Guy Pearce on His Best Movie Roles: ‘Memento,’ ‘the Brutalist’

Guy Pearce is the first to admit that he never wanted to be a movie star.

“I didn’t have that sense of ambition,” Pearce, 57, tells Business Insider in his crackling Australian accent. “I just wanted to work as an actor. On the outside, you think you want fame and big Hollywood movies; none of that is how I function.”

Yet Pearce has dealt with fame for close to 40 years across two continents thanks to his wide array of memorable roles, which date back to his late teens when he was a heartthrob on the 1980s Australian soap opera “Neighbours.”

Even then, being famous was disarming.

“‘Neighbours’ was a great experience, but the fame side of it was hard work,” Pearce recalls. “Coming out of ‘Neighbours’ and not getting the work I wanted to get but still getting chased down the street whenever I went to the shopping center, the two things messed with my mind.”

Pearce finally caught a break when turned his soap star image on its head to star as a drag queen in 1994’s “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” a role his then-agent tried to talk him out of taking. Three years later, he would make his way to the United States to play the by-the-book detective Edmund Exley in “L.A. Confidential” and break into Hollywood. He’s gone on to star in over 50 movies, including Christopher Nolan’s mind-scrambling neo-noir “Memento,” the Australian Western “The Proposition,” and Ridley Scott’s “Alien” prequel “Prometheus.”

Though Pearce is definitely famous, it’s now on his own terms. Unlike the Hollywood stars who bring the same persona to every role, he’s never played the same type of role twice.

This time, he’s digging into his dark side to play Harrison Lee Van Buren, a wealthy industrialist with a sociopathic edge in Brady Corbet’s award-season contender “The Brutalist,” in theaters on Friday.

Pearce says he’s drawn to fully-formed characters, and in reading Corbet’s script about the epic journey of immigrant architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody), the Van Buren character “jumped off the page.”

“I do my best work when I don’t have to go back and create something,” Pearce says. “Like an orchestra member who turns up, and there’s the score, and you play the score. That’s how acting should be.”

For BI’s latest Role Play interview, I caught up with Pearce — who was dressed in the casual, non-famous attire of a black t-shirt and blue jeans — at the A24 offices in Manhattan to talk about why he wasn’t initially interested in acting in America, why he’s never worked with Nolan since “Memento,” and how “Iron Man 3” made him amenable to doing blockbuster movies again after an awful experience on 2002’s “The Time Machine.”

On being told playing a drag queen would ruin his career and auditioning for ‘L.A. Confidential’

You found fame in Australia with “Neighbours” in the late 1980s, then followed that with a few Aussie movies, and then “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” came along. Was there any hesitation, coming off the fame of “Neighbours,” to play a drag queen?

Well, I didn’t sit there thinking things were good after “Neighbours.” When I finished “Neighbours” at the end of 1989, I couldn’t get a job to save myself. Nobody wanted to put the guy from a TV soap in their movie. So I wasn’t riding a good wave.

“Priscilla” coming around, [director] Stephan [Elliott] said this at the time, he thought it was a fun joke to stick a guy from the soap in a dress. And that was fine with me. There was no question in me doing it.

I remember one of the agents at this agency in Sydney I joined after “Neighbours” told me, “I suggest you do not do this movie, this could ruin your career.” And I was like, “Nope, I’m absolutely doing this, it’s a fucking great script.” So that was luck that I held my ground. And I’m still with the agency, but that agent left. 

So when “L.A. Confidential” came along, were you finally at ease about your career? Was your goal to get work in the States?

No. No. I never had any desire to get to America. I just thought, if I’m going to be out of work, why am I going to be out of work in America? I’d rather be out of work in Australia. What happened was I went to America to promote “Priscilla” and my agent said you should meet some agents in LA. And I said, “I’m not trying to work in Hollywood. I barely can work in Australia. Why would I try?” She said, “Meet this one agent.” I said fine.

We met and I got along great with him, his name is Chris Andrews. He said, “I’ll represent you.” I said, “Fine, but I’m not coming over here and doing pilot season, I’m not going to do that. I don’t have enough money.” He said, “Come stay at my house.” So I came back in 1995 a couple of different times and auditioned for stuff and would stay at his house, and that’s how I got “L.A. Confidential.” 

What was the audition like?

When I first went in, it was just a reading on tape. [“L.A. Confidential” director] Curtis [Hanson] wasn’t even in the room. In fact, it was the last audition I did in late 1995 while I was in LA, so fight after I flew back to Australia. In January, Chris calls and tells me they want me to come back and do a proper screen test. I was like, “No, I’m not fucking flying back.”

So Curtis called me and said, [speaking in an American accent] “Guy, I think you should come back.” So basically, he had already decided, but he needed me to do the screen test so he could prove to the studio that I was the right guy. But he couldn’t say I had the role. I showed up, and it was almost like shooting a scene; it was on a dressed set, costumes; they cut my hair to look like Ed Exley; it was a crazy thing. 

