Pierce Brosnan Opens Up About AMC's 'The Son' and Being an Irish Immigrant

Pierce Brosnan is currently renting an apartment in Austin, Texas, where he is shooting the second season of AMC’s drama, The Son, based on the acclaimed Philipp Meyer novel of the same name. Brosnan plays Texas patriarch Eli McCullough, and for the part, he puts on a Texas drawl and rides a horse. He also grew out a “mighty” beard, which he said he is ready to get rid of (and get back to his Irish boy roots). He told GQ that he melded the Irish-ness of his own character with the soul of Eli.

Brosnan, who got his start as a commercial artist, still paints. He arrived in the United States in 1982 and never felt unwelcome in the country. He said he felt “blessed to be here” and he felt “free” to be anybody he wanted to be.

“I’ve always felt welcomed. My first steps in America were down 7th Avenue. The day I got in, I went straight to the Statue of Liberty,” he said, according to GQ.

He said that the true heartbeat and spirit of the U.S. is still very much there, but there’s a “great manipulation within our society now, by the media.” He also thinks social media has “fractured and mangled” the finer aspects of society. He said that we have to “weather these days with the man that is in office now,” though he says it is hard to understand how it came to pass.

“And I have strong faith. I love this country,” he said. “I am proud to be an American. I am proud to have come here as an Irishman, as an immigrant, as an actor looking for work, and to achieve what I have achieved.”