How Guy Pearce’s former co-star surprisingly inspired his accent in Oscar-tipped movie

The LA Confidential and Memento earned his first Oscar nomination this week.

This is thanks to his work in movies and shows like Animal Kingdom, Brimstone, The Hurt Locker, The King's Speech, LA Confidential, Mare of Kingstown, Memento, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Prometheus, The Proposition and Ravenous to name just a few entires in his impressive filmography.

As such, it's been brilliant to see the Australian actor getting so much acclaim for his role in The Brutalist, the incredible epic new psychological drama from co-writer and director Brady Corbet - which is out in cinemas now.

The film revolves around Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor and visionary architect László Tóth (Adrien Brody) who arrives in the US in 1947 in the hopes of rebuilding his life and his work there.

Initially living in poverty, Tóth eventually meets the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren (Pearce) who recognises his talent for building.

Van Buren commissions the architect to build a grand community centre in Philadelphia, a sprawling process that will take years.

Initially delighted by the work, Tóth comes to realise that power and legacy “come at a heavy cost”.

This week, The Brutalist earned 10 Oscar nominations - including for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Pearce - his first Academy Award nod.

Ahead of the movie's release, JOE spoke with Pearce and his co-star Felicity Jones about the epic drama.

And one question we had to ask Pearce was how he landed on his distinctive accent to play Van Buren, with his voice sounding so rich - both audibly but also in terms of signifying wealth.

And the Australian actor had a very surprising answer - he was emulating the voice of Danny Huston, an acclaimed actor people may know from his appearances in Succession, Wonder Woman and Yellowstone.

Danny Huston in Succession

Pearce and Huston starred together in the Australian Western movie, The Proposition, which is well worth a watch if you haven't seen the film.

Laughing, Pearce told JOE: "I stole it from Danny Huston," before adding:

"I'd worked with Danny before and I love him so much and he's a great friend and he just naturally has a sort of an old-fashioned quality. He's like he's from another era.

"And there's something very warm and encompassing about that voice but it can also lend itself to being kind of condescending, if you steer it in that direction, quite easily.

"I'd used a similar kind of voice in Mildred Pierce for HBO with Kate Winslet and Todd Haynes. So, I kind of just took something that I'd done before and and gave it a little more of a gravely quality. It just felt like it was of the period.

"I feel like the character is someone who is always kind of presenting himself. He's very self-conscious so there feels something a bit performative about that kind of voice. It may be a voice that he's actually cultivated for himself."

The Brutalist is out in UK cinemas right now.

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