(From left) Ben Kingsley, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan join forces as retirees hoping to solve a murder mystery in "The Thursday Murder Club."

NEW YORK – For Pierce Brosnan to play the "straight man" to Robin Williams' character in the 1993 film "Mrs. Doubtfire," director Chris Columbus wanted the Irish actor to have a sharp sense of humor and comic timing.

"British comedies," Brosnan, 72, says with a laugh when asked about where he got the desired skills. The "James Bond" actor reunites with Columbus for Netflix's adaptation of the Richard Osman novel "The Thursday Murder Club."

He stars in the crime comedy alongside Ben Kingsley, Celia Imrie and Helen Mirren, who was paired with Brosnan to promote the film at a hotel in midtown Manhattan. "It comes from discovering one's own sense of comedy and timing and listening. And physical comedy I really enjoy, the shadow moves of people when they listen."

"What are shadow moves?" Mirren, 80, asks.

"Shadow moves is when you're talking and someone is doing this," Brosnan explains while moving his fingers up and down. "We talked about it in drama school."

"Did we? I've never heard of shadow moves because I didn't get to drama school," Mirren retorts, eliciting laughter from both.

Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan on the 'weird dynamic' of fame

In "The Thursday Murder Club," Mirren and Brosnan play Elizabeth and Ron, two retirees who team up with Ibrahim (Kingsley) and Joyce (Imrie) to solve cold case murders. When an unexplained death happens to coincide with the potential demolition of the seniors' residence, the four spring into action in hopes of solving the mystery and saving their home.

"Ron doesn't really want to be there," Brosnan says of his character, a former union activist. "He's been a powerful man in his own life and he's dealt with the workers' union. He now finds a contentment in the relationship with Elizabeth and Ibri and his son. His son is his world."

Ron's son Jason (Tom Ellis) is a former professional fighter who is now on the reality TV circuit. Whenever Ron introduces Jason to others in the residence, people are immediately starstruck.

"I enjoy the work that I do and I enjoy the effect the work has on people," says Brosnan of his real-life dealings with starstruck fans. "You want to please people, you want to entertain them. You want to have a great night in the cinema, great night in the theater, job done. Move on. Do it again."

"I'm always unaware of it, really," Mirren adds. "Honestly, I'm not a star the way Pierce is a star or other people I've worked with."

When Brosnan laughs at Mirren's modesty (after all, the British dame is the one with an Oscar), she deflects it with a story about working with Harrison Ford on the 1986 drama, "The Mosquito Coast." The costars were invited to a cocktail party with the rest of the cast. Ford was known across the world for "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones." Mirren says she was simply a "struggling English theater actress," although she did receive a BAFTA nomination in 1984.

"I'll just never forget this woman walking up to Harrison with a large drink in her hand and saying right in his face, 'I suppose you think I know who you are? Well, I don't,'" Mirren recalls. "Harrison was gracious as ever; quietly smiled. You're loving the fact that (Ford's) famous, but at the same time, you're kind of hating the fact that he's famous. It was a weird dynamic."

Will Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan continue acting?

Mirren describes her character in "Murder Club," Elizabeth, as happy but still seeking a challenge after retiring from her profession. There are hints throughout the film that Elizabeth may have been an intelligence agent. She's also caring for her husband Stephen (Jonathan Pryce) who is suffering from early onset dementia.

"Like Ron, she's lived a life of great power," Mirren notes, referencing Brosnan's character. "She's been very powerful in the past and very engaged in her rather complicated profession. The energy and the intellectual requirements for that don't just suddenly stop when you retire. The engine doesn't stop."

Mirren still carries that energy for acting.

"We love our work and I think we are very lucky in that our work doesn't have a sort of cutoff date, you know?" she says. "If you're lucky enough to keep going, you keep going."

"I've been an actor all my life," Brosnan adds. "I don't know what else to do at this point in my life. I've been very fortunate to play roles that have sustained me and my family. The doing of being an actor and the constant doing of it is invigorating."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan shut down any talk of retirement: 'You keep going'

Reporting by Ralphie Aversa, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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