Latest news with #GuyPearce
Geek Vibes Nation
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
Why No One Watched 'A Spy Among Friends' (And Why You Should)
The 2023 British miniseries A Spy Among Friends went lost in the shuffle stateside thanks to crowded, bottom-barrel Epix and MGM+ streaming obscurity. Fortunately, this six-hour series is steeped in clever espionage and gravitas. Unfortunately, however, A Spy Among Friends doesn't make it easy on audiences in its first two episodes as director Nick Murphy (FX's A Christmas Carol) and writer Alexander Cary (Homeland) adapt the historical book by Ben Macintyre (Operation Mincemeat) with unnecessary busyness, back and forth flashbacks, and interrogations within interrogations. Viewers are expected to know about our Cambridge spy Kim Philby (Guy Pearce), his decades-long friendship with Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis), their cat and mouse betrayals, and the subsequent defections to Russia that shook the British Intelligence Services from top to bottom. This convoluted structure interferes with the potentially intriguing characterizations, for we're dumped right into the action without really being endeared to our spies. Obviously, A Spy Among Friends is probably not in chronological order because that would have involved even more de-aging special effects and make-up on the leads as we follow the titular pals from World War II into the 1960s. However, it may have been easier to simply trust the audience to overlook age rather than confusing viewers with who is who, doing what, and when, as if this were Clue. An opening episode meeting our boys during the War would have established their communist versus the Crown allegiances and relationships before a second hour dedicated entirely to their one-on-one fallout in Beirut, which is instead excellent twofer scenes broken up throughout the series. Who has duped whom in the boys-will-be-boys club amid the affairs and hidden handlers? A third episode introducing Anna Maxwell Martin as the composite agent Lily Thomas ruffling all the stiff-upper-lip feathers in her mission to grill Elliott on Philby regarding who has betrayed Britain and when would have laid out all the 'whither tos' and 'why fors' for the audience. But alas, A Spy Among Friends adheres a bit too closely to the cloak and dagger, deliberate and slight of hand confusion in its first half. A Spy Among Friends should probably be watched at least twice for full effect, but viewers made dumb by the trying-to-be-clever structure would most likely tune out by the second episode. The out-of-order piecemeal isn't trying to tell the whole decades' worth of this history, but the fictionalized plots and historical liberties may send the viewer towards other books and adaptations instead. It's also perhaps difficult now not to have current politics on the back of our mind while watching A Spy Among Friends. Unofficial American counterintelligence agents are excited to have defecting British double agents embedding disinformation in the KGB for the CIA, and the audience almost has to look up who is who. Episode Four 'Vodka' intercuts the action in London and the espionage in Moscow as concurrent, deflating intriguing ruses and fatal suspense that should have been told as uninterrupted acts. Fortunately, A Spy Among Friends improves once it settles down and reduces the interwoven flashbacks, allowing superb performances to play out in conversations laced with international details. Conflicting friendships and romances intersect, yet they look the other way at what the Secret Intelligence Service does. Jealous wives who also did their intelligence part during the War think it's over, never fully knowing the complex husbands who still think spying is fun. Maxwell Martin's original but historically based Lily is quietly tough in the man's espionage world, yet doing her best to be softer at home. She's not posh like the rest and told to wear lipstick so she doesn't look tired and get taken off the case. Sadly, though, one might wonder if Lily needs to be here when Lewis's Elliott plays the near-feminine lead a la the jilted lover. The bittersweet Elliott imagines Philby singing, and his rose colored hero worship of Philby is a vicarious obsession that didn't need an outside interrogation driving the realization of Philby's duality. Philby's mother says Elliott knows him best, and Lewis' excellent stiff-upper-lip, jolly-good, sharply contrasts with what most Americans may know of him on Homeland . It's also fascinating that Pearce (The Brutalist) was the second choice, replacing Dominic West after COVID delays on The Crown while putting on a remarkable Cambridge ego matching Lewis' Old Etonian acuity. Suave, charismatic flashbacks of Philby contrast his bitter Moscow frigid, hospital letters, and meager drunkard reduction. Our spies thought a different set of rules applied to them as they secretly spread disinformation for their country, but Philby's laughing reflections and judgmental visions of Elliott in the last two episodes seal the fatal consequences. Although the modern gradient is dark and dreary rather than the colorful essence of the era; the mid-century mood is laden with period airs, graces, and jolly good elitism thanks to classic automobiles, fedoras, cigarettes, and pipes. The de-aging in past scenes is brief – one wonders why they didn't just make our actors look older later instead – but ironically it's the smoking that seems slightly fake. The cast has the right cigarette mannerisms and intermingled nuances, yet the smoke itself seems digitally added and bemusingly noticeable. The penultimate episode 'Snow' lets the audience experience the bitter build-up as the vodka takes hold of the superb performances and sleight of hand espionage at the expense of self. The stars go head to head with disguised clues and duped semantics, tempting one to blink first. The over the barrel, who's trying to outwit whom tension is felt as the pip pip cheerio comes to blows. A Spy Among Friends can actually be pretty entertaining when the drunken secrets are casually dismissed as dinner party banter for the simple-minded and pompous spectators. Viewers may even admire the clever literary quotes and opera citations they use as Elliott realizes he doesn't know whom to trust, and Philby accepts his turncoat bitterness. Interplay with cricket scores, bluffing, dirty limericks, and word salad misdirection make for an intense three minutes of who told what and when betrayal after thirty years of loyalty. Mistakes realized decades later lead to government suspicion and destabilized agencies that, unfortunately, feel quite modern, and our spies can neither walk away nor live with what they've done. A Spy Among Friends is slow to start with out-of-order storytelling that will be frustrating to some viewers. However, period atmosphere and fine performances make this slightly obscure miniseries worth seeking. A Spy Among Friends is currently available to stream on MGM+.
