In Pierce Brosnan's latest film "The Matador," he's left behind his suave James Bond/Remington Steele tuxes in favor of traipsing through a hotel lobby in nothing but underwear and boots.

"It's such an iconic image with the film now," the Irish actor says. "Here's this man who's having a crisis of confidence, and it's the pinnacle of his neurosis. He gets out of bed in a drunken stupor and he wants to go for a swim and he's in his underwear."

"Matador," referring to a bullfighter and literally meaning "killer" in Spanish, stars Brosnan as hit man Julian Noble, whose expertise in killing is only rivaled by his talent for debauchery. On assignment in Mexico City, he befriends mild-mannered businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), who's intimidated by Julian's foul language and devil-may-care attitude. Julian is beginning to feel his age, however, and slowly discovers that he may want more from life.

"Bullfighting ... is past its prime and is slowly dying out; and Pierce, as his character, is past his prime and is slowly dying out," explains writer-director Richard Shepard. "It complements things that Pierce has done. What we haven't seen in Pierce before is the vulnerability because in every part he's ever played, he's always been in control. What's funny about Julian is he should be in total control, but he's a total mess"

Although Shepard only specified that Julian walk around in his briefs for the scene, Brosnan decided that adding boots would be the piece de resistance to his character's eccentric ensemble.

"Cat Thomas who did the costumes ... bought these phallic, sleazy Italian zip-up, Cuban-heeled boots. I thought my skinny legs would just embellish it all. I said, 'Give us a cigarette, a fag, the old beer and Bob's your uncle,'" recalls the actor. "When we went down to the set, I had a bathrobe on. My producing partner, Beaumarie St. Clair, said, 'Well, now, you could keep the dressing gown on if you want or maybe pajama bottoms.' I said, 'No. Train's left the station. This is too good.'"

The true test of Brosnan's vanity, however, was walking in his skimpy attire in front of the real-life patrons of the hotel where he'd been staying for the past 10 weeks.

"Everybody knew me. They were gobstruck. They hadn't a clue what hit them," he says. "And I forgot to suck the stomach in. I certainly didn't work out for this role."

Brosnan, who also produces the film through his company Irish DreamTime, was eager to jump into a role that would have no traces of 007, the British secret agent he played in four of the franchise films.

"I was looking and wondering when and how and what shape and form the character would come along that would just jump my career in another direction," he says. "If I didn't have this company of my own, I don't think someone else would have come and offered me this role of Julian Noble. I wasn't trying to do anti-Bond. I was just trying to honor the piece that Richard Shepard had written."

Besides creating an amoral, fashion-challenged character, Shepard wrote some of the most vulgar lines Brosnan's ever uttered on film. In the scene where the hit man first meets Danny in a bar, Danny comments that margaritas taste better in Mexico, to which Julian responds, "Yes, margaritas and c-k," referring to a portion of the male anatomy.

"Not only did Pierce have no problem with it, but that was the one take we kept doing over and over again because he was having so much fun saying it," says Shepard. "From the original script to the final take, we cut very little, maybe four or five lines that were so graphic that my mother couldn't have seen the movie. I can't tell you what they were, but if 'margaritas and c-k' made it, you can only imagine what didn't make it."

As a hit man, Julian values his ability to remain emotionless in order to perform his job. In place of real feelings, he allows himself to experience life through drinking, partying and sleeping with everything that moves.

"We kept quoting David Bowie saying 'He's a tri-sexual; he'll try anything,'" explains the director. "At the beginning of the movie, his heart is so deep inside of him, he'll sleep with whores of any gender. It's just about the sex, not about the love. So, the movie, in a way, is about him finding his heart."

Although Brosnan isn't as promiscuous as Julian, he was willing to try anything for a laugh in the film, which meant additional humiliating scenes for his character. Besides walking around in his knickers, Julian faints into a pile of donkey waste and later even dons a female cheerleader's outfit. Brosnan, who embraced the quirky, flawed character, would love to reprise the role for a sequel.

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