Pierce Brosnan talks to Tom Hardy in ‘MobLand’ dinner scene: Watch
Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) gives a not-so-subtle message to his crime family fixer (Tom Hardy) in “MobLand,” streaming Sundays on Paramount+.
Many James Bond debates will never be resolved. But even in a movie universe that sparks hair-splitting debate, Pierce Brosnan stands atop the superspy actors who’ve played Bond with the best mane of hair — especially when you factor in Brosnan’s high-volume 1980s hair days in NBC’s “Remington Steele,” his breakout role.
So when Brosnan, 71, finally worked with fashionable English gangster specialist Guy Ritchie (creator of Netflix’s “The Gentleman”), who directs episodes of the Paramount+ TV series “MobLand” (streaming Sundays), the follicles were going to fly when the esteemed actor got clipped.
“We wanted to deconstruct the look of Brosnan, somewhat of a signature part of my life as an actor,” Brosnan tells USA TODAY. He pondered shaving it all off, but changed his mind. After consulting with Ritchie, Brosnan let his hair stylist go on a cutting spree. “I said, ‘Just go for it.’ And she did. And then Guy saw it and said, ‘Very good, very neat,’” he says.
What role does Pierce Brosnan play in ‘MobLand’?
The “peculiar, dramatic, angular, cubist hairstyle” is not only versatile — Brosnan combed it to look his usual dapper self at the “MobLand” March 31 New York premiere. But it’s also the perfect topper for the mercurial crime head, patriarch Conrad Harrigan. “It’s a fascist haircut,” says Brosnan.
He joins other top-notch talent going gangster, including Helen Mirren as wife and Machiavellian matriarch Maeve, “House of the Dragon” ruler Paddy Considine as Conrad’s tattooed son Kevin, and Tom Hardy as the family’s fixer Harry Da Souza.
Under Ritchie’s direction, the multi-generational story of a crime family protecting hard-won turf makes Brosnan a highly dysfunctional John Dutton-style patriarch. Brosnan appreciates the “Yellowstone” comparison, once it’s fully explained. “I haven’t been watching too much TV to tell the truth; I’ve been busy working,” he says. “But my character is very damaged; the whole family is damaged. Then you mix that in with drugs and violence.”
Is ‘MobLand’ a twist on ‘Yellowstone’?
The twisted Yellowstone comparison is amplified by co-star and onscreen conspirator Mirren (who recently lashed out at the Bond franchise, saying it was “born out of profound sexism”).
Mirren, 79, is also currently starring as the wholesome but steely matriarch Cara Dutton on the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1923,” protecting the early Dutton ranch with husband Jacob (Harrison Ford). In “MobLand,” Maeve retrieves cocaine, hidden in her bra, to console her maverick grandson Eddie (Anson Boon) and encourages the family to expand into the fentanyl racket. “She wants to make money. But she loves the lifestyle, living in the country, the cars, the clothes,” says Brosnan.
Between scenes, the two revered actors discussed how juicy the gangster parts are. “It’s very dark, with an almost operatic theatricality,” says Brosnan. “This really lets you play as an actor.”
The duo has their Harrigan couple backstory. Conrad was raised on a farm and met the fellow wild-child Maeve. “He was crazy; she was even crazier,” says Brosnan. They moved to London, where Conrad became a car thief and gangster with his wily wife rising the criminal ranks alongside him.
‘MobLand’ began as a ‘Ray Donovan’ spinoff
The series initially began as “The Donovans,” a loose generational backstory to Showtime’s “Ray Donovan.” But Irish novelist and creator Ronan Bennett (“Top Boy”) switched the family to the Harrigans, based in London and the serene Cotswolds. Conrad might fish off the dock of his lakeside Gloucestershire pile, but he’s Ireland-born, just like Brosnan.
Brosnan tried to talk to Ritchie about Conrad’s accent on the haircut day. But the discussion went unresolved until months later, on the first day of filming.
“Then Guy said, ‘Go Irish,’” Brosnan recalls. He had already dialed up his dialect coach and based Conrad on a real-life Irish politician that he won’t name. It took work to hone the County Kerry accent. “My father was a Kerry man. Brosnan is a Kerry name,” he says. “But my Irish accent is very soft and has diminished over the years into the back of my memory.”
Working with the enigmatic Hardy, who propels the action in the series, was the final major piece of the puzzle for Brosnan. As fate would have it, his actor-producer son Sean Brosnan, 41, is best mates with Hardy. The screen pairing was like a warped homecoming.
“Tom is like a son to me,” Brosnan says. “We had a wonderful time. And he has such a powerful presence. The atmosphere he creates around himself is intoxicating. It’s sensuous.”
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