Pierce on Losing Bond: "I Didn't See That Coming"

(Wireimage)

Actresses aren't the only ones dealing with ageism in Hollywood. Pierce Brosnan is feeling its effects as well -- and it hurts.

While Sean Connery and Roger Moore played James Bond well into their 50s (58 and 53, respectively), Pierce was revoked of his license to kill at age 51 for the then-37-year-old Daniel Craig, which definitely took him by surprise.

"I didn't see that coming," the actor tells Parade magazine. "I never thought of myself as being too old. It was startling to hear such things said about oneself, especially when you thought you were going down that particular avenue and then the door gets slammed in your face."

The Irish stud knew his days as 007 were numbered, but figured producers would give him one last hurrah before passing the torch.

"I thought we were going to do a fifth film," he says. "And I was going to take a gracious bow off the stage. Instead of that you're just told, 'Goodbye.'"

Now 55, Pierce has since traded in tuxes for t-shirts, living with wife Keely and their sons Dylan, 11, and Paris, 7, in Hawaii. His next flick, a big-screen production of Mamma Mia! hits theaters July 18, and he has made peace with his Bond axing.

"That's the way it goes down in life," he says. "It's as hard and as fast as that."

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