Pearce, Jones branch out with “˜Time’

DreamWorks L.L.C. and Warner Bros. Guy Pearce
stars as time traveler Alexander Hartdegen in "The Time Machine,"
opening Friday.

By Phoebe Bronstein
Daily Bruin Contributor

When the names Orlando Jones and Guy Pearce come up, people
usually think 7up and “Memento.”

But after his last two movies, Pearce might be associated with
epic action-adventure stories like the “The Count of Monte
Cristo” and the newly released “The Time
Machine.” Jones would be better known for his role in the
comedy “Evolution,” or his old comedy stints like
“MadTV” or those soft drink commercials.

However, given the direction of their careers, will Pearce and
Jones maintain their reputations as respected indie actors or will
they continue into the mainstream?

Pearce, coming off his role in the critically acclaimed film
“Memento,” and Jones, following up the equally
well-received 7up advertisements, seem to be abandoning the
relative obscurity of the art house for the limelight of big budget
movies.

Jones, who has given up his commercial fame to the new
“7up guy,” the comedian Godfrey, admits that he wants
to move beyond television commercials.

“No comment,” he said. “No, I’m happy
for him. I think it’s interesting they went for another
African American spokesperson but I don’t want to spend my
entire career doing 7up ads.”

Jones was interested in his role in “The Time
Machine” as the character of Vox, a futuristic version of the
Internet with a sense of humor and capacity for emotions; he saw it
as a departure from the typical African American roles.

“I’m glad I did it. The role was really a departure
from the norm, an African American occupying an important role in
the future,” Jones says.

Jones, with two sci-fi movies under his belt, acknowledges that
this movie and possibly others, such as Barry Levinson’s
drama “Liberty Heights,” are not what people expect
from him. Jones aims to move away from the slapstick comedy that
began his career onto more serious dramatic roles, although he says
that if the right comedic role came along he would probably take
it.

“No African American actor has done what Tom Hanks has
done, from “˜Bosom Buddies’ to
“˜Philadelphia.’ Denzel does drama and Eddie Murphy does
comedy,” Jones said. “As an actor the greatest
challenge is to do both.”

Pearce, unlike his co-star, seems to have already successfully
breached that gap, appearing in comedic, dramatic and now
action-packed roles.

Pearce’s career began as far from Jones’ as
possible. His first international fame came with the Australian
film “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” where he played
a drag queen. Now at age 34, Pearce has acclaimed performances
under his belt including “L.A. Confidential,” last
year’s psychological thriller “Memento” and both
action flicks “The Count of Monte Cristo” and
“The Time Machine.” Pearce’s switch from
psychological thriller to action hero might have caught some
viewers by surprise, though he managed the crossover
convincingly.

Pearce said he is always drawn to the story, be it action, drama
or thriller, and that he does not care about the big budget
movies.

“I’d always like to think that I’d be credible
in every role that I do, whether it’s a big studio picture or
an independent film. Basically what I’m drawn to is the
story, and what the characters experience throughout that
story,” Pearce said. “Whether it’s a bigger film
or a smaller film does not play into the picture for me in choosing
the film. The hope for me is always to be credible.”

Pearce acknowledges that his two most recent movies are not the
type he is usually drawn to, but when it came to “The Time
Machine,” Pearce opted for the role, being an avid fan of the
original George Pal movie.

“As a kid they probably played this film about once a year
and I probably saw it eight years in a row and then hadn’t
seen it in a really long time, so when the script came along for
this, it just brought back a great deal of memory for
me.”

Not only that, but Pearce also admits that part of what
fascinated him most about the role of Alexander Hartdegan in
“The Time Machine” was the ability to seemingly realize
childhood fantasies into realities.

Acting in a fantasy movie was a new experience for Pearce, who
tends to view movies as representations of real events and real
people, things that people can directly relate to.

“I’ve never really looked at films before as
mythical stories,” said Pearce. “I’ve always
looked at films as real stories with real people and that’s
why I struggle with the whole notion of calling someone the good
guy or the bad guy “˜cause I think we as humans all have the
potential to do both good and bad things.”

As for the rest of his career, Pearce just finished a Tennessee
Williams play in Australia and will be starring in the upcoming
dramas “Till Human Voices Wake Us” and “The Hard
Word,” both Australian films.

In searching for roles Pearce seeks interesting and original
characters and will continue searching for those sorts of
roles.

“I’ll probably run out of things to do and
I’ll end up finding some little bland role, and in that case
I know that’ll be the time to stop,” Pearce said.