United Kingdom, Sept. 1 -- Pierce Brosnan regrets turning his back on the theatre after landing his role as James Bond.

The 72-year-old actor started his career onstage before winning a part in TV show Remington Steele in the 1980s and then being signed up to play 007 in the mid-1990s - and Brosnan has now revealed he wishes he went back to his theatre roots after ending his career-defining turn as the superspy like his successor Daniel Craig did.

Brosnan told The Guardian newspaper: "[My acting teacher Christopher Fettes] wanted me doing obscure 19th-century plays, but my dream was always movies ...

"I was impressed that Daniel had the bottle to go back out there. I thought: 'Why the heck didn't I?' You have to really want it, and I d...