Working on films where the money's more important than the creativity, I just get a bit freaked out by that. I just don't feel comfortable.
— Guy Pearce
My problem is I'm an addictive personality. I can't have one coffee. I can't eat one piece of chocolate.
Having a partner who has nothing to do with Hollywood helps keep things in perspective.
I'm never there enough to really keep up with what's going on in the Australian film industry. I just try and be part of it as much as I can.
It's funny, though, with films, because you can incorporate a variety of elements, and sometimes that can work for you and sometimes I think it can work against you.
Well, I never wear shoes at home. Never.
Every time you say yes to a film there's a certain percentage of your yes that has to do with the director, a certain percentage to do with the story, a certain percentage with the character, the location, etc.
On stage, you've got dialogue you've learned. You've got a paying audience. It couldn't be better, you know?
The thing I've come to learn is that what's great about small independent films is the intimacy and the communication that occurs when you're making them.
Comic-strip stuff isn't really my cup of tea, really.
I don't enjoy movies in 3D. I find I can't engage with the story as well.
I don't really relate to certain blokey men who just want to talk about blokey things. I never really know what to say and I always feel I have to act blokey in order to have them not say, 'You're a weirdo.'
I am geared towards communicating on a female level.
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.
Where do you even draw the line between genres?
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 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.
I'm interested in the psychological exploration of human nature, and it just happens to come in the form of film-making.
I've always been resistant to parties and schmoozing.
The movie industry is very competitive, and if you're like me and you suffer from your own insecurities about whether or not you're any good, that can be troubling.
It's hard to pinpoint why all of a sudden a group of Australian films will be doing well and why they perhaps are better made than some from the past.
I'm constantly trying to be as original as I can.
I suffer from overheating quite easily.
I don't believe in God, but the thing I do believe in is that we're all connected.
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'm far more comfortable in my 40s than I ever was.
You never say never, but I don't think I'd want to do a long-running series.
I think a lot of actors take on fun roles and then they're lazy or flippant with them. I just can't do that.
I don't have many friends.
I always think the really unfortunate thing about the Australian film industry is its lack of momentum. And I don't mean this in a derogatory way. I'm always wanting it to pick up momentum, and I'm wondering if that's even possible.
I think when people are repressing things, or burying things, that can manifest in all sorts of ways.
I've been asked to do action-oriented movies in the past and they just haven't been right for me.
You work on things and you have such faith in them while you're making them that everything feels special - in a way.
The majority of people who join law enforcement are doing it for good, moral reasons, but then there are the few who get through, where you go, 'Whoa, hold on a second. What's this guy doing here?'
I never really enjoyed the fame stuff.
Growing up, I was a kid pretending to be an adult.
Success comes in waves.
You would think that with ten super-famous people in one movie, it's gonna be ten times more popular or viewed, but on some level, they can cancel each other out.
I wish I had the ability to crack wise, generally. You know, without getting punched. There's no way I could do it while getting beaten up. Definitely.
I just can't talk about things before I do them, because just for me... I give energy away before I've put energy into the job.
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.
The thrill of coming home has never changed.
The reality is that we have all these awards and all these festivals that give out awards, so you sort of go, 'okay, well, people liked the film, and I think it's a good film, and it's up for an award - well, I guess it should win the award then.'
I don't understand the actor who plays the same role from movie to movie. Maybe it's because I worked on long-running television when I was in my teens, and so the idea of playing the same role just bores me intensely. I'd rather not do it at all.
When you're promoting a film it's really interesting trying to gauge what people think about it.
I grew up with such an affinity to cats. I adore the way that they think and operate.
Men often still expect women to be under their thumb.
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.
A movie that gets a PG-13 rating can show someone running down a street killing 27 people. And there are no repercussions.
I don't feel I'm making a conscious effort to go more commercial.
