"The Rover," directed by David Michôd ("Animal Kingdom") and starring Guy Pearce ("Memento") and Robert Pattinson ("Twilight") opens nationwide on Friday. Drowned out by the talk about Pattinson's post-"Twilight" career is what may be Guy Pearce's most substantive dramatic performance since 2005's "The Proposition." Make no mistake, Pearce has worked steadily over the last decade alternating between large roles in independent Australian productions, smaller but critically acclaimed parts in a few award-winning Hollywood films ("The King's Speech" and "The Hurt Locker"), and borderline cameos in less prestigious fare ("Prometheus," "The Road").
Despite a substantial body of work, Guy Pearce has never achieved the "A-List" status that many felt he was destined for after seemingly star-making turns in "L.A. Confidential" in 1997 and "Memento" in 2000. Pearce burst onto the American cinema scene with a combination of good looks, charm and present intensity that seemed to be the prerequisites for stardom. So what interrupted Pearce's ascent as a Hollywood leading man and lead him instead to indie films and supporting roles?
In order to understand the trajectory of Pearce's career, it is necessary to examine where it began. Pearce was born in Cambridge, England, but when his father (a test pilot for the British Royal Air Force) died in a plane crash when Guy was 8 years old, he moved to Australia with his mother and his sister, Tracy. Living in a new country with a widowed mother and an intellectually disabled sister (Tracy has Down syndrome) was difficult at times. As Pearce stated in 2010, "Tracey takes a bit of looking after, and if you see your mum struggling, you've got to help. The combination of that, and Dad being gone, made me take on a level of responsibility that was abnormal for an 8-year-old."
With that level of responsibility thrust upon him at an early age, it is no surprise that Pearce became a sensitive and introspective child. At age 8, young Pearce turned to acting as an outlet and escape from those early pressures. At age 18, Pearce landed a role on a popular Australian soap opera, "Neighbors." The role served as Pearce's introduction to celebrity, and it was something he was uncomfortable with almost from the start. Again, from a 2010 interview: "I never really enjoyed the fame stuff. . . . A big part of my reluctance comes from having the sister I have. It'd feel wrong standing on a podium going, 'Look at me, aren't I fantastic?' while at the same time knowing Tracy was struggling." The fandom that came with starring in a daytime drama agitated the intensely private actor. Having acted in theater productions since the age of 10, the disposable quality of television celebrity held little appeal for Pearce, who was far more interested in exploring the craft of dramatic acting.
That dramatic opportunity presented itself in the form of his breakout role as a drag queen in 1994's "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert." An Australian production co-starring Hugo Weaving ("The Matrix") and Terence Stamp (The Limey) that garnered worldwide attention, Pearce’s memorable performance soon earned the notice of Hollywood casting directors. "Priscilla" eventually led to Pearce to be cast as Sergeant Edmund J. Exley in the latter day film noir classic "L.A. Confidential” opposite fellow Aussie Russell Crowe. That same year, 1997, Pearce married his childhood sweetheart and moved to Los Angeles to work full-time.
Working in Hollywood, of course, is not without its pitfalls. As early as 1999, while working on the horror thriller "Ravenous," Pearce discovered firsthand that big-budget filmmaking could be more about politics than it is process. In 2011, Pearce said "It was a really harrowing experience making 'Ravenous,' because there was a whole lot of shit that went down that was awful to have to deal with. The first director was fired, then they brought in another director who we felt was highly inappropriate, so we had a mutiny, and they gave in and said, 'Who do you want to direct this movie?' . . . But even then, the studio really was trying to gear the film in a particular direction, which was not at all the direction that I understood it to be in the beginning, so it was a very tense time . . . ." While projects like “Priscilla” and “L.A. Confidential” had been enjoyable artistic experiences for Pearce, “Ravenous” would be the first time he witnessed that commerce often overrules craft in large studio productions.
Pearce's standout performance in Christopher Nolan's critically acclaimed "Memento" firmly established his bankability in Hollywood and, as a result, a steady stream of job offers followed. Acclaim in Hollywood goes hand in hand with increased expectations commercially, though, and after doing four consecutive films in 2002, including big-budget productions such as "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Time Machine," things came to a head. Pearce was under increasing pressure from agents and studio executives alike to mold himself into the stereotypical leading man. Films like “The Time Machine,” however, proved to be critically panned and a commercial bust as well, demonstrating how ill-fitted Pearce was for the role of “big box-office adventure hero.” Pearce, who had tried to break away from this sort of career path with more thoughtful projects like “Priscilla” and “Memento” was soon miserable with Hollywood and everything about it.
In 2002, Pearce had what he describes as a "mini nervous breakdown" due to the difficulties of coping with celebrity — including drug abuse. "I was losing perspective. I was getting myself into big movies in order to get other work. I had been working a lot, getting grumpy with everyone. I was also taking way too many drugs. . . . I needed to get out of the industry. I hated every minute of it, hated everyone. . . .” So at a time when most actors would be trying to cash in on their marketability as much as possible, Pearce took a sabbatical to the Australian desert in order to clear his head and reassess his career goals. “I'd been acting since I was a kid, you know? And there I was in my 30s doing something that was based on the decision of an 8-year-old. What I had to do was to make the choice as a 30-something to carry on with it."
The decision was as much about accepting what his comfort zone was as person and an actor as it was reconciling those limits with the Hollywood system. After much soul-searching, therapy (and not taking so many drugs), Pearce decided return to acting. This time, however, he made the conscious decision to eschew big-budget, career-minded films in favor of characters, directors and projects that interest him. In a 2011 interview, Pearce said, "I don't feel like anything has changed with how Hollywood works. But I'm just much better at deflecting all of that rubbish, and doing what I want to do. And actually being able to laugh about it and feel OK about it." The result was finding ample work within Hollywood as a supporting actor, which actually seems to offer a wider variety of interesting roles to choose from than leading roles. Combined with more active participation in lower-profile indie films (particularly closer to home in Australia), Pearce seems to have found a very comfortable niche for himself, both personally and professionally.
Now in his 40s, working on "The Rover" with Pattinson must feel like coming full circle in some ways for Pearce: Both actors have dealt with the sudden fame that comes with Hollywood and, much like Pearce back in 2002, Pattinson is surely looking to establish himself as an actor as opposed to merely a celebrity. As Pearce observed recently, “I think it is difficult for him dealing with all of the publicity that he gets and all that sort of stuff and so he just sort of wants to get out of the way and not get hassled . . . for him to now be able to just string together one more interesting role after another I think will be fantastic."
If Pattinson's career goal is to walk the path of “child actor turned overnight celebrity turned serious actor,” then he could do a lot worse than following the example of Guy Pearce.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuFcGGJog60&w=514&h=289]