And what about the actors charged with bringing this struggle to life? The film boasts an impressive cast of Australian natives as well as foreign talent, with the likes of Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson as the two leads, and a strong supporting cast including great character actors like Scoot McNairy, Gillian Jones and David Field.
When Pearce’s name graces any cast list, it’s almost a given that the film will have at least one redeeming factor in his impeccable and chameleon-like approach to acting. With such memorable turns as Lenny in Christopher Nolan’s Memento, and Edmund J. Exley in the riveting L.A Confidential, he has no problem in showing his capabilities stateside. But it’s his work emanating from his homeland that really gets us going for The Rover.
In a role that turned out to be as complex as it was hilarious, he stole the show in The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert as the foul-mouthed drag queen, Felicia, travelling across the outback to perform a cabaret show in Alice Springs. On the other end of the spectrum, he was equally as compelling in John Hillcoat’s period piece, The Proposition, in which he starred as conflicted outlaw, Charlie Burns. Add to this the understated brilliance of his performance in David Michôd’s first feature film, Animal Kingdom, and you start to see a rather impressive pedigree when it comes to Guy Pearce’s contribution to Australian cinema.
