{"id":97128,"date":"2017-04-05T23:54:06","date_gmt":"2017-04-06T03:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=97128"},"modified":"2017-04-05T23:54:06","modified_gmt":"2017-04-06T03:54:06","slug":"pierce-brosnan-returns-to-tv-as-leading-man-in-amc-western-drama-the-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/05\/pierce-brosnan-returns-to-tv-as-leading-man-in-amc-western-drama-the-son\/","title":{"rendered":"Pierce Brosnan returns to TV as leading man in AMC western drama ‘The Son’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In<\/a>
In the 30 years since he last portrayed a suave thief turned private eye in the ’80s TV drama \u201cRemington Steele,\u201d Pierce Brosnan has been eyeing a return to the medium that helped chart his path to stardom. (Photo: Pierce Brosnan\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 In the 30 years since he last portrayed a suave thief turned private eye in the ’80s TV drama \u201cRemington Steele,\u201d Pierce Brosnan has been eyeing a return to the medium that helped chart his path to stardom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d been actively looking to go back to TV because it’s so fertile,\u201d Brosnan said in a recent interview at a downtown Toronto hotel. \u201cI was watching everyone having such a good time on TV, I wanted to be a part of that fabric of culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

AMC’s new western drama \u201cThe Son\u201d proved to be the ideal vehicle for the veteran actor, as he takes on a role far removed from his past big screen persona as super-spy 007.<\/p>\n

The former James Bond star portrays Eli McCullough, the strong-willed patriarch of a Texas family struggling to retain wealth and power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Son\u201d is based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated bestseller of the same name by American author Philipp Meyer, who is a co-creator of the TV series.<\/p>\n

Brosnan said he was a fan of the grand historical scope and storytelling in Meyer’s novel; but the actor’s love of stories centred in the American Old West dates back to his childhood in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were two theatres in the town, and they just showed westerns, so it was very much ingrained in my young psyche,\u201d said Brosnan.<\/p>\n

The debut episode shows Eli in two parallel stories contrasting his past and present lives, including a glimpse into a harrowing childhood that had been marred by violence.<\/p>\n

Young Eli (Jacob Lofland) is snatched from his home by a Comanche slave-trading party. The scene then shifts to 1915 where adult Eli (Brosnan) is trying to cement his legacy by transitioning from the cattle business into the burgeoning oil industry.<\/p>\n

Storylines addressing land disputes, indigenous peoples and resource extraction seem to mirror current headlines \u2014 a fact not lost on Brosnan, who described the project as \u201can embarrassment of riches\u201d for storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Eli) is a forward-thinking man, and knows that he’s at the end of a certain era in society and life and has to move forward \u2014 and oil is the way,\u201d said Brosnan. \u201cWhose land is it? The Comanche? The Mexican? The white man?… I think it has great relevance to today’s society. And the landscape was born of people like this, and an ideology that still mangles the society and mangles other cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eli’s turbulent childhood clearly transforms him as an adult, as he employs a ruthless, unflinching approach to pursuing and securing power. Despite his tough persona, Brosnan sees something deeper beneath the veneer of Eli’s hardened exterior.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a sorrow in the man’s heart. There’s a great pain, there’s a great anger,\u201d said Brosnan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis youth was ripped from his heart, his soul. But he’s a survivor. He’s an archetypal, mythical American hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Son\u201d premieres with back-to-back episodes Saturday on AMC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 In the 30 years since he last portrayed a suave thief turned private eye in the ’80s TV …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":97130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[17589],"class_list":["post-97128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-pierce-brosnan","mauthors-lauren-la-rose","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}