The actors talk ageing, James Bond, the powerful message of the film and why author Richard Osman felt nervous about coming on set.
Actors Dame Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan star together in Netflix’s film adaptation of the best-selling The Thursday Murder Club which opens in selected cinemas on 22 August and on Netflix on 28 August.
Saga Magazine caught up with the two to talk about age, James Bond, Richard Osman and assisted dying. The full interview appears in September's edition.
Richard Osman’s book The Thursday Murder Club is a platinum bestseller – with more than one million copies sold in the UK.
It tells the story of a group of residents of a retirement home who use their skills and experience to look back on old, cold crime cases – and are both shocked and thrilled when people start getting killed around them for real.
The film stars Helen and Pierce alongside Celia Imrie and Sir Ben Kingsley.
Helen, who’s now 80, is playing retired spy Elizabeth in the film.
“So many women have worked in that world. She’s a manifestation of a reality, that’s for sure,” she says.
Is she a better portrayal of it than in the world of 007?
“More realistic. But not so much fun as Bond! I’m such a feminist, but James Bond has to be a guy. You can’t have a woman. It just doesn’t work.
“James Bond has to be James Bond, otherwise it becomes something else.”
“I wish them well,” the former Bond actor says. “I’m so excited to see the next man come on the stage and to see a whole new exuberance and life for this character.
“I adore the world of James Bond. It’s been very good to me. It’s the gift that keeps giving.
“And I’m just a member of the audience now, sitting back, saying: ‘Show us what you’re going to do’.”
“I don’t see myself as an old man at all,” says Pierce, now 72. “But I suppose I would be considered an old man by some and I am getting older, that’s for sure.
“So The Thursday Murder Club dealt with all of those intricacies of the heart that are so fragile to look at sometimes.”
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“I absolutely believe in assisted dying,” says Helen. “So do I,” says Pierce.
“I’ve watched the suffering of dear ones. I think when my time comes, I’d like to be able to have the choice to say: ‘Okay, let’s have that cup of tea and say goodbye’.”
Helen agrees: “Yes, in a warm and loving way. I do absolutely believe in that.”
“Really good writers understand that a book and a film are two completely different things,” says Helen.
“He put the material into the incredibly knowledgeable hands of [director] Chris Columbus and let it go.”
Pierce added: “I think he was scared to come to the set, possibly. He was a bit nervous, but he did join us and so did Steven [Spielberg].”
Although the two have been acting for decades, it took until The Thursday Murder Club for them to become proper friends.
While filming the Netflix film, they both received offers to appear in Guy Ritchie’s new gangster series MobLand.
“We were together on set for Murder Club so we could talk about it,” says Helen, who only agreed to be involved in MobLand if Pierce played her husband.
“I knew it would be a lovely experience,” she says and he agrees.
“I’ve admired you from afar for such a long time, Helen. An absolutely stunning career and a great lady with true soul, a real person and just a joy to behold,” he revealed.
But Pierce also had other reasons for taking on the show. “I wanted to go home to London. My dear Mama is there at 93, still going strong. I have grandchildren there.
“So I was hoping Helen would say yes.”
MobLand has already attracted 26 million viewers and earned a second season on Paramount+.
“Unfortunately, my darling Keely had to have a hip operation, so I was solo,” says Pierce.
“I was solo too,” says Helen. “That’s what we do, as actors. That’s been the story of my life, really, as much as I absolutely love my husband. Except I didn’t this morning when he shouted at the cat for coming in the house. I hated him this morning. I got very cross.”
The message of the movie – and the book – is that you should never underestimate those you perceive to be old.
“It will bring great comfort to people who are getting old,” says Pierce. “We don’t really look after the elders in our society, they get pushed to the side. It’s a story of dignity and hope.”
Helen adds: “The great thing about a movie like this is that it reminds everyone: ‘As an older person, I have a brain. I have agency, energy, commitment, passion and intellect. It doesn’t all stop when you’re 40’.”
The Thursday Murder Club is in select cinemas from 22 August and on Netflix from 28 August
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