And during filming people would come up to me and say, “You got this off of ‘Priscilla’? How did Curtis see you as Ed Exley in that role?” Turns out Curtis never saw “Priscilla.” It call came from that first reading on tape that I did. 

How close were we to an “L.A. Confidential” sequel?

At a certain point, Curtis called me and said, “Just so you know, I’m talking to [“L.A. Confidential” author James] Ellroy about specifically writing a sequel.” It would have been ten years later. And he wanted me to be involved. I told him I’m on board, no question. And Russell [Crowe] would return as well. Curtis’ whole thing was it needed to be the same team, Warner Bros., me, Ellroy, Russell. It was a no-brainer for me. That got developed to a certain degree and then Curtis got sick and sadly passed in 2016. 

On why he hasn’t worked with Christopher Nolan since ‘Memento’

If the myth is true, “Memento” is kind of the opposite of what happened on “L.A. Confidential.” Instead of the director calling you, you called the director. 

Well, I had always read these stories about directors saying how committed actors were to landing a role: “They slept on my porch, I knew he was the guy.” I remember reading these and thinking, “Does that really work?” So I read “Memento” and really loved it, I met with Chris and then I watched “Following.” I was really locked in and wanted to do it.

So I go to my agent, Chris, and I tell him, “I think I should ring Chris Nolan just so he knows that I’m really keen to do this.” So I did, and I said, “I’m really sorry to do this but by all accounts this seems to work in this town, I’m really keen to do your movie, I would really love to do this.” And in typical Chris Nolan fashion, he just said, “Well, okay, thank you for letting me know.” I just felt if other actors are in the running he should know I really wanted to do it. 

I believe actors like Charlie Sheen and Alec Baldwin were also in the running.

I have no idea. I remember Jeff Goldblum was in the mix, and Brad Pitt was the first ask. I felt, this script is so good I’m going to lose this to a name actor, I have to put my hand up. Also, I was cheap. 

Are you surprised you haven’t worked with Nolan since?

We nearly worked together a couple of times, but there was an executive at Warner Bros. who admitted to my agent that I was not someone he believed in and ever wanted to work with, so he was never going to work with me. And I’m glad we found that out because, for a while, it was weird that I could never get another job at Warner Bros.

But we found out because Chris offered me a role in “Batman Begins.” This was at a time when he wanted Bruce Wayne’s mentor to be around the same age as him. So I flew to London to see Chris, and by the time I landed, he was told that Warner Bros. was never going to employ me. So I get there and he goes, “Hey… do you wanna see the Batmobile?” And we went out to dinner and I flew home just puzzled.

I have no idea why this executive felt this way, he supposedly told Chris, “I don’t get Guy Pearce, I’m never going to get Guy Pearce, I’m never going to employ Guy Pearce.” So that never happened. 

Then Chris talked to me about “The Prestige.” He was talking to Jude Law and I about it. And next thing you know he went and made it with Batman [Christian Bale] and Wolverine [Hugh Jackman]. [Laughs.] But, again, Warner Bros. was involved. And listen, if I can only work with Chris Nolan once in my life, I’m fine with that.  

(Ed note: WB and Nolan did not respond to BI’s requests for comment.)

The job that made him swear off studio movies until ‘Iron Man 3’

2002’s “The Time Machine” was the first and only time you were the lead in a major Hollywood blockbuster. After that you didn’t make a studio film again for years. How did your experience on that movie shape your career going forward?

I definitely realized that I wasn’t cut out for the studio world. 

Did that leave a bad taste in your mouth?

Absolutely. I just wanted to get back to what I felt comfortable doing. I just felt like the studio world was too big for me. I remember one of the executives telling me three or four times on that movie, “You know, the time machine itself, that’s the star of the movie.” And not that I needed anyone to pump up my ego, but I just remember a couple of times going, “Okay, yep. Got it. No worries.” It was difficult.

Right after doing that I went and reshot the ending of “The Count of Monte Cristo.” So at that time I was fried and I had enough of Hollywood. I was a pretty horrible person to everyone around me because of exhaustion. So I realized I’m a character actor, I’m not that guy. So I took a big step back. 

Who was more fun to play, Peter Weyland in “Prometheus” or Aldrich Killian in “Iron Man 3”?

I think Aldrich Killian was probably more fun. I mean, Peter Weyland was hard work because I was literally wearing an exoskeleton and five hours of prosthetic makeup. 

Did you know what the hell was happening in “Prometheus”?

I think the movie is brilliant, but I’ll say, if you don’t get what’s happening in the first five minutes then you’re lost for the rest of the movie. And I had the benefit of listening to Ridley [Scott] talk about it before we started shooting.

I loved it, but it was a tough experience physically. I couldn’t sit down because of this metal frame thing. So between shots they would just lean me against the wall. 

But with both of those roles, them being on big Hollywood movies, by then, I had a big rethink about how to function. Aldrich and “Iron Man 3” was an opportunity to kind of dip my foot back into the water of the studio world. The pressure isn’t on me. It’s a good character. So I got to do what I want to do in that world.  

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.