Netflix’s The Innocents
Former Neighbours star Guy Pearce on his new netflix thriller and how he loves to party with Kylie…
The Innocents from friday 24 August / netflix
Guy pearce has come a long way since his days as dishy Mike Young on Aussie soap Neighbours. Movie roles in
LA Confidential, Memento and The King’s Speech have turned him into one of Australia’s most in-demand actors, and he adds another intriguing character to his CV this week in new Netflix drama The Innocents.
Set in the UK and Norway, the eight-parter follows British teenagers June and Harry, played by Sorcha Groundsell and Percelle Ascott, who run away from their repressive home lives – only to be shocked when a violent encounter leads them to discover that June has an ability to shapeshift.
Guy plays the mysterious Bendik Halvorson, a doctor who meets June and reveals she’s not alone. It turns out there are more shifters out there, including his own partner. Intrigued? So are we.
Here, Guy, 50, tells us more… Halvorson sounds like an interesting character…
He is. He’s a medical doctor who’s ended up in a part of the world he never expected to live, and because he has a partner with a condition that means she can shapeshift, he wants to help.
What’s his motivation?
He genuinely wants to find a cure for the malfunction in their genetic make-up, but his ego gets in the way a little. He wants to get to the bottom of it before others discover it, but he doesn’t want to work in the conventional British medical system. He wants to make a name for himself.
Would you describe it as sci-fi? When I spoke to the director about the show, he said, ‘These women have a genetic issue, a malfunction inside them, so I want you to know we’re treating this like a medical condition. I want it to be real. We’re not talking about it being sci-fi or being from another world. It’s here.’ I liked the fact that the story was grounded in that way. What did you think of the CGI used for June’s shapeshifting?
I was fascinated. In the first episode June turns into a much bigger Norwegian male [played by Icelandic actor Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson]. It’s very dramatic.
Can you see the appeal of being able to shapeshift?
I like the idea that it connects to me being an actor, as we have to ‘shapeshift’ to some degree when we act. We all do it in real life, too. There are moments where you talk to someone about something and then walk away thinking, ‘Oh, wait – who did
I become for that five minutes?
I just lost myself a little.’
Are you hoping The Innocents will be a long-running TV show?
The stability might be great, but I’ve experienced stability before: I spent three years on Neighbours and two years on an Australian show called Snowy River. I guess it would depend on the series – I might be banging my head against a wall after three years!
We hear you recently partied with Kylie Minogue at her 50th birthday bash. How was it?
It was a really lovely party. It was exciting to be in the same room as Kylie and Jason [Donovan]. We see each other individually – we’ve been mates for 30 years – but it’s rare for us to be together like that.