Pierce Brosnan in Parade Magazine

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 6/16/08 at 4:26pm

Brosnan has always kept his career varied, taking on roles from suave to seedy. He’s shown his range in movies like Evelyn, The Matador, and Seraphim Falls. Soon we’ll see the biggest stretch of his career (think sparkly blue spandex bell bottoms), when he serenades Meryl Streep in the screen version of the popular musical Mamma Mia! It opens July 18.

Romance we expected, but declaring his love in song? You have to wonder if the prospect of belting out “S.O.S.” and those other very familiar ABBA songs was daunting. “Well, everybody has danced to this music,” says Brosnan, “so I just went for it. They said ‘Meryl Streep, filming in Greece all summer,’ and I said ‘yes.’ ” He shakes his head. “Not to say I wasn’t terrified to my core.”

Just picture Brosnan on the beach, singing to the waves along with his iPod. “I walked up and down the coast and sang karaoke to my own voice for about six weeks. Went to New York for the first rehearsals, and I sounded dreadful. I quietly freaked out, and with my new-found bravado, I made a pig’s ear of it. So I went back home and listened and sang some more.” He grins triumphantly. “In the end, they liked it so much they added a verse to my big song.”

The vocals were one kind of challenge. The costumes were even scarier. “It was a hoot,” he recalls. “To look at this outfit and say to yourself, ‘I’m going to put this on and walk out there in platform shoes and camp around singing.’ I
just told myself we were in too deep to go back.”

He chuckles. “You have to be able to make fun of your own dignity. You’ve got to let the movie make fun of your dignity. To let it rip is brilliantly exhilarating.”

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_06-15-2008/1Pierce_Brosnan