Daily Mirror
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Is an Oscar win meaningless? Fans outraged as Academy Award voters admit to skipping movies
Film buffs have been left upset and outraged after Oscars voters have admitted to muting and fast forwarding through nominated movies, disrupting the entire legitimacy of the awards Did your favourite Oscar-winning movie really deserve it? To be nominated for an Oscar is a career goal for many in the film industry, with a win meaning widespread notoriety and praise. However, the validity of the world's most-watched awards show has come into question after Academy Awards voters have admitted to not fully watching all of the movies. Every year, thousands of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences watch the nominated movies across 23 categories before casting their votes. The way the viewing process works is that the 9,905 eligible voters log into the Academy Screening Room app and watch each nominated movie, before making their decision. But as reported by Variety, Oscars voters have admitted to finding loopholes to avoid watching films they don't want to. 'The app only needs to see that you watched it. It doesn't know if you're sitting there,' one confessed. Others have made similar egregious admissions, like leaving for work after pressing 'play', as well as putting films on mute. READ MORE: Oscars 2025 political moments - Adrien Brody's anti-war speech to Guy Pearce 'Free Palestine' pin Voters have even admitted to making their verdict purely based on allegiances. 'You think I'm voting against my own campaign?' one executive told Variety. 'I'm voting for my stuff.' In April 2025, the Academy Awards implemented a new rule to help counteract this problem. Now voters are required to watch every movie in each category and fill out a form verifying where and when they watched it. But the Internet is in disbelief that this wasn't already a thing. Commenting on X, one person wrote: 'There are more than enough people who would actually take this job seriously. Some might even do it for free. Fire everyone with this mentality.' An equally upset commenter said: "So they are not doing the job they are paid to do? Which contributes to some of the proudest/biggest moments of peoples lives when they win? Just winging it????? Fire these people??" Another added: 'It's frustrating to think the effort of so many creators can be diluted by people who don't even bother to watch.' Others brought up the fact that it means some Oscar-winners may not have truly deserved it. 'That's sad for all the winners. They'll never know if they actually deserved it or not. It's just a popularity contest and what satisfied the current agenda,' one said. 'This single headedly completely invalidates the awards,' an infuriated commenter added. 'Yea, we all knew it was bulls--t, but this officially confirms it. Absolutely disgraceful.' Although, on the bright side, it has left some fans feeling vindicated over their favourite stars being snubbed. 'This explains a lot, some of their choices of winners have been questionable,' one said. Some have even tried to defend the voters – by blaming the nominated movies themselves. One said: 'In their defense, who would want to watch all those lame boring things with the same ol' actor.' This isn't the first scandal that's arisen over the Oscars votes. The Academy came under fire earlier this year, after some voters admitted to not watching Dune part 2 because they 'couldn't get through it.' Fans reacted similarly with calls for the voters to be replaced. However, failing to watch all of the nominated movies isn't just a modern phenomenon. In the past, watching all of the films has been a recommendation, not an actual requirement. As Variety reports, Oscars voters often relied on buzz and recommendations from friends to cast their judgement.
Arab News
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Arab News
Guy Pearce wears ‘Free Palestine' pin at Oscars
DUBAI: Australian actor Guy Pearce donned a pin in support of Palestinians at the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @ On the red carpet, 'The Brutalist' actor donned a pin of a white dove holding an olive branch with the phrase 'Free Palestine' written on it. A best supporting actor nominee for 'The Brutalist,' Pearce has worn pins at several public appearances since last year. Controversy occurred when Vanity Fair France photoshopped his pin out of a photograph taken of Pearce on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet in 2024. 'As the Palestinian people are already suffering great trauma and loss due to the vengeful regime of Netanyahu,' Pearce wrote in an email to CNN at the time, 'it is most unfortunate that a reputable publication like VF attempts to eliminate support that I or anyone chooses to offer.'
