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When I Read Something, I Want To Be Surprised. So I Read Something And Go, "wow, I Never, Ever Would Have Thought Of Playing This Kind Of Role. This Is Exciting Me, Let's Go Do This."

-Guy Pearce

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When I Read Something,

Guy Pearce

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When I Read Something, I Want To Be Surprised. So I Read Something And Go, "wow, I Never, Ever Would Have Thought Of Playing This Kind Of Role. This Is Exciting Me, Let's Go Do This."

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Just Because There Are Things I Don't Remember, Doesn't Mean My Actions Are Meaningless. The Whole World Doesn't Just Disappear When You Close Your Eyes, Does It?

I'll Have A Different Answer Tomorrow That I Do Today.

Memory Isn't The Facts, It's Just A Record You Keep To Yourself. With The Facts, Memory Is Useless.

Well, English Is No Problem For Me Because I Am Actually English. My Whole Family Are English; I Was Brought Up Listening To Various Forms Of The English Accent. Obviously There Are More Specific Ones That Get A Little Bit Tricky. Same With American Stuff. But Because In Australia We're So Inundated With American Culture, Television, This That And The Other, Everyone In Australia Can Do An American Accent. It's Just Second Nature.

English Is No Problem For Me Because I Am Actually English. My Whole Family Are English; I Was Brought Up Listening To Various Forms Of The English Accent.

I'm Able To Lead My Life As Well As Make A Film. My Wife And My Friends And People Around Me Know That I Do Tend To Distance Myself A Little Bit During The Making Of A Film, But I Have To, It's A Natural Part Of The Process For Me Because You Are Indulging In The Headspace Of Somebody Else, You Are Investing In The Psychology Of Somebody Else And You Are Becoming Somebody Else, And So There Isn't Enough Room For You And That Somebody Else.

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.

Because In Australia We're So Inundated With American Culture, Television, This That And The Other, Everyone In Australia Can Do An American Accent. It's Just Second Nature.

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 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.

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.

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.

I Think That You Can Say Something In One Line With A Look That You Might Need Three Lines On A Page For Normally.

If Something Doesn't Come Out Of Your Mouth Right, You've Got To Acknowledge The Fact That You're Trying To Deliver An Honest Performance. If It Doesn't' Come Out Of Your Mouth Correctly, Then It's Not Going To Work.

I'm A Musician, And I'm Fascinated With The Effects Of Sound, And Tone, And Pitch And Melody And All That Sort Of Stuff. It's The First Thing I Have To Solidify Whenever...i Get Into A Character. The First Thing I Need To Get Sorted Out Before I Can Then Move Forward, Before I Can Feel Any Confidence Whatsoever, Is The Voice.

Most Of The Time When I'm In Australia I'm Not Really Working, It Seems. I'm Just At Home, Getting On With Renovating My House Or Writing Music Or Whatever. So I Get Back To Doing All The Stuff That I Naturally Do. Whereas If I'm Away Working, That's All There Is To Do, Is To Concentrate On The Work.

You Never Really Know What The Director Has Got In His Mind As Far As The Scene Visually And Art Direction Wise, Etc. Even If You Do, Sometimes There's A Side Of Things That Don't Necessarily Gel The Way People Intend. So There A Bit Of A Mystical Entity, Film.

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.

You Can Have A Great Time On A Film And The Chemistry Can Seem Great But Then You Look At The Finished Film And It Just Doesn't Quite Gel, Something Doesn't Quite Work.

I Used To Work Out In The Gym A Lot When I Was Younger. I Was A Competition Body Builder When I Was 16 Or Something Crazy Like That For A Short Period Of Time. So, The Gym Is Quite Familiar And I Know What I'm Doing There.

The Thrill Of Coming Home Has Never Changed.

I Never Really Enjoyed The Fame Stuff.

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.

You Do Feel Kind Of Nervous About Any Film You Take On.

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 Find It Really Difficult To Even Articulate Things That I've Done In The Past. I Express Myself Through The Characters That I Play, Not Through The Articulation Of Them Later.

I Really Enjoy A Variety Of Different Work, And What I've Just Done May Sometimes Determine What I Choose To Do Next.

