Actor Guy Pearce is gearing up for the release of Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the much talked about sci-fi movie of the summer. In an interview with Collider, Pearce spoke about playing Peter Weyland, (a role which required him to wear prosthetics to appear older with the makeup taking five hours to apply and an hour to have it removed) and choosing his roles.
Pearce admitted to some challenges with the role. He said, “Ultimately the movement and to try not to overdo it, to really actually go ‘Okay, well…’ I found myself following old people around London…just understanding the difficulty that sort of older people who are struggling physically are going through. Trying to get that stuff right, I think…And I’m not sure how well I did that, but trying to get that sort of stuff right.”
The Australian actor, who will also be starring in the upcoming Iron Man 3, also spoke about the types of projects he usually takes on. “Well it depends on the job I think,” he said. “Sometimes I read something and I go ‘This needs me to not touch it until we get close’ and other times I really need to go ‘Okay, I’m going to have to pull this apart and I’m really going to have to put together a voice and a physical movie,’ so each job requires a different response I think ultimately and they completely vary depending on the character and the style of the film, etc… I mean I experience a particular thing when I’m offered a script that doesn’t have its funding yet and people will say, ‘We want you to do this. It doesn’t have the money yet, but we want you to agree to it. If you agree to it, then we will try to go raise the money.’ And you go ‘Okay,’ generally I agree. ‘I like you. I like the script. I like the role. By all means, go forth and prosper’ and then you don’t know how long it’s going to be before they come back to you and say ‘We’ve got the money.'”
He went on to talk about a script he got once that he loved. The producers didn’t have the money he kept looking and looking at the script. “I kept it very present, like we were about to start it in the next few weeks or few months or something and I kept it present and months went by and then nine or ten months went by and then eighteen months went by and two years went by and then I kind of put it down and forgot about it and then two and a half years later they said ‘All right, we are ready’ and I went ‘Didn’t we make that movie?’,” he said. “I really emotionally felt like I had done it and I had to pull out and they were furious and I said ‘Well I’m really sorry. I’ve made a terrible mistake. When I said yes to this in the first place and you said you didn’t have any money I should have taken that script and put it on the shelf and forgotten all about it,’ which is now what I do if something doesn’t have its money yet, because you do invest and you live it and once you’ve got the ball rolling and it’s up and running, you need to then go and then make it. So it’s a tricky juggling act and in a similar vein, even when something does have its money and it’s ready to go, it might not be ready for six months or it may be ready next month, because you come on really late, so it’s different in every case.”
Prometheus opens in theaters nationwide on June 8.
