The first, most obvious question is always why? As in, why remake a classic caper
film like 1968's The Thomas Crown Affair?

It's all a matter of timing, according to producer/star Pierce Brosnan. For starters,
it's important that memories of the Steve McQueen/Faye Dunaway original have faded. "There's a whole generation out there that doesn't know this film," Brosnan said. It seems the '60s (even the late '60s) is a long way back for some people.

The biggest allure, of course, was the story itself - a thriller about a millionaire whose hobby is pulling heists, and a female investigator who falls in love with him. The plot has been lifted in spirit any number of times (most recently by the Sean Connery/Catherine Zeta-Jones whodunnit, Entrapment). So why not just re-create the original?

"I love the movie," says Brosnan, who's looking to define himself as a sophisticated leading man who doesn't happen to work for Her Majesty's Secret Service. On the other hand, he had been a mere sprite when he saw it the first time, and could initially only remember a climactic chess scene and, of course, the title theme, "The Windmills of Your Mind" (which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song). When the idea was floated to acquire the rights for a remake, Brosnan and producing partner Beau St. Clair took a fresh look.

"I thought it was worthy of a remake. I thought it was a great love story and it was the love story that really connected me to it," says Brosnan. "I am a big Steve McQueen fan - I know I'm boldly going into Steve McQueen territory here. But we are two completely different actors." As are Dunaway and Rene Russo, who plays the insurance investigator on Brosnan's trail.

Indeed, Brosnan's Thomas Crown is a little more high-toned in his aims than was that old mug McQueen. Fans will recall that bored millionaire McQueen got his vicarious thrills out of masterminding bank robberies. "In the original, he went after money," says Brosnan. "In this one, we're hitting (New York's) Metropolitan Museum of Art. I steal a Cézanne and the money. And there's quite a few different twists and turns in ours, compared to the old one."

Credit some stylistic differences to veteran action director John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard) who never met a mood he didn't want to punctuate with an explosion or two.

But no matter how many things blow up, Brosnan says the movie will stand or fall on its love story, and on Russo's charms. "Rene has worked with all the big guns out there in Hollywood. But I'd never really seen her in a film where she used all her
femininity. She always has an element of that, but in this film, it is at the fullest," he says.

"Movies like this are about turning audiences on. That's what the audiences go to see," Brosnan declares. "If we're doing our job well, then the audience will come out and say, 'That was a great movie.' "

by jim slotek