James Bond: Pierce Brosnan was left ‘heartbroken’ after his original 007 screen test | Films | Entertainment
Pierce Brosnan was the James Bond of the 1990s, but did you know he was almost the 007 of the late 1980s? The Remington Steele TV star auditioned for 1987’s The Living Daylights, a reboot for the series after seven Roger Moore outings which is on ITV this evening. He bagged the role, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Previously sharing a still from his screen test for what would be Timothy Dalton’s first 007 movie, Brosnan captioned the post: “A still from my screen test for Bond The Living Daylights back in 1986. I got the job, however, there was a catch, I couldn’t get out of my contract with Remington Steele…and, well, let’s save it for the memoirs.”
His Remington Steele co-star Louie Anderson shared memories of the star being “heartbroken” by having to drop Bond after being cast.
Dalton returned to play Bond for a second and final time in 1989’s Licence to Kill, but his third movie never came about. After the franchise’s longest ever hiatus, he was up for one more, but producer Cubby Broccoli wanted him to come back to star in several after such a gap.
So, in the end, Brosnan got what he wanted and was cast as 007 in 1995’s GoldenEye. The Irish star went on to play Bond three more times in Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.
