Hollywood Popular Artists

Apr 13th 2012, 17:00

by Ryan Rigley

Despite the fact that Guy Pearce has appeared in several Oscar-winning films, including "The King's Speech" and "The Hurt Locker," it seems like the vast majority of people still have a hard time recognizing him. But hopefully, with this summer's "Lockout" and "Prometheus," the Australian actor will finally gain the recognition that he deserves.

In "Lockout," which comes out this weekend, Guy Pearce plays a man known as Snow, who is wrongfully accused of conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States. Luckily for Snow, all charges will be dropped if he can manage to rescue the president's daughter from a prison located in outer space. Oh, and the space prison has been taken over by the world's most dangerous inmates.

This isn't the first time Pearce has been put up against nearly impossible odds. Throughout his career, Pearce has played a number of memorable badasses. Here's a list of the five most badass roles that Guy Pearce has played so far.

» Charlie Burns - "The Proposition"
In this Australian western, set in the 1880s, Pearce plays a ruthless outlaw who is tasked with finding and killing his older brother, Arthur, in order to free his little brother, Mikey, from the jail in which he's being held captive. Called "The Dog Man" due to his ferocious nature, neither the police nor the Aboriginals dare set foot near Arthur's camp. But like we always say, it takes a badass to catch a badass.

» Alexander Hartdegen - "The Time Machine"
After his wife is killed by a robber, Alexander Hartdegen devotes his life to inventing a functioning time machine in order to prevent her from being murdered. Once complete, Hartdegen uses the time machine to travel into the future and figure out how to alter his wife's destiny. Traveling to the year 802,701, Hartdegen encounters a terrifying race of telepathic humanoids called the Morlocks and eventually kills every single one of them.

» Fernand Mondego - "The Count of Monte Cristo"
Based on the book of the same name, Guy Pearce plays the main antagonist of this film. In order to win the hand of the woman he loves, Fernand Mondego betrays his best friend and has him wrongfully imprisoned. He then proceeds to marry his best friend's girl and secure a position of power for himself. While Fernand may not technically be a "badass," he is certainly bad and an ass.

» Ed Exley - "L.A. Confidential"
Taking place in the 50s, "L.A. Confidential" revolves around three policemen who are investigating a series of homicides at a local coffee shop. Out of the three, Ed Exley is probably the most determined of the bunch. As the son of a legendary LAPD Inspector, Exley is smart, professional, and effective. It's later revealed that the majority of his ambition stems from the unsolved murder of his father.

» Leonard Shelby - "Memento"
Having literally no short-term memory, Leonard Shelby uses notes, Polaroid photos and tattoos on his own body to track down the man that he believes killed his wife. Even though Leonard has a serious case of anterograde amnesia (which means he is unable to store new memories), that doesn't stop him from hunting down the man whom he calls "John G" with every waking moment of his life. "Memento" is also Christopher Nolan's first feature length film, which is pretty badass in and of itself.

Tell us what you think in the comments section or hit us up on Twitter!

Media files:
pearce_memento.jpg (image/jpeg)
pearce_memento-70x53.jpg (image/jpeg)