Brosnan is breaking the Bonds

TORONTO -- The actor in Pierce Brosnan is getting restless.

"I ain't just a pretty boy who's quick with the one liners," quips Brosnan with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.

A reporter has just asked Brosnan why he would produce and star in a little Irish movie like Evelyn when he's known the world over as the suave, sexy, big-screen star of the James Bond movies.

Evelyn, which has its festival premiere at the Elgin tomorrow at 7 p.m., is inspired by the true story of how Desmond Doyle challenged and overturned an Irish law which said a father did not have the right to raise his children on his own even if his wife had abandoned them.

"I haven't tackled the kind of emotions Evelyn required since I did the ABC mini-series The Manions of America about the Irish potato famine.

"That show led to my getting Remington Steele in which I basically played myself and I've been pretty well doing that ever since."

Brosnan, 49, says Evelyn also struck many personal chords. "I'm Irish. I'm a father. I have my own issues with the (Catholic) church and I have experienced feelings of abandonment in my own life. My parents split up when I was a child and I didn't see my father again until I was 33. I understood this story from the viewpoint of both Desmond and his children."

'CHALLENGE ME'

Brosnan produced Evelyn with longtime friend and producing partner Beau St. Clair through their company Irish Dream Time.

"It's great having the financial security that Bond has given me but I need something to challenge me and to nurture the actor in me. That's where films like Evelyn come in."

Evelyn won't be released theatrically until Dec. 13 and then only in key cities like New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, three weeks after his fourth Bond film Die Another Day hits theatres.

"I'm feeling really confident about Die Another Day. I feel we've made one of the best Bond films ever. For one thing you can actually follow the story this time."

He has fulfilled his Bond contract with Die Another Day but Brosnan says "the producers have told me the role is mine as long as I like.

"I think I could do at least one more but I also know there comes a time to bow out gracefully."