Pierce Brosnan: My James Bond was 'never good enough'

has dismissed his own run as James Bond "never good enough" and admitted he hates watching himself as 007.

1. GoldenEye
2. Production year: 1995
3. Countries: UK, USA
4. Cert (UK): 12
5. Runtime: 120 mins
6. Directors: Martin Campbell
7. Cast: Alan Cumming, Izabella Scorupco, Judi Dench, Minnie Driver, Pierce Brosnan, Samantha Bond, Sean Bean
8. More on this film

In an interview with the Telegraph, the Irish actor said he struggled to get under the skin of the suave British sleuth, who he played in four films between 1995's Goldeneye and 2002's Die Another Day.

"I felt I was caught in a time warp between Roger [Moore] and Sean [Connery]," said Brosnan. "It was a very hard one to grasp the meaning of, for me. The violence was never real, the brute force of the man was never palpable. It was quite tame, and the characterisation didn't have a follow-through of reality, it was surface. But then that might have had to do with my own insecurities in playing him as well."

He added: "I have no desire to watch myself as James Bond. 'Cause it's just never good enough. It's a horrible feeling."

Brosnan's other films as 007 were 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and 1999's The World is not Enough. His Bond debut in 1995 followed a six-year hiatus for Ian Fleming's secret agent caused by legal disputes over rights, and was generally well-received. Even the poorly-reviewed Die Another Day, with its invisible cars and cameo by Madonna, was a huge box office hit: it was the highest-grossing instalment of the series at that stage.

However, the Daniel Craig Bond films, with their introduction of a starker, more human 007, have since pushed the series to new heights of critical cache as well as succeeding commercially. Last year's Sam Mendes-directed Skyfall was the first Bond film to cross the $1bn barrier at the global box office and currently stands as the highest-grossing film of all time at UK cinemas.