You once said you need to be so in control of things that if you had brain surgery, you’d only feel comfortable doing it yourself. Do you still feel this way? FioreSebek
I don’t remember saying that, but I can see how someone might joke about it. There’s usually room for improvisation in life, but I have never been a very good improviser when it comes to acting. When I do things in my own accent, like Jack Irish, he was quite laissez-faire and flippant, so I could be looser and pull stuff out of the air. But when I’m working with high-powered actors and speaking with a tricky accent, I’m learning my lines, doing what’s required and staying in control.
If you were attending a dinner party where all the other guests were characters you have played, who would you sit next to, and who would you avoid? FrocksAway
I’d avoid Eric from The Rover and the Reverend from Brimstone, because they might kill me. Ed Exley from LA Confidential is quite arrogant and boring. I’d like to sit next to Andy Warhol, who I’ve played [in Factory Girl]. Houdini would be interesting, although I don’t reckon you’d get a word in. And Leonard from Memento would start with dessert and finish with the starter because he’s all backwards.
I love my partner dearly, but she says if she was ever going to leave me, it would be for “Mike from Neighbours”. What can I do to make her stop? Perhaps you can tell her for me? TooMuchSpareTime
No, I’m not going to make her stop. I’m with her all the way if she thinks: if you’re going to have an affair, make sure you have one with Annette Bening, or whoever. Maybe she needs to watch a couple of the horrible characters I’ve played, like Charley Rakes in Lawless. That’s another character I don’t want to sit next to. She should watch Brimstone and Lawless, and I can guarantee you she will have lost interest in Mike from Neighbours.
When they first sent you the script for Memento, was it backwards? lagodeluna
It was exactly as you see it in the film. Speaking of people who are in control of what they’re doing, Christopher Nolan is king of that, because he so brilliantly constructed something where there was no room for things to move around. When my agent sent me the script, he said: “By the way, this all goes backwards.” I’m glad he did, otherwise I would have read it three times before I got what was going on.
Any news about the Priscilla, Queen of the Desert sequel? Have you boarded the lavender bus again, or are you still stuck in the pre-production desert? badrobot2 and feirefitz
We’re stuck in the pre-production desert, going back and forth on the script, locations and budget. I feel there’s enough love in the room to make it happen.
I don’t know if I am looking forward to putting on a dress again. I don’t think I’m going to look as good in a frock as I did in 1993 when I was 25. Funnily enough, I was contacted by Madame Tussauds, who were setting up in Australia and wanted to have iconic Australian actors, like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, Russell Crowe from Gladiator, Eric Bana from Chopper and me from Priscilla. I was filming Prometheus in London, so they said: “Could you come in to Madame Tussauds and stand in your underwear, pulling this pose” – they had a photo – “and we’re going to take six million photos from every angle?” I said: “This is 2011. I’m not in the same shape that I was in 1993.” They went: “Yes, yes, yes. Everyone wants bigger muscles and bigger boobs. We’ll make the clay model first, you can come in, and if there’s anything you don’t like, you can let us know.” So I had to go in and say: “If you look at this photo, my waist used to be a little bit thinner,” and they said: “Oh yeah, good point.”
Did you have an inkling that LA Confidential would be such a masterpiece while you were filming it? GasparGarcao
No, is the answer. I don’t really have an inkling for anything. I’d done four or five films in Australia, but it was a totally different environment: in the US, with Americans, on an American film. The whole thing was so big, it was hard for me to gauge anything. I was too focused on trying to do a good job to think: “Wow, this is going to be good.” I was the second person cast after Russell Crowe. Russ and I were rehearsing while they were working with the script, and casting other people. So then David Strathairn, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito turned up.
James Cromwell says to my character in the film: “Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back to save face?” I say: “No no no,” being all moral, but in the end, I shoot him in the back. When I shot him, the wadding from the shotgun flew out and hit him in the back of the head. He was 30ft away, so everyone had said: “Don’t worry, it’s safe.” But, for a moment, I thought: “Jeez. I’ve killed him. I’ll never work in Hollywood again.”
Was there a particular role that earned you Radiohead’s nod of approval to appear in their music video for Follow Me Around? McScootikins
I don’t think so. They contacted my agent in the US saying: “Do you have any actors who might want to do it?” And Chris, my agent, who knows I’m a big Radiohead fan, said straight away: “Guy Pearce is in London right now.” I was filming A Spy Among Friends with Damian Lewis and said: “I have to take a call with Thom Yorke about this Radiohead music video I’m in. So, excuse me.”
Are you grateful that your late 80s pop career didn’t take off? Megapode777
That’s the best question I’ve ever been asked in my life. After I finished Neighbours, there was a period where people would say: “Didn’t you used to be Mike from Neighbours?” Then one day, this 10- or 12-year-old kid came up to me in a shopping centre and said: “Didn’t you used to be Guy Pearce?” I thought: “Wow, that’s the most profound thing anyone’s ever said,” because, in a way, it was true.
I always knew I wasn’t just a soap opera actor. I was just stuck in that cycle. Prior to Neighbours, I’d done 10 years of theatre, which made playing the same character for four years frustrating. I wanted to delve into a wider variety of personalities and behaviours. But when I finished Neighbours in 1989, I was in the wilderness because no one wanted to employ the guy who was in Neighbours, and I struggled to find work. I went back and did some theatre, a little bit of Home and Away and then, in 1993, I got to do Priscilla. So, yes, I’m really grateful that my 80s pop career didn’t take off!
