The Australian actor gives one of his sharpest and most poignant performances in David Michod’s near-future mood piece.
Den Of Geek: Congratulations on your tremendous work in this film.
It plays almost like a tone poem.
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Guy Pearce: Yeah, its a pretty interesting piece.
You often deal with the sort of literal stuff.
How did David initially present it to you and what did you see in it?
Yes, and I didnt know all that.
I didnt know any of that stuff.
I was so excited because I think hes a great filmmaker and obviously did a great job atAnimal Kingdom.
I couldnt get it out of my head.
I didnt really understand what it was he was going for.
No, to be honest.
Only if there are questions that I need answered.
He was a moral man.
Now I can actually let that stuff go and see who hes become now.
So yeah, it was an interesting process.
You dont have a lot of dialogue in this movie.
Its less challenging for me to be honest.
Id rather play something than have a character sort of say what hes going through.
I mean obviously if the writings great and its beautifully articulated, then fantastic.
You feel like youre just away from everything.
The phones didnt work and then we sort of lost Internet connection.
Ive done a couple of films in the desert now.
I love it out there.
How was it working with Rob?
His fame maybe has overshadowed his talent to some degree.
I mean, Rob is a pretty quietly spoken guy.
He was great to work with.
We all just sort of slipped into it kind of nicely.
But then other times you just go wow, this whole thing is opening up now.
Now I get it so its interesting.
I just read somewhere you going to work with Kristen Stewart in a movie (Equals).
Its not booked yet.
Were talking about it.
That film is also set in the near future, from what I understand, like this one.
Well, not really.
I mean generally wouldnt say that I followed them much when I was younger.
I liked certain kind of films.
I was a big fan ofThe Time MachineandJourney to the Center of the Earth, andBattlestar Galactica.
For me, and particularly the films I choose to be in, its always about character anyway.
Im always interested in the world that theyre in, whether its the 1750s or whether its 2050.
Its interesting to think about what life might be like in the future.
What do you look for generally in a role these days?
Well, the only thing I look for is to be surprised to be honest.
I dont feel like Im looking for things.
I just feel like I read things and suddenly I go, Oh, this is interesting.
I wouldnt have imagined playing a scientist all of a sudden.
So I quite like the idea of being surprised.
TheRoveris out now in limited release and expands this Friday (June 20).
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