In Speech, Pearce plays King Edward VIII, who gave up his throne for love in the form of two-time divorcée Wallis Simpson. Edward's abdication paves the way for his brother King George VI (Colin Firth) -- who, if you haven't heard by now, had a slight speech impediment -- to take over the House of Windsor. Movieline caught up with Pearce this week to discuss a shy director by the name of Christopher Nolan, why Animal Kingdom co-star Jacki Weaver should be a household name and how he somehow filmed the post-apocalyptic downer The Road at the very same time he filmed Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories -- which, he admits, wasn't easy.
While working on The King's Speech, did the thought ever go through your head, You know, I have the most interesting character out of all of these people?
[Laughs] No, I didn't. I mean, I was certainly very aware of what a fascinating character I was getting to play. But I certainly didn't feel like he was necessarily the most interesting. I kind of came into the picture a little bit late, so I was probably scrambling to just make sure that I did a decent job at what I was doing. And also not be intimidated by the other great actors around me and thinking, Uh, what am I doing here?
What's interesting about Edward VIII is that, correct me if I'm wrong, but for such an interesting story, there's no definitive movie about his life. He's in Chariots of Fire and there's a film called A King's Story. Why do you think that is?
I'm not sure, to be honest. I, like most people, remember Edward Fox in... Actually, what was it called? It was called Edward and Mrs. Simpson, I think. A miniseries maybe?
Yes, that was a television miniseries.
That is almost the only thing I've ever seen. But I agree. What's fascinating is depending what country you go to, you get a very different perspective on him and his relationship with Wallis. Here in America, he's seen as a great romantic. "Look at what he gave up for love!" And yet in England, I think they see him as a real turncoat because he never wanted to be king. And even though he was in love with Wallis Simpson, I believe, from what I've read, that it was a really great but complex way of actually -- not using her; he was in love with her -- but he didn't want to be king. And if they were going to put forward the idea that he couldn't be king and be married to her, then he threw the ball back in their court and said, "Oh, well, if that's the decision that you're making for me, then OK." If you dig deep enough, you get to understand he's far more complex than just a man who is desperately in love.
To take it a step further about the differences on how Edward is perceived, there's strong evidence that he was also a Nazi sympathizer.
Absolutely! Exactly. And that, I think, was even more of a concern to the government than his relationship with a double divorcée. I think they were far more concerned that he was not the man to take England into war. I think when you look back at that famous photograph of Edward, Hitler and Wallis Simpson, the three of them shaking hands in 1937, it's the most horrific photograph you could ever see.
Do you think The King's Speech should have made reference to that?
Well, I mean there are references to it in the film.
There are, but it's played more ambivalent than as dark as it could have been.
Absolutely. The thing is it's not about that; it's really not about that. It was actually an interesting quest for [director] Tom [Hooper] and the writers and the producers to kind of go, "Well, look, there is a massive story here. How much of this story do we delve into?" We don't want to turn this from The King's Speech into The King's Avocation. It is touched upon. In a way it's slightly tricky to play someone who is of such note who is on screen for such a small amount of time.
As we march deeper into awards season, do you feel more invested in The King's Speech or Animal Kingdom?
Oh, well, that's a difficult question. I mean, look, it's always very difficult for me to... I never really know how my difference in feelings are in relation to films that I've made at home in Australia and films that I've made internationally. I have such a strong emotional connection to films that I make at home. They resonate for me personally on a deeper level because I grew up there; something about the language and the culture means more to me. But, having said that, it's not to say that The King's Speech means any less to me, because I think The King's Speech is a really delightfully extraordinary film.
Are you happy with the exposure that Animal Kingdom is getting internationally?
Oh, look, absolutely. And I think particularly for Ben and Jacki's performances, they're just remarkable. I've been making jokes with people recently because some have been saying, "Wow, you're potentially going to be in this year's Oscar winner as well." Between The Road, The Hurt Locker, The King's Speech and Animal Kingdom, I think I've clocked up about 15 minutes on screen [laughs].
Fifteen minutes total or not, you are going to start being cast in films as a good-luck charm.
Well, I have to be careful, too, that my career doesn't slowly just turn into "cameo man." [Laughs] But, look, I think Animal Kingdom is a beautifully crafted film and so emotional. I just think David [Michôd] has done such a wonderful job with it.
Movieline has been on a tear with the Oscar campaign for Jacki Weaver. Is it fun for you to see her get so much acclaim internationally?
The interesting thing about Jacki, really, is for us as Australians, I've been watching her since I was a kid. I've always known of her. It's a bit like when Paul Hogan appeared here in Crocodile Dundee. We, as Australians, went, "Paul! Yeah, I knew him since I was a 5 year old!" So, look, I think that it's past due. She's an extraordinary actress and, really, something came together so beautifully with this film and her performance. Because there's something very mundane and day-to-day about the style of the film. And she just brings an electric performance. I mean, I've always known that she's great, but I didn't know she was that great. I just feel honored to have done that one supermarket scene with her, you know?
