Oscar Nominee Reveals Wanting to Punch ‘Snobby Actress’

Actor Guy Pearce did not hold back when dissing a star who criticized his soap-opera past, saying he “wanted to punch her.”

In a recent interview with U.K.‘s The Times, he shared a memory of a “snobby actress” that he wanted to physically hit—but did not reveal her identity.

“Now, obviously, I didn’t punch her,” he clarified of the actress. “But it was such a horrible attitude.”

Pearce claimed that the soap industry was incredibly “frowned upon” in actor circles while he starred in Neighbours, an Australian soap drama from 1986 to 1989 that also starred high-profile stars including Kylie Minogue and Margot Robbie.

“I did a play a year after I left and this snobby actress said, ‘How could you even do that,‘" he said. “And then, five years later, I saw her on some s--- ad on TV. I so wanted to go and find her and say, ‘OK.’”

Following his timeline, Pearce was in a 1991 pantomime of Cinderella, as well as Grease and I Hate Hamlet in 1992. It is unclear what play he starred in and who he was referring to in his aggressive response.

One of his co-stars who is seemingly off the hook however is Mare of Easttown colleague, Kate Winslet, who many have speculated is the actress who Reese Witherspoon was referring to when she said “doesn’t like me anymore” after she presented an award to her. Witherspoon has since denied she was speaking about Winslet.

Winslet has praised Pearce in previous interviews, revealing that she had a crush on him since she was a child.

"I was completely obsessed with him from the age of 11 years old to the point I would skip school,” Winslet told ET. “It was that bad, and so when I did work with Guy in 2010 on Mildred Pierce, I had to come clean about all of this."

Pearce is currently an Academy Award nominee for his performance in 2024’s The Brutalist, for which he’s up for Best Supporting Actor.

In his interview The Times, Pearce also slammed his performance in 2000’s Christopher Nolan movie Memento.

“I watched Memento the other day and I’m still depressed," he claimed. “I’m s--- in that movie.”