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SCMP Reporter

MORE than half the world's population has seen a James Bond film, and they have not even been released in China yet.

   The 16 Bond movies have made more than $16 billion around the globe.

   Now Irishman Pierce Brosnan has stepped into the suave shoes of the world's most famous spy to star in Goldeneye.

  The first film Brosnan ever saw at the age of 11 was Goldfinger and he has never forgotten the electrifying effect of Sean Connery in the role of elegant ladykiller Bond.

  'For me, Sean Connery was James Bond,' Brosnan said as he braced for weeks on the international publicity treadmill promoting the film. It had its world premiere in New York on Monday.

  But he is equally flattering about Roger Moore, star of eight Bond films: 'I realised that he had this wonderful irony and actually did an incredible job.'   Brosnan, who rehearsed the famous line 'My name is Bond, James Bond' every morning while brushing his teeth, takes over from British actor Timothy Dalton, last seen in Licence to Kill in 1989.

  Bond has a new-look, new-man Nineties image. His boss is a woman - classical actress Judi Dench has taken over as M.

  New Zealand director Martin Campbell kept a politically correct eye open for Bond.

  'I think his attitudes are very Nineties. There is no bimbo element in it at all,' he said of the $390 million movie filmed in Britain, Monte Carlo, Russia and Puerto Rico.

  Dutch actress Famke Janssen plays a villain who squeezes her lovers to death with her thighs. But she says: 'This is not anybody's bimbo. I try to bring my intelligence to the part.'   However, Brosnan is quick to say that political correctness did not run riot on the set.

  'Bond still likes the girls but if a girl misbehaves, she'll get a thump. You know the plot won't work any other way. James Bond movies are pure fantasy and entertainment,' he said.

  All 16 Bond films have made money. Thunderball was the top earner, grossing $1.8 billion. The Dutch per capita have bought the most movie tickets to a Bond film.

   The Japanese above all love the gadgets and the beautiful women.

  In these days of Superman and Batman, merchandising is vital to a film's profitability.

  A US department store featured in their catalogue 100 BMW open-top sportsters like the one Brosnan drives in Goldeneye. They were snapped up in 10 days.

   Tina Turner has teamed up with Ireland's U2 to belt out the theme song that could be heading into hit parades around the world as the Bond box office tills start ringing again after six years.



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