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'The Brutalist' Star Shows Support For Palestinians With Subtle Oscar Accessory
Guy Pearce made a silent show of solidarity with the Palestinian people during Sunday's Oscars. During his time on the red carpet, the 'Brutalist' actor donned a pin of a white dove holding an olive branch with the phrase 'Free Palestine' written on it. Pearce has previously used fashion to make a political statement. In fact, his accessories caused a bit of controversy during last year's Cannes Film Festival. When Pearce sported a Palestinian flag on the lapel of his tuxedo, Vanity Fair France decided to photoshop the pin out of an image the outlet published online. The 'Memento' star criticized the choice in a statement to CNN, writing, 'As the Palestinian people are already suffering great trauma and loss due to the vengeful regime of Netanyahu, it is most unfortunate that a reputable publication like VF attempts to eliminate support that I or anyone chooses to offer.' Pearce was not the only person who stood up for Palestinians during Sunday's awards ceremony. When 'No Other Land,' a documentary about the occupation of the West Bank, won Best Documentary, Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham used his acceptance speech to condemn his country's treatment of Palestinians. While on stage, the filmmaker and journalist said, 'There is a different path, a political solution. Without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.' Outside of the awards, pro-Palestinian protesters shut down traffic while demonstrating not far from the entrance of Hollywood's Dolby Theater. The protest came amid Israel's decision to halt aid to Gaza after a ceasefire in the region expired at midnight on Saturday. This Oscar Winner Just Used His Speech To Call Out U.S. Policy On Israel This Is What Kieran Culkin Actually Said In His Censored Oscars Acceptance Speech The Complete List Of 2025 Oscar Winners
The Guardian
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Guy Pearce: ‘I'm not going to win the Oscar – Kieran Culkin will'
After his acclaimed performances in films such as LA Confidential, The Proposition, Memento, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Animal Kingdom and The Hurt Locker, you may be surprised that Guy Pearce has just been nominated for his first ever Oscar: for his turn as the sociopathic industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren in The Brutalist. Or maybe you haven't noticed Pearce's Oscars campaign because he keeps rubbishing his own career: he was 'shit' in Memento ('I'm bad in a good movie. Fuck!'), worse in Neighbours ('I played the same thing and it fucking drove me nuts') and has cheerfully owned up to acting in 'a bunch of shit during my divorce because I needed the money'. As awards campaigns go – well, it's a lot better than Karla Sofía Gascón's. Not that Pearce has paid attention. 'One of the [Emilia Pérez] actors said something on social media, right?' he says, in the understatement of the century. Though The Brutalist is at the front of everyone's minds, Pearce is promoting a completely different film: Inside, in which he plays a downtrodden prisoner who tries to convince a younger inmate to kill his notorious cellmate. But what is it like now being 'Academy award nominee' Guy Pearce? 'It's funny,' he says, rubbing that square jaw that suits both rich American industrialists and rough Australian inmates. 'Not funny that I haven't had one before – just funny to even get one, I reckon. I stop and go, 'Wow, is that – really? OK? That's really happened?'' Pearce is supremely unbothered by the fuss. 'I've been nominated for a few of these awards, and I haven't won any!' he laughs. 'I'm not gonna win! Kieran [Culkin] will win, again.' Has he got a speech ready? 'I've had one I've thought about for the last three months now – haven't used it once! Nah, I'll just forget it.' Pearce has a reputation as one of the more down-to-earth actors in the business: years of living in LA and now Amsterdam has not softened the Aussie contempt for puff and bullshit. He's sweetly unguarded, which can cause him trouble: two weeks before we speak, he made headlines for telling the Guardian his ex-wife, Kate Mestitz, was the love of his life – and not the Dutch actor Carice van Houten, his partner and mother of his eight-year-old son, Monte. The resulting outrage led Van Houten to issue an affectionate public statement, clarifying she and Pearce actually broke up years ago without anyone knowing. 'Oh God,' Pearce groans, of the headline. 'It blew up into this whole thing! Look, let's face it, I was in love with Kate when I was 12 – she got a pretty good run-up compared to anyone else in my life. So it's a fair enough thing to say.' Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning He and Van Houten 'never felt the need to say anything' about their separation, 'because it's nobody's bloody business,' he says. 