Timothy Dalton fantasy plots and humour. A fan of the literary character, often seen re-reading and referring to the novels on set, Dalton determined to approach the role and play truer to the original character described by Fleming. His 007, therefore, came across as a reluctant agent who did not always enjoy the assignments he was given, something seen on screen before, albeit obliquely, only in George Lazenby's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". In "The Living Daylights," for example, Bond tells a critical colleague, Saunders, "Stuff my orders! ... Tell M what you want. If he fires me, I'll thank him for
James Bond filmography what would have been Dalton's third film by several years. His six-year contract expired in 1993 and he left the series in 1994. After Timothy Dalton retired from the Bond role in 1994, Eon turned to the actor they had considered after "A View to a Kill": Pierce Brosnan. He was offered a three-film contract, with an option on a fourth; his salary for his first film, "GoldenEye", was $4 million, which rose to $16.5 million for his fourth and final outing, "Die Another Day". Brosnan had first met Broccoli on the set of "For Your Eyes Only", when Brosnan's