I don't want to ask too much about a movie like Memento because I could go on for forever, but I am curious on how you felt about Christopher Nolan as a director. Could you tell then that this guy would become one of the most sought-after directors in the business?
I mean, it's hard to know how people will turn out. I hate to bandy the word "genius" around, but this guy... this guy has got it covered. Like he's got everything covered. And I think, when I look at his work... Funnily enough I only saw Inception just recently and thought, There's nothing that this guy can't do. I saw a great interview with Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was saying that the great thing about Chris is he not only can give audiences exactly what they want to see as far as the big picture stuff, but he is so dedicated to actors and performance and subtlety. Which I have very vivid memories of that experience with Chris and his focus on my performance. And he got that performance out of me. You know what I mean? He created that performance. He's got so much intellectual energy that he can do 50 things at once and do them all extremely well. So there's sort of no stopping a guy like that. And because he's got such great ideas, he can write scripts like that.
And that's the other thing: It's not like he's coming on board and directing somebody's brilliant script. He's coming up with this stuff. So I'm not surprised that he's had the career that he's had thus far. And I probably did think at the time... I mean, I read Memento, and had to read it twice, obviously, and sort of go back and pull it all apart. And then before I even met Chris, I was like, "Oh, yes, I really want to do this film." Then when I met with Chris. He's very honorable and decent, down-to-Earth, shy -- he's probably not so shy now -- but in the beginning he said, "I haven't worked with many actors, and I'm not sure exactly the process, and I'm not sure how you're going to want to do this." So he was very honest and I just thought, Wow, man, I wish everyone could be like this.
So did you ever have to give him instructions?
What I basically said to him was, "First, I could hug you for saying that." For me, to find trust in a director, as far as the way you work with each other, is the ultimate. And I said to him, "Look, I can certainly tell you what I don't want to do. And I can certainly tell you that if I need to rehearse something 1,500 times, then I'll just say that." And I'm never one for going, "Ugh, this guy doesn't know what he's doing," but I never felt like that about him at all. We had a great rehearsal process for a couple of weeks. By the time we got on set and shot this movie in 26 days, we were off and running.
I'm not 100 percent sure which one you filmed first, but how does one go from filming a movie like The Road to filming an Adam Sandler movie, or vice versa?
[Laughs] Funnily enough, I was in the middle of doing the Adam Sandler film [Bedtime Stories] and I had chosen to do the Adam Sandler film when it came along, the year before, I had done four really heavy movies: Traitor, The Hurt Locker, How to Change in 9 Weeks and Winged Creatures. They are all heavy, heavy movies about heavy, heavy stories. Then over that Christmas break of 2007 Adam Shankman called me and said, "Oh, I'd love you to come and do this big, silly Adam Sandler movie. I don't even have a script, but I'd love you to come and do it. It will be a lot of fun." And I went, "Yes! Sure! Whatever you want me to do!"
So I started doing that film, and however many weeks into it John Hillcoat contacted me and started talking to me about this little role he wanted me to do in The Road. I thought that was great if we could make it work. They literally slotted it right into the middle of the Adam Sandler film, and it was actually really tricky, I have to say. Because there I was in this colorful Adam Sandler world, [then] flew across to Pittsburgh and sort of bounced onto the set going, "Hey-ho, everybody! What's going on?" while everyone around is looking very deathly and morbid. And I went, "Oh, right, there's no smiling. OK, fair enough." Then I came back to the Adam Sandler film, not with my tail between my legs, but remembering this sort of serious world of actor and I had to sort of snap out of it and get back into being silly again. It was really quite tricky.
It's funny how you described taking the role because it's almost how a person chooses to see an Adam Sandler movie. "I've seen too many depressing movies, I need something light. Let's go watch Adam Sandler."
And, look, I have to say, I was going on how lovely Chris was before, but Sandler couldn't have been nicer. He said, "Mate, you want some time off, you want to go and do this other movie? Absolutely, just let us know." You know, he's the boss, he runs the show. He said, "This is a big family, we are just here having a good time." And it really was. It kind of reminded me of being back at school and getting a bunch of friends together who enjoy doing theater, which we did, and just sort of making up a play and putting it together on our faith. It had that feel about it. So it was really refreshing to go back to that because I'd done a lot of heavy stuff for a number of years, so it was a nice bit of light relief.
Are there more light-hearted comedies in your future?
Well, I don't know. I really enjoy that stuff, I just don't know how good I am at it, to be honest. And I don't know that I've got the face for it. I think you have to be aware of your limitations. I think I'm best leaving it up to Will Ferrell and Adam and Paul Rudd and those guys [laughs].
Your answer right there should have been, "Well, if I can find the time between making Best Picture-winning Oscar movies..."
There you go! Write that down as if I said that.