There's A Sense Of Humor Within The Australian Culture That Prevails When One Is In A Rather Difficult Situation.

Difficult Situations

I Reckon It's More Of An External Perspective That On Some Level You Really Can Control And Dictate How Your Career's Going To Go.

It's Really Interesting Making Films And Actually Seeing The Life That They Have In The Subsequent Years And Seeing Which Ones Stand Up Over Time And Which Ones Sort Of Fade Away.

I Do Like A Variety Of Things So I'm Always Interested In Finding Something That I Haven't Done Before.

A Movie That Gets A Pg-13 Rating Can Show Someone Running Down A Street Killing 27 People. And There Are No Repercussions.

Even Though I've Done A Lot It Also Feels Like I Haven't Done A Lot. I've Sort Of Popped In For Supporting Roles In Things, And That's Been Really Delightful.

I Don't Feel I'm Making A Conscious Effort To Go More Commercial.

I Think When People Are Repressing Things, Or Burying Things, That Can Manifest In All Sorts Of Ways.

I'm Happy In A Silent World - Well, Not A Silent World But One That Relies On - I'm In A Pretty Physical Actor I Suppose Anyway, And I Just Don't - I Don't Struggle That Idea Of Emotional Expression Just Because There Aren't Words To Explain Yourself.

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.

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.

You Meet These People Who Are Confident All The Time. They Annoy Me. And I Wonder If It's Because I'm Envious Or If It's Because They're Shallow.

Having A Partner Who Has Nothing To Do With Hollywood Helps Keep Things In Perspective.

There's Many More Films Being Made In America Than There Are In Australia. You Make Four Hundred And Fifty Films A Year, We Make Twenty-five.

I Do Like A Variety Of Things So I'm Always Interested In Finding Something That I Haven't Done Before, If Possible, To Whatever Degree That Sometimes Changes, And How Much Is Something Now That I Wouldn't Have A Year Ago But Sort Of Based On What I've Done Recently As Well.

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Working On A Studio Picture, I Can't Help But Be Aware Of All The Political Stuff That's Going On. I Have To Work To Be Able To Survive, In A Sense.

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You Never Really Know What The Director Has Got In His Mind As Far As The Scene Visually And Art Direction Wise.

Sometimes I'll Go For Something More Because Of The Story, Or More Because Of The Director. But, Generally, I Have To Feel Like It's Something That I Have A Real Sympathy For - A Person That I Can Completely Go, "oh, Wow, Oh, I'm There." Otherwise I Don't Feel Like I Will Be Able To Pull It Off At All. I Know I Haven't Done Everything Very Well In The Past; Some Things Have Worked And Some Things Haven't. But I Need To Feel Like I Can Feel About The Person, Understand That Person, I Suppose.

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The First Thing I Need To Get Sorted Out Before I Can Then Move Forward, Before I Can Feel Any Confidence Whatsoever, Is The Voice.

I Can Be Completely Indulgent And Spend As Many Hours And Days Or Weeks As I Like On One Thing. Writing Music And Sitting In My Studio, Just Pottering With Ideas, It's A Lot More Personal And Creative For Me, I Don't Feel Restricted.

If It's A Great Role Or A Great Film, Then You're Happy To Be A Part Of It.

I Don't Understand The Actor That Chooses To Play The Same Role In Everything All The Time.

Ultimately The Most Challenging Thing, Always, Is To Just Be Convincing

If You Look At The Films That I've Done Generally, You Would Probably Get An Idea Of What I'm Most Interested In, And If Ever I Do Something Unusual Like A Science Fiction Film Or An Action Film Or A Comedy Or Something, Then That To Me Feels Like A Step To The Side To Do Something Different.

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I Have A Real Love Of Sound And The Shape Of The Sound. I'm A Musician, And I'm Fascinated With The Effects Of Sound, And Tone, And Pitch And Melody And All That Sort Of Stuff.

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I'm Constantly Trying To Be As Original As I Can.

I Don't Enjoy Movies In 3d. I Find I Can't Engage With The Story As Well.

I Do Have Aspirations When It Comes To Directing, I Suppose, But In A Sort Of A Vague Way. It Would Probably Come About If I Found A Project That I Really Felt Passionate About.

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