Guy Pearce
The thing I've come to learn is that what's great about small independent films is the intimacy and the communication that occurs when you're making them.Collection: Communication
The thrill of coming home has never changed.Collection: Home
Success comes in waves.Collection: Success
Funny enough, if you are looking at people these days who are putting Botox in their face and getting all sorts of plastic surgery, we look at them and go, I can tell you've had Botox. I can tell you've had plastic surgery. You look really strange to me. But no one's saying anything. We're just accepting the fact that they're strange-looking.Collection: Funny
My problem is I'm an addictive personality. I can't have one coffee. I can't eat one piece of chocolate.
I grew up with such an affinity to cats. I adore the way that they think and operate.
I grew up doing musicals. I've done so many musicals in my life, I kind of got them out of my system. But, I certainly would be open to them. Rocky Horror Show is a big favorite of mine.
If I'm exhausted, physically and particularly emotionally, I can't tell what's good and I can't tell what's bad and I'm useless.
When you're promoting a film it's really interesting trying to gauge what people think about it.
When I go to a movie, I'm always thrilled if I've seen an actor do something and I didn't realize until the end of the movie that that was that person. I love that.
I'll have a different answer tomorrow that I do today.
Doing that hunt scene was really quite demanding. I actually broke a rib during that scene. And then all the scenes after that became quite challenging, just breathing and laughing.
I always look at films as real stories with real people in real situations. That's why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the 'good guy' or the 'bad guy', because I think we all have potential to do good things and all have the potential to do bad things.
A lot of people are going to hate me for saying this, but one of my least favorite kinds of music, or the kind of music that I feel I've so got out of my system, is musicals music.
The majority of people who join law enforcement are doing it for good, moral reasons, but then there are the few who get through, where you go, 'Whoa, hold on a second. What's this guy doing here?'
I feel I do my best work when it's all there on the page, and I feel that the character is very vivid as I read the script and I'm not having to create stuff and trying to cobble together something. If I have to do that, then I don't entirely trust what I'm doing.
I don't feel I'm making a conscious effort to go more commercial.
You work on things and you have such faith in them while you're making them that everything feels special - in a way.
A movie that gets a PG-13 rating can show someone running down a street killing 27 people. And there are no repercussions.
I've been asked to do action-oriented movies in the past and they just haven't been right for me.
Where do you even draw the line between genres?
I went through a period where I just wanted to punch everybody. Since then, I've had a lot of therapy and I've figured a lot of things out.
I think when people are repressing things, or burying things, that can manifest in all sorts of ways.
Men often still expect women to be under their thumb.
I always think the really unfortunate thing about the Australian film industry is its lack of momentum. And I don't mean this in a derogatory way. I'm always wanting it to pick up momentum, and I'm wondering if that's even possible.
I am geared towards communicating on a female level.
I don't really relate to certain blokey men who just want to talk about blokey things. I never really know what to say and I always feel I have to act blokey in order to have them not say, 'You're a weirdo.'
I think a lot of actors take on fun roles and then they're lazy or flippant with them. I just can't do that.
I don't enjoy movies in 3D. I find I can't engage with the story as well.
I don't understand the actor who plays the same role from movie to movie. Maybe it's because I worked on long-running television when I was in my teens, and so the idea of playing the same role just bores me intensely. I'd rather not do it at all.
You never say never, but I don't think I'd want to do a long-running series.
Comic-strip stuff isn't really my cup of tea, really.
The reality is that we have all these awards and all these festivals that give out awards, so you sort of go, 'okay, well, people liked the film, and I think it's a good film, and it's up for an award - well, I guess it should win the award then.'
I'm far more comfortable in my 40s than I ever was.
I'll generally write out every scene that's in the film on a couple of pieces of paper, just with a little one-line. And then I can scan it a bit and go, 'This first third of the film, generally, I'm kind of calm.' Then I might do something on one piece of paper that just relates to the energy of the character.
On stage, you've got dialogue you've learned. You've got a paying audience. It couldn't be better, you know?
I tend to project my father figure onto any director that I'm working with, or mother, if I'm working with a female, or it can be confused.
I don't believe in God, but the thing I do believe in is that we're all connected.
Every time you say yes to a film there's a certain percentage of your yes that has to do with the director, a certain percentage to do with the story, a certain percentage with the character, the location, etc.
I just can't talk about things before I do them, because just for me... I give energy away before I've put energy into the job.
I suffer from overheating quite easily.
Well, I never wear shoes at home. Never.
I wish I had the ability to crack wise, generally. You know, without getting punched. There's no way I could do it while getting beaten up. Definitely.
I'm constantly trying to be as original as I can.
It's funny, though, with films, because you can incorporate a variety of elements, and sometimes that can work for you and sometimes I think it can work against you.
You would think that with ten super-famous people in one movie, it's gonna be ten times more popular or viewed, but on some level, they can cancel each other out.
It's hard to pinpoint why all of a sudden a group of Australian films will be doing well and why they perhaps are better made than some from the past.
I'm never there enough to really keep up with what's going on in the Australian film industry. I just try and be part of it as much as I can.
The movie industry is very competitive, and if you're like me and you suffer from your own insecurities about whether or not you're any good, that can be troubling.
Having a partner who has nothing to do with Hollywood helps keep things in perspective.