Decades after his time on Australia’s Neighbours, Guy Pearce admitted he wanted to punch an actress who looked down on his work on the soap opera series.
Videos by Suggest
In a recent interview with The Times, Pearce recalled his time on Neighbours. In 1986, the actor landed the role of Mike Young on the show. He portrayed the character for three years before he departed. However, he reprised the role in 2022 during the soap opera’s series finale.
“In the old days, you were either a theatre actor or a film actor,” Pearce explained. “And if you got stuck in a soap, you were the lowest of the low — but what an opportunity. I had no clue what I was doing, but learnt a lot. When young actors ask me for advice, I shrug and say, ‘Get lucky?’ Because I got lucky. That said, it really was frowned upon.”
Guy Pearce then spoke about one actress who was vocal about his time in the soap opera. “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!”
Pearce further clarified that he did not actually want to punch the actress for her remarks. He did slam her for having “such a horrible attitude” towards his soap opera role.
“And then, five years later, I saw her on some shit ad on TV,” he said about the actress. “I so wanted to go and find her and say, ‘OK …’”
Guy Pearce Also Spoke About How He Picks His Acting Roles
Meanwhile, Guy Pearce revealed to The Times how he picks his roles.
“An instinctual response,” he said while reflecting on his role-picking process. “For story, character, director. But I probably only do 5 percent of what I read — 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.’”
However, he further admitted that he did a “bunch of s—“ during his divorce from Kate Mestitz because he needed money.
“It was my divorce period, 2016, ’17 and ’18. I’d read scripts thinking, no, this is pretty good actually, I could do this,” he continued. “But a year earlier, I would have said no. You’re forced to expand your tolerance of things when you need dough, so it was a real relief once I paid off my divorce. But it blurred my vision. I’d read something that I felt was good and then question myself. Is it good? Or just in the camp of paying off my divorce?”