'But Carice was really copping it in Holland. I mean, so was I. But she and I are the best of friends. We live together and look after our boy, and we function like a family. We have a great love, we adore each other. So yes, she probably is the love of my life now.' Then, a week after we speak, Pearce told an interviewer about how Kevin Spacey 'targeted' him on the set of LA Confidential, and how he 'sobbed' decades later when the allegations against Spacey began to emerge. (Spacey responded by telling him to 'grow up', to which Pearce declines to comment further.) In the unsettling Australian prison drama Inside, the feature debut of director Charles Williams, Pearce plays Warren Murfett, a prisoner on the precipice of parole who befriends younger inmate Mel (a remarkable Vincent Miller) and convinces him to kill his notorious cellmate Mark Shepard, who has been imprisoned since he was 13 for mass murder. Played by Shōgun's Cosmo Jarvis (doing the best Aussie accent by a foreigner since Dev Patel in Lion), Shepard unnerves the other prisoners with his wide-eyed sermons, often breaking out in tongues; killing him, Warren tells Mel, 'is the right thing, the best thing' he can do with his life. Warren cuts an angry, sorrowful figure: he reserves his little enthusiasm for completing the celebrity trivia on the wrappers of sweets that are clearly modelled on Austalia's Fantales. (Who cares about Oscars – Pearce was once a Fantale entry.) Pearce loved how realised Warren was; he hates turning up on set and feeling like the character is half-baked: 'If a director says to me, 'You can build the character however you want' – I don't want to build a character! That always worries me, because I don't necessarily do my best work when I have to do that. I don't trust myself.' Inside was filmed in a real prison facility near Geelong in Australia that hasn't yet opened. 'The staff are all there, the wardens are all there – we had to go through full security checks every time we came in and out every day, but we had the run of the place, which was quite incredible,' Pearce says. Between scenes, he would walk around the prison, talking to the wardens ('A lot of them have worked in prisons for years. They had stories') and the extras, many of whom were formerly incarcerated: 'I was getting a sense of how prison works – who would be where at what time, how you could move from here to there.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Other scenes were filmed in a youth detention centre that was closing down; there were about 10 boys still inside, so Pearce spoke with them. 'It was deeply heartbreaking,' he says. 'I find it really moving and so sad, particularly with young men. Of course I'm vividly imagining what it would be like if my son were to end up incarcerated, what it must be like for families who have 17-, 18-, 19-year-old boys in prison. Yes, it's also sad for the 50-year-olds who keep going in and out all their lives – but to look at a young, vulnerable man is pretty devastating.' Pearce shot Inside after finishing The Brutalist's 34-day, breakneck shoot. Both films revolve around very ambiguous relationships between men: Van Buren and László Tóth in The Brutalist, Warren and Mel in Inside. The lines are blurred between what is brotherly, paternal, sexual and hostile behaviour; in one scene, Warren directs young Mel in how to kill Shepard during a blowjob – brutal advice, delivered with both friendly and erotic overtones. Pearce is 'deeply interested' in blurred relationships between men. 'As I go through life, trying to understand the dynamics between myself and my friends and – not that I really have any enemies, but people who have done wrong by me – what then happens with that relationship?' he says. 'I'm really curious about the susceptibility and vulnerability we live with constantly, whether it is with your lover, your son or your brother. If a writer has homed in on that stuff, I'll go to that every day of the week. But I've done some bad films before – I know I can't sit around waiting for scripts like this to come along. I'd only work really rarely!' Did he take angry, lonely Warren home with him? 'I probably inadvertently did, to a degree,' he says. 'But I'm so used to it now, especially compared to how I used to do things. I used to feel like I had to have the character in my head 24/7, because I was fearful of losing them, and that became incredibly exhausting. I've slowly realised that it doesn't necessarily mean I do better work. There are definitely days when I can't really socialise with everyone, but I'm better at compartmentalising now. I trust I can get back into the character. Thirty years ago, I was pretty stressy about that stuff.' Pearce is now based in the Netherlands, where he's 'really happy' living with Van Houten (they met on set of the 2016 western Brimstone) and their son, Monte. 'The pair of us are doing our best as a parenting team,' he says. 'But it means that I'm missing out on my life in Australia.' Ahead of the Oscars next week, he is trying to watch all the major nominees: 'Not to blame my son, but I don't think I've watched anything but Bluey and Harry Potter in eight years.' His co-star Adrien Brody is his call for best actor ('I just love him so much') but he thought Timothée Chalamet was 'stunning' as Bob Dylan, and Sebastian Stan 'really incredible' as Donald Trump. Years ago, when Pearce was nominated for every TV award going for Mildred Pierce, he found himself in a sort of support group for supporting actors: 'It was me, Paul Giamatti, James Woods and Peter Dinklage. But we all got one each! I got the Emmy, someone got the Golden Globe, someone got the SAG award. We'd see each other and go, 'Yay, you got one! Well done!'' This year, Culkin seems to be taking home all the loot – but Pearce is untroubled by that. He talks about his recent trip home for the Aacta awards ('divine'), when he ran into the singer Robbie Williams, nominated for his biopic Better Man: 'I said, 'Hey, another award show!' and he went, 'But have either of us won anything? No!' So we had a good old laugh – then of course he bloody won!' Inside is out in Australian cinemas on 27 February, with UK and US releases yet to be announced
