Guy Pearce discusses his role in Prometheus and why he has no eyebrows in Lawless

Guy Pearce plays a damn good psychopath. As an actor, I thought he would have blown up as a leading actor after his great turns in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and MEMENTO. But, the guy is certainly not hurting for roles. It is nice to see him get to play a variety of characters.

This summer, Pearce will be in two big movies: PROMETHEUS and LAWLESS. Both are looking really, really good so far. While his role in PROMETHEUS may be small, it certainly is vital. While at the Cannes Film Festival, Pearce gave an interview to Esquire and discussed both films.

Regarding his eyebrows, or lack thereof, in LAWLESS: We wanted to create a strangeness. And a vanity. I think when people are repressing things, or burying things, that can manifest in all sorts of ways. Funny enough, if you are looking at people these days who are putting Botox in their face and getting all sorts of plastic surgery, we look at them and go, I can tell you’ve had Botox. I can tell you’ve had plastic surgery. You look really strange to me. But no one’s saying anything. We’re just accepting the fact that they’re strange-looking. In a similar way, I think [Special Agent Charlie Rakes in LAWLESS] has an obscure sort of ego that is keeping him buoyant, as hideous and despicable as he is. He’s just gone too far with things. There were even descriptions in the script about the dyeing of the hair.

On Ridley Scott: Yeah, it’s interesting that Ridley [Scott] has gone back to sci-fi. I think he treats the genre better than most. You look at the original Alien, and it looks more like a horror film than a sci-fi movie. But it’s a very realistic story about people, you know? And I think that’s what makes his films work so well. It’s a world that none of us really know, so anything could happen. And yet he gives it a sense of reality that we all can relate to. It taps into what our worst nightmares about outer space are.

Comparing ALIEN to PROMETHEUS: I haven’t seen the finished film, to be honest, and I’m only in a tiny snippet of it, so it would be hard for me to say. From memory of the script I read, there are a bunch of elements that relate, but I think he’s looking at much bigger, grander things in this than were in the original ALIEN. And not just to get it away from being a prequel, but I think he’s had a longer period of time to decide what he wants to make his next science-fiction film about. I would say it doesn’t really operate on the same level as ALIEN. The ideas in PROMETHEUS, the questions about where we come from, I think are so monumental and powerful. I think Ridley was pretty ready to put a lot of that previous stuff aside and say, “This is a lot more interesting to me now.”

Very cool. Makes me much more excited for both films! PROMETHEUS opens on June 8th and LAWLESS opens August 29th.