Guy Pearce Speaks On Marvel’s ‘Iron Man 3′ & ‘Prometheus’

Out and about on the promotional rounds for the Prohibition crime-drama ‘Lawless,’ Guy Pearce caught up with Vulture to speak on range of topics, touching on Marvel’s 2013 summer blockbuster ‘Iron Man 3,’ his fantastically vile villain in ‘Lawless,’ ‘Prometheus,’ turning down ‘Daredevil,’ and his Emmy award for ‘Mildred Pierce.’ Referring to his roles in ‘Iron Man 3′ and ‘Prometheus’ as, “Really kind of cameo stuff,” Pearce talked about why he wanted to join the cast of ‘Iron Man 3′ after turning down the fellow comicbook adaptation, ‘Daredevil,’ back in the day, “The thing about Daredevil was that it was the role of Daredevil [that I didn't want to do]. Certainly in those days … it was ten years ago. I’ve probably loosened up, and I feel a little more experimental in what I’ll take on these days, but I still don’t know that I would want to play the superhero myself, since I’m playing a different kind of character in this film. And I think that, based on the first two movies, there’s a great chemistry between Robert [Downey Jr.] and Gwyneth [Paltrow], and I just think the films have a fun, joyful sort of quality about them. I’ve just enjoyed them. So I just felt like I wanted to be a part of this.”

While plot details on ‘Iron Man 3′ are being kept firmly under lock and key, Guy Pearce is said to play Dr. Aldrich Killian, a genetic scientist who plays a pivotal role in the creation of a nanotechnology, known as Extremis, which was designed to hack the human DNA blueprint and replace it with a better one. The plot for ‘Iron Man 3′ is rumoured to borrow elements from Warren Ellis’ six-issue ‘Iron Man: Extremis’ story arc, which also heavily influenced the first ‘Iron Man’ flick. It focuses heavily on the spread of a virus through nanotechnology. Speaking on his supporting, yet vital roles in ‘Iron Man 3′ and ‘Prometheus,’ Guy Pearce shed some light on that experience, “On some level, it’s tricky because you feel like a bit of an outsider. You don’t really live the experience that you do when you’re there all day every day with everybody. But at the same time, it can be more fun sometimes because you’re just working in concentrated spurts.”

The actor also talked about the unique experience of playing an old man, Peter Weyland, in Ridley Scott’s ‘Prometheus,’“…..it was a great honor. I’ve been really lucky in the last few years, and it was a great honor to work with Ridley, and to play such an extreme character as well. It’s a really difficult thing to try and pull off playing someone who’s that old, not just on a performance level but on a physical level, since you’re trying to make that makeup look as real as possible. Those guys do an incredible job. It’s just one of those things: It’s either going to work or it’s not going to work. And I still don’t really know whether it did or not. It’s hard to say. It’s hard to be objective about it.”

‘Iron Man 3′ follows on from Marvel Studios’ record-breaking ‘The Avengers.’ Directed by Shane Black, the production schedule for the film includes locations in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, Miami, Florida and China. Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1963, ‘Iron Man 3′ returns Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man, Marvel’s The Avengers) as the iconic Super Hero character Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Gwyneth Paltrow (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2) as James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Iron Man 2) as Happy Hogan. Marvel’s ‘Iron Man 3′ marks the second feature to be fully owned, marketed and distributed by Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009. The likes of Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Guy Pearce and William Sadler join the Marvel universe in this third Iron Man movie as The Mandarin, Maya Hansen, Eric Savin, Aldrich Killian and Sal Kennedy, respectively.

‘Iron Man 3′ continues the epic, big-screen adventures of the world’s favorite billionaire inventor/Super Hero, Tony Stark aka “Iron Man.” Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing the film. Executive producers on the project include Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard and Dan Mintz. The creative production team on the film includes two-time Oscar-winning director of photography John Toll, ASC (‘Braveheart,’ ‘Legends of the Fall’), production designer Bill Brzeski (The Hangover, Due Date), editors Jeffrey Ford, A.C.E. (Marvel’s The Avengers, Captain America: The First Avenger) and Peter S. Elliot (Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer), and costume designer Louise Frogley (Quantum of Solace, Contagion). ‘Iron Man 3′ arrives cinemas April 26th in the UK and May 3rd in the US. The production notes for the film can be read below.

Marvel Studios most recently produced the critically acclaimed Marvel’s ‘The Avengers,’ which set the all-time, domestic 3-day weekend box office record at $207.4 million. The film, which is currently in release, continues to shatter box office records and is The Walt Disney Studios’ highest-grossing global and domestic release of all time and marks the studios’ fifth film to gross more than $1 billion worldwide.

In the summer of 2011, Marvel successfully launched two new franchises with ‘Thor,’ starring Chris Hemsworth, and ‘Captain America: The First Avenger,’ starring Chris Evans. Both films opened #1 at the box office and have grossed over $800 million worldwide combined. In 2010 ‘Iron Man 2,’ starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke, took the #1 spot in its first weekend with a domestic box office gross of $128.1 million.

In the summer of 2008, Marvel produced the summer blockbuster movies ‘Iron Man’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk. ‘Iron Man,’ in which Robert Downey Jr. originally dons the Super Hero’s powerful armor and stars alongside co-stars Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow, was released May 2, 2008, and was an immediate box office success. Garnering the number one position for two weeks in a row, the film brought in over $100 million in its opening weekend. On June 13, 2008, Marvel released ‘The Incredible Hulk,’ marking its second number one opener of that summer.