Let’s all take a moment to collect ourselves before absorbing this startling piece of information. Are you ready? Okay, here goes…

Serious, dramatic actor Guy Pearce has a budding pop-music career.

Do you need another moment? Just wait until you see the completely bonkers music video for his first single, “Fly All The Way.”

Guy Pearce – Fly All The Way from Tim White on Vimeo.

The 47-year-old Australian, best known for his respectably diverse resumé of challenging film roles, like the tortured Leonard in Memento and the drag-queen Felicia Jollygoodfellow in The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert, has now undertaken a challenge few actors accomplish with their pride still intact: that of the solo musician crossover act. So far, he hasn’t received much attention here in the States for his debut album Broken Bones, but the British press has surprisingly received it with big, open arms. Or maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising, as Pearce’s musical aspirations have been lingering under the surface for some time, with notable experiments here in there, including his turn as a musician in the film and soundtrack, A Slipping Down Life.

In our first glimpse of Guy Pearce: Musician, we’re treated to the usually subtle actor letting loose and chewing the scenery in a deranged world of bizarro infomercials for disastrous as-seen-on-TV products. In the Tim White-directed music video, Pearce, with tongue-in-cheek, acknowledges our knee-jerk inclination to dismiss him as a