The man who was Bond, James Bond returns to the screen in The Matador as Julian Noble, an amoral hitman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Finding an unlikely friendship with timid businessman Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), he attempts to put his life in some kind of order - much like Brosnan has in this post 007 phase of his career. An active producer as well as movie star, his recent films include Laws Of Attraction and After The Sunset, while forthcoming productions include The November Man, Butterfly On A Wheel and Seraphim Falls.

Is playing washed up hitman Julian Noble a conscious effort to put 007 behind you once and for all?

I never saw it as closing the door or anything like that, I just thought it was a wonderfully kind of perverse, theatrical piece. Bond, you know, is just another character. I've been very aware of painting myself into a corner and for some time have had the desire to break out of a mould which I'd seen closing around me, even though it's helped give me a good, healthy career

You shot the movie in Mexico City. Were there inherent dangers in that?

The great thing about making movies is going off on an adventure to far flung places, so I was really up for it. I was worried for my family, they were worried for me. The week before we left there was a big article in the LA Times all about all the kidnappings there. I hid it from my wife but she found it. So there was a real, deep concern for my welfare. But it was flawless, the people embraced us, we embraced them back and there were no problems

And it gives the movie a particular quality that shooting in the US might not have done, doesn't it?

Mexico is a huge character in the film, so it was palpable. That you're in this city that has a kind of darkness to it made us kind of cluster together. It gave us a wonderful sense of community

So there were no problems at all then?

I had to change cars a couple of times when we had blow-outs for some unknown reason...

How did you nail the character?

I found a wonderful woman in LA, a criminal psychologist dealing with psychopaths, and she read the script and broke it down and analysed him as she would any of her cases. I was able to talk with her and read her notes. But it has such a heightened theatricality, this film, so that was only one angle. How does he sound? A friend of mine has got a Boston accent with a kind of crack in it, so I used that. I was going to play him American but that didn't sound right so I used the London accent. I kind of melded the voice and grew the moustache. And then the costume designer came to me and I said "I see cowboy boots." And she bought me these kind of phallic, Cuban heeled Italian boots. So the character was built from the ground up, more or less.

You enjoy ringing the changes, and surprising your audience don't you?

I've tried different things before - you know Grey Owl, we all remember that... the beavers, the pigtails, shaving my chest. Epic transformation, there you go!

The Matador is released in UK cinemas on Friday 3rd March 2006.