NEW YORK Reuters- James Bond star Pierce Brosnan is planning a smooth segue from Her Majesty`s Secret Service to the CIA.

He is set to star in and produce “Burnt Sienna,“ a project based on an upcoming novel from David Morrell, whose “First Blood“ tome hatched the Rambo series.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, for whom Brosnan has starred in three Bond films as well as last year`s hit remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair“ snagged the rights in a preemptive six-figure deal.

Brosnan will play a former Marine pilot who leaves the service to become an artist in Mexico. When he turns down a commission to paint the portrait of the wife of a top arms dealer, the painter finds his quiet life turned upside down by the scorned dealer. He soon joins a CIA mission to bring down the villain.

The character is almost a mix of Rambo and Bond, an American who`s more rugged and gritty than the suave British secret agent.

Brosnan is an accomplished painter and art collector, which helped him spark to the book. The tome will be published by Warner Books next spring.

A writer will be hired quickly in hopes of making the picture right after Brosnan completes work in director John Boorman`s “Tailor of Panama,“ a Columbia film based on the John Le Carre bestseller. The negotiations aren`t complete, but Brosnan expects to make that his next starring effort.

“Tailor“ centers on a British intelligence operative in Latin America who manipulates a crisis that leads the U.S. to invade Panama and nullify the Panama Treaty.