Gentlemen Don't Prefer Bonds

But not before that swim in the ocean he's been waiting for all afternoon. After his wife places an emergency phone call to the local surf shop, his guest is presented with a spanking new pair of Billabong board shorts. Then it's a dive into the warm turquoise water. Cares float away as Brosnan calmly bobs around in the waves. And after half an hour he paddles back to shore and steps onto the sand, feeling clean and refreshed. Feeling like a new man.

BROSNAN ON BROSNAN

Usually recognized as the guy who played Remington Steele or James Bond, the actor always loves it when folks bring up some of the other projects he holds dear. Here he weighs in on a few of his favorites.

Mister Johnson 1990
''Good film, actually — I think about 12 people saw it,'' he says of the African colonial drama, directed in Nigeria by Bruce Beresford. ''I'd go to church on Sunday. There was nothing else to do!... It came with a certain loneliness to it: My [first] wife was sick, she was at home, phone calls were expensive...''

The Lawnmower Man 1992
Critics weren't pleased with Brett Leonard's virtual-reality fable. But Brosnan ''loved the wildness of it. Loved the sheer independent aspect, the exuberance.'' He watched it recently with his son. ''I thought it was going to be really tacky and embarrassing. But it actually...looked good.''

The Thomas Crown Affair 1999
''It's just a game,'' says Steve McQueen fan Brosnan, who developed this remake. ''The [climactic scene] was written as straw hats. I was looking at Magritte and all the bowler-hatted men and was like, It should be bowler hats! I was proud of that. I had a creative thought!'' He laughs. ''For a change!''

Evelyn 2002
Brosnan also produced this unheralded flick about a humble dad trying to reunite with his kids. ''It's a jewel of a film. I'm very proud of it. It hit chords within my own life of being a father and dealing with aloneness and Ireland and Catholicism.'' He laughs again. ''It was also a good movie for not having to watch my weight!''