Inside Pierce Brosnan’s Quest for an Aston Martin Vanquish

The actor promoted the car in the James Bond film "Die Another Day"

Aston Martin Vanquish
A car suitable for 007.
Axion23/Creative Commons

Let’s say you’re an automaker with a car featured prominently in one of the pre-eminent action franchises of our time. Let’s also say that the stylish actor playing the debonair lead of that film had agreed to help promote said car. You might think that the natural next step here would be to give the actor one of the cars in question as a token of goodwill. But in the case of Pierce Brosnan’s work promoting the Aston Martin Vanquish, things didn’t go quite so smoothly.

At Jalopnik, writer Justin T. Westbrook looked back at the place where cinematic and automotive history converged. The occasion was the release of 2002’s Die Another Day, in which the Vanquish featured prominently. Brosnan promoted the car, but there were some complications:

Brosnan had understood he was owed a car. When Aston Martin said they didn’t have a car to give him, to be quite frank, it sounds like he threw a fit. According to him, he nearly refused to show up to the photo call announcing the new movie, where he’d have to stand next to the car, if Aston didn’t give him what he felt he deserved.

As Westbrook notes, Brosnan was certainly in a position then when he could afford such a vehicle on his own, but pushed for this nonetheless. Jalopnik reached out to Aston Martin for comment, but the automaker cited the age of the anecdote in declining to respond. In the end, Brosnan did indeed get his Aston Martin — though it’s no longer in his possession.

The car was, unfortunately, was destroyed in a fire 5 years ago. Diamonds are forever, but cars aren’t always as durable.

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