
The veteran star takes a lead role in director Guy Ritchie 's Mobland, an ambitious contemporary crime drama based around the fictional Harrigan family and their influence on London's criminal underworld.
The show finds Brosnan, 72, reunited with Dame Helen Mirren, some forty-six years after they both starred in John Mackenzie's iconic 1979 gangster film The Long Good Friday.
But the veteran stars have found themselves at the heart of a contentious debate regarding the believability of their affected Irish accents in the new show - with Brosnan's in particular singled out for criticism.
In their review of the show, The Irish Independent unfavourabaly dismissed it as 'all over the place and a huge distraction.'
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Speaking to the latest issue of Radio Times, the actor - who was born in Drogheda, County Louth - insisted his role as family patriarch Conrad Harrigan demanded a broader Irish accent than his own.
'My own accent is very soft,' he explained. 'Conrad's accent is a million miles away from me.'
While the affected accent used by Conrad - who hails from Kerry on Ireland's south-west coast - has divided viewers, he admits it was inspired by a very real person, suggested by his dialect coach.
'I told him that I needed a Kerry accent,' he said. 'so he gave me the name of a man and I Googled the guy and that was it. It was a Kerry accent.
'And so, I just gave it full tilt.'
His role as the "brutish, cunning, charming and dangerous' Conrad is in stark contrast to Brosnan's past endeavours as secret agent James Bond - a character he played across four blockbuster films from 1995 to 2002.
But the actor admits he enjoys the freedom that comes with playing the villain for a change, adding: 'I like him. I love him. I enjoy him. I mean, I don't want to be that person – he's a psychopath.
'Yes, there are no holds barred. You own the stage, you have wings to fly and be anything you wish.'
The veteran stars have found themselves at the heart of a contentious debate regarding the believability of their affected Irish accents - with Brosnan in particular singled out for criticism
Brosnan is working with celebrated director Ritchie for the first time in Mobland, after admiring a canon of work that has taken the filmmaker from low-budget beginnings with Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels to big-budget Hollywood reinterpretations of Sherlock Holmes.
'I have great admiration for Guy Ritchie's work and the style that he has created for himself,' he said.
'The landscape of film-making that he has embroidered over the years is wildly entertaining.
'And this family [the Harrigans] is so mangled and warped – it's twisted, incestuous and dangerous.'
And reuniting with old friend Mirren - who also stars alongside him in forthcoming film The Thursday Murder Club - is an added bonus.
The 1979 gangster film also starred the more established Mirren (pictured with co-star Bob Hoskins) but the pair did not share any scenes
Read Tom's full interview in Radio Times out now.
Brosnan was 25-years old when he made his screen debut as an unnamed IRA assassin alongside the more established actress in The Long Good Friday.
While Brosnan had no lines and didn't share a single scene with Mirren, his character made a significant contribution to the film's memorable final scene as London gangster Harold Shand, played by the late Bob Hoskins, is whisked away at gunpoint.
'It still holds up as a British gangster movie,' said Brosnan affectionately.
'And now, all these years later, Helen and I are working together again.'
The latest issue of Radio Times is out now.
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Telegraph
31 minutes ago
- Telegraph
My Mrs Brown's Boys endurance test: I cried, cringed and almost laughed
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Mercifully, my Mrs Brown's Boys marathon is at an end. But what have I learnt? Yes, what have I learnt? To my surprise, I realise I have actually been sucked in by the pathos of several storylines. The humour might be hit-and-miss, but the emotion isn't. This is a show about family, friendship and community. Unfashionable topics in our fractured age, perhaps, but the new series does have huge warmth… Sure, it's frequently panto-adjacent (oh, yes it is), but it also plays with the sitcom form, with fourth-wall breaks and knowing nods to its own artifice. It's unabashedly working class and exists far outside the metropolitan bubble. The liberal elite might blanch, but it's not for them. Ratings have declined from a blockbuster peak of 11 million, but it still pulls in 4 million loyal viewers – figures that most comedies (and many dramas) would kill for. In an era when critically lauded comedies often struggle to get recommissioned, such review-proof longevity is surely to be applauded. 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Daily Record
2 hours ago
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The Thursday Murder Club film update as Richard Osman announces exciting news
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Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Celebs Go Dating's Kerry Katona 'desperate' over new boyfriend amid 'tense moments'
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