Pierce Brosnan Warned His Sons Hollywood Is a 'Very Tough Business' as Youngest Paris Follows in His Footsteps

Pierce Brosnan had warned his sons long ago that Hollywood is a 'very tough business.' Now that his youngest son, Paris Brosnan, is stepping into acting, the father's words are back in discussion. Speaking at the premiere of Paris' new film 'Seniors,' the 73-year-old actor opened up about how he prepared his sons for the realities of the acting world.

Brosnan told Fox News Digital that the business is very tough and at times very capricious, but that Paris has the strength and the stamina for it. He said Paris has a talent there, along with charisma, good sense and intuition — a talent that will need to be nurtured and worked on.

He also spoke of the discipline acting demands: the work on your voice, on your body and on your mind, and the discipline of reading and studying. Paris, he believes, has all of that.

Brosnan credited himself and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, with giving their two sons, Dylan, 29, and Paris, 25, a 'simple life' that kept them grounded despite growing up with a famous father. They kept them close, he said — family dinners, driving them to school and picking them up — and the whole family, including Sean, 43, and Christopher, remains very close. Sean is his son with his late first wife, Cassandra Harris; he also adopted Harris' two children from a previous relationship, Christopher, 53, and Charlotte, who died in 2013 at the age of 41.

In 'Seniors,' Paris plays a teenager doing community service at a retirement home who forms an unlikely bond with one of the residents, played by screen legend John Rhys-Davies.

Rhys-Davies is a dear friend of Brosnan's from many years ago. They met in 1976 at the York Theatre Royal, where Brosnan was working as an acting assistant stage manager and Rhys-Davies was playing Macbeth.

For Paris, beginning his own career with the man his father started out working with feels like a full-circle moment. He called working with Rhys-Davies nothing short of a master class, saying he will never forget the actor's method, his small bits of lore and inspiration, and the little details of how to be a better actor.

Rhys-Davies, who has now worked with both father and son, said he does not see Pierce in Paris. The young actor, he said, is already his own man — and it is always very hard to come out from under the shadow of a giant. What he sees in Paris is a vulnerability, an innocence and a willingness to evolve, adapt and become, and he credited Pierce and Paris' mother for bringing him up so well.

Paris himself said that although his father tried to deter him from the path, he always interpreted the words differently: not as discouragement, but as saying that unless you love it and want it, do not pursue it just because it is on the table.

He said his father has always preached about how much work acting takes. The advice was to go to class, read and learn from the greats — and his father gave him countless books on the craft. In other words, if you want it, you have to study it, earn your way and pave your own way.

The adventure-comedy 'Seniors' is scheduled to hit select U.S. theaters on Oct. 23. With his father's warnings and his blessing both in hand, Paris Brosnan has begun the fight to build an identity of his own in Hollywood.