Actor Pierce Brosnan and his wife, Keely Shaye Smith, are joining in one of coastal Malibu's summer rituals -- putting their home up for lease.
They have listed Orchid House at $250,000 a month. Just in case the renters scuff up the newly built 13,000-square-foot place, a $750,000 security deposit is required.
Set on 120 feet of beachfront, the Thai and Balinese-influenced contemporary features high ceilings, walls of glass, a screening room with a bar, a music room, a library, a wine cellar, a Japanese-style soaking tub, a sauna, a steam room, a cold plunge tub and a gym. There are three master suites for a total of four bedrooms and 12 bathrooms.
The tropically landscaped acre includes a guesthouse, a swimming pool and a pool cabana.
Although the price Brosnan and Smith are asking is at the top of the current rental offerings, the Multiple Listing Service shows that a place in gated Malibu Colony was leased for $300,000 a month at the beginning of June. That 4,687-square-foot house has six bedrooms, six bathrooms and a three-car garage.
Since Brosnan, 59, played James Bond in 007 movies including "Die Another Day" (2002), "The World Is Not Enough" (1999) and "GoldenEye" (1995), he has starred in "I Don't Know How She Does It" (2011) and "The Ghost Writer" (2010). Brosnan is in France filming "Love Punch," to be released next year.
Smith, 48, was an "Unsolved Mysteries" correspondent from 1994 to 1997.
Brosnan bought the property in 2000 for about $7 million, according to Los Angeles Times archives.
A SALE COULD BE MUSIC TO HIS EARS
"Glee" co-creator Ryan Murphy has his Malibu beach house up for sale at $6.995 million.
Entered through a courtyard with a koi pond, the nearly 2,100-square-foot contemporary Mediterranean includes three en suite bedrooms and a powder room. The beachfront deck features a cabana, a spa, an outdoor shower and a fire pit.
Murphy, 46, co-created "American Horror Story" (2011-present) and created "Nip/Tuck" (2003-10). He wrote and directed the movie "Eat Pray Love" (2010). He is working on "The Glee Project," which will select a cast member for the upcoming season, and in early June hosted a $40,000-per-couple fundraising dinner at his Beverly Hills house during President Obama's California visit.
Murphy bought the place at the beach a little over a year ago for $6,562,500.
STILL IN STYLE IN BEVERLY HILLS
The Beverly Hills home of menswear, jewelry and fragrance mogul Bijan Pakzad is on the market at $11.995 million.
Built in 1993, the gated Italianate villa is a showcase of his style with bold primary color interiors, monochromatic-themed rooms and a chandelier made of his signature perfume bottles in the formal dining room. The 12,016 square feet of living space includes a marble-counter bar in the family room, a sweeping central staircase, a step-down living room, seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. There is subterranean parking for more than 20 cars.
The nearly three-quarter-acre site contains manicured gardens, a one-bedroom guesthouse with an attached cabana, a tiled swimming pool, a spa and a six-car motor court. A stone path lined by orange trees, roses, bougainvillea vines and a fig tree wraps around the house.
The Iranian American designer, who died last year at 67, clothed some of the world's most powerful leaders including presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, George W. Bush and President Obama. His appointment-only boutique on Rodeo Drive, opened in 1976, used its high prices as a selling point and advertised as "the costliest menswear in the world."
Public records show he bought the house in 2002 for $5 million.
NEW GUARDIANS OF SCHINDLER HOUSE
Motion picture executive Brad Kembel and his partner, Jimmy Ferrareze, have purchased the landmark James Eads How House in Silver Lake for $1.3 million.
Designed by modern architect Rudolph Schindler in 1925, the restored and updated International Modern-style house had been priced at $4.995 million when movie producer and prolific renovator Michael LaFetra first listed it in 2008.
The 2,426-square-foot home, a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, is considered a triumph of Schindler's early career and was influenced by his apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright. The hillside house is built of concrete, redwood and glass. It features built-ins, four fireplaces, four bedrooms and 21/2 bathrooms. Diagonally placed corner mitered windows anchor opposite ends of the living room. The garden was designed by Richard Neutra.
Self-described architecture buffs, Kembel is executive vice president of Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, and Ferrareze owns a Brazilian boutique.
"We had been looking for an architecturally significant and modern house for many years," Ferrareze said. Kembel described the house as "eminently livable."