The Irish-born star plays a dedicated small-town lawman in the western opening June 13.
There’s a newcomer in the frontier town of Trinity. And while he’s far from being an outlaw or a hired gun, that doesn’t mean he’s not looking for trouble.
Henry Broadway (Brandon Lessard) is his name, and vengeance is his aim. Specifically, he’s looking to make good on a promise he made to his gallows-bound father to find, and kill, the varmint who framed the elder Broadway for a crime he claims never committed.
It can’t be said that Henry receives a warm welcome during the opening scenes of The Unholy Trinity, the new western from filmmaker Richard Gray (Murder at Yellowstone City). Gabriel Dove (Pierce Brosnan), the town’s upstanding Irish immigrant sheriff, warns the newcomer: “Let me give you a bit of advice: Keep your ancestry between us. Not every man who is known is loved.” Trouble is, a rather too friendly fellow by the name of St. Christopher (Samuel L. Jackson) already has the skinny on Henry Broadway’s lineage. “I know your daddy real well,” he tells the young man. “Me and him stole enough gold to pave the streets of heaven.”
Henry claims he has no idea where his father hid their ill-gotten gain. But St. Christopher is not a man easily discouraged from his search for wherever the loot might be hidden. “In case it ain’t obvious,” he says, “you will find that gold.”
Meanwhile, Sheriff Dove has other matters on his mind. Running Cub (Q’orianka Kilcher), a young Blackfoot woman, has been accused of killing the town’s previous sheriff. And several hot-heads in Trinity are eager to find and murder her. Sheriff Dove knows exactly where she is — she’s hiding in a secluded spot just outside of town. And it’s downright dangerous for him to protect her. But … well, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. Especially if he’s an honest and dedicated lawman like Gabriel Dove.
Pierce Brosnan is persuasive and compelling as Dove throughout The Unholy Trinity, adding another impressive credit to a lengthy resume that already includes such diverse films and TV series as the enduringly popular Remington Steele (1982-87); the under-rated small-town residents versus unscrupulous industrialists thriller Taffin (1987); the darkly comical hit man dramedy The Matador (2005), the gritty western Seraphim Falls (2006); the ABBA-underscored musical comedies Mama Mia! (2008) and Mama Mia! Here We Go Again (2018); the generation-spanning Texas saga The Son (2017-2019); the well-received gangster melodrama MobLand, which recently concluded its first season on Paramount+; and, of course, four 007 action-adventures — GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World Is Not Enough (1999), and Die Another Day (2002) — in which Brosnan was licensed to thrill as James Bond.
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Brosnan about The Unholy Trinity, which opens Friday, June 13, at theaters nationwide. Here is a transcript of highlights from our conversation, edited for brevity and clarity.
Memories of the Western
When you were growing up in Ireland, did you watch a lot of TV westerns?
Pierce Brosnan: I didn’t really have a TV growing up in Ireland. Actually, the cinema really came alive for me when I went to London in 1964. My mother and my stepfather, Bill Carmichael, took me to the ABC cinema. The very first movie I saw was Goldfinger with James Bond. That was one week. The next week, it was Lawrence of Arabia, and then came The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. So the Western has been part of my life for a long time. There’s no question — whether it’s you on a horse or you’re a lone figure as a detective or an agent. That mysterious man — little is known about him, but he’s trying to do the right thing.
Well, you could say that “Taffin” was a modern-day western. You were sort of a hired gun, Mark Taffin, and you had a chance there to speak one of the most badass lines in movie history: “My help will have consequences.”
Brosnan: Yes. How sweet that you remember Taffin. Yes, it was like a western, and he was the protector of the community that just walks away from him. But he does the right thing.
Getting Back in the Saddle
Now, this isn't your first rodeo. You've done a few movies and TV shows that required you to be on horseback — like “Seraphim Falls” and “The Son.” Do you do much riding in your day-to-day life when you’re off camera?
Brosnan: I don’t anymore. No, not really. I used to live in Malibu, and I used to have horses there that I would ride. Don’t do it much now, though. It’s golf and tennis and paddle boarding.
Well, how do you prepare yourself for something like “The Unholy Trinity”? Do you go back to riding school, or do you call up your favorite wrangler and say, “Hey, I got to get back into the saddle here”?
Brosnan: Well yes, in this case, I got to Montana a couple of weeks prior to shooting. I went out with the wrangler there and rode the horses and found the horse that suited me. He was a wonderful, wonderful animal. And of course, just being surrounded by real cowboys and horsemen — that’s always exhilarating. I love the animals. I used to have a few broodmares in Ireland. I owned the leg of a horse here, the leg of a horse there. Made a bit of money, lost a bit of money racing. I kind of gave that game up.
But Montana — I really enjoyed. I’d been hearing it was a great state. To finally get there and to be there with my sons, Dylan and Paris — it was such a family affair.
The Appeal of The Unholy Trinity
What was it about the script for “The Unholy Trinity” that grabbed you? I mean, how deep were you into the script when you said, “Yeah, I want to do this one”?
Brosnan: Oh, I read it from page to page. And when I finished it, I wanted to read it again. I loved the character of Sheriff Dove. I gave him the name Gabriel, like the Archangel Gabriel. I loved the love story between him and his wife, and that they were childless and striving to make a go of it in this rough terrain — this landscape that was so brutal.
There was humor there, or at least I felt there was. He was a character who was rough, hewn from Irish ancestry. An Irishman — an immigrant out there in the wilds of Montana. I could identify with those elements: being an immigrant, being an outsider, working courageously and relentlessly to make a family and do right, to do good things, to be a servant to the community.
Did the fact that you play a full-bore Irishman in this one appeal to you? There really is no attempt to — quote, unquote — Americanize the character.
Brosnan: Well, I mean, this great country is built on the shoulders of Irish, Scottish, German, Italian families — men who left their countries for one reason or another to make a new life in America. I certainly did it. In 1982, I came over on a wing and a prayer. I got a ticket from Freddie Laker — an English guy. He used to make these cheap flights — a hundred quid, bring your own sandwiches.
In 1982, I did exactly that. My late wife and I — she said, “You’ve got to go, you’ve got to go.” And we went. And I got a job: Remington Steele.
Building Gabriel Dove
Back to “The Unholy Trinity” — what was the toughest nut for you to crack in developing the character of Gabriel Dove?
Brosnan: I didn’t have any difficulty any day really, apart from maybe having the confidence of doing the work. Sometimes that can happen. But I came to it with an open heart. I had a director — a young director, Richie Gray — who was passionate and enthusiastic and let me do my job. I had my two sons beside me. So it was very much a collaboration and just a joy to go to work every day.
To see the work they’d done in building this magnificent western town — the feel was great. The weather did what the weather did. I didn’t really get too upset whether it was snowing or not snowing. There’s not much I can do about that. I just get on with the work. Try to keep it as simple as possible. I had no problems, really. No tough nuts to crack. Not that I can remember.
Sharing the Screen with Samuel L. Jackson
One last question. I’ve often had actors tell me that it wasn’t so much that they were in competition with another actor — but while working alongside them, they felt like they lifted up their game, like playing against a good tennis player. Did you feel that way working with Samuel L. Jackson?
Brosnan: Oh, very much so. I’m a huge fan of Samuel’s work — his character, his voice. So yes, you have an actor who comes in, full guns blaring, blasting at you. His performance lends itself to the work you’ve done in your quiet way.
You prepare the work, the man you want to portray as Sheriff Dove. And then you have a really great actor who helps make you real. They give you the performance — and you have to have yours. You have to know your lines, know the history of your character, feel the emotion of him. Someone like Samuel helps you do that.
