Guy Pearce doesn’t stomach snobbery.
The “Brutalist” star, 57, revealed that a former co-star’s haughty reaction toward his past work on a soap opera made him want to “punch her.”
“I’ve many feelings about that show,” Pearce recently told The Times, referring to the Australian soap “Neighbours,” which he joined in the 1980s just after graduating drama school.
“In the old days you were either a theatre actor or a film actor, and if you got stuck in a soap you were the lowest of the low — but what an opportunity,” the star said of landing the role of the handsome and hardworking Mike Young on the show.
Pearce added, “I had no clue what I was doing but learnt a lot.”
“That said, it really was frowned upon,” the “LA Confidential” star continued.
Speaking to one particular unnamed person’s attitude towards soaps at the time, Pearce recalled, “I did a play a year after I left and this snobby actress said, ‘How could you even do that?’”
“I wanted to punch her!” the actor admitted before adding, “Now, obviously, I didn’t punch her. But it was such a horrible attitude.”
In the end, Pearce got the laugh.
“And then, five years later, I saw her on some shit ad on TV,” he said. “I so wanted to go and find her and say, ‘OK …’”
Born in England but raised in Australia, Pierce starred in “Neighbours” from 1986 to 1989, appearing alongside the likes of Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. He reprised his role as Mike Young for the show’s 2022 finale and again for the show’s relaunch in 2023.
Currently nominated for a Best Supporting Actor BAFTA and Academy Award for his work opposite Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist,” Pearce attributes a lot of his success to lucky.
“When young actors ask me for advice, I shrug and say, ‘Get lucky?’ Because I got lucky,” he confessed.
As for how he goes about choosing his roles, the star explained that it all comes down to “an instinctual response,” noting that he pays attention to “story, character, director.”
“But I probably only do 5 per cent of what I read,” he revealed. “I start every script hoping it will be another ‘LA Confidential,’ that feeling you’ve been sucked into a vortex. But a lot of times, by page 20, I think, ‘Ah, damn.’”
Pearce’s remarks about his snooty former co-star will undoubtedly trigger social media sleuths to try and discover the person’s identity. Just recently, digital detectives went down a rabbit hole after Reese Witherspoon made vague remarks about an actress who she “roasted” during an awards ceremony — an act she said ended the pair’s friendship.
Though many speculated the actress in question was Kate Winslet, Witherspoon promptly shut down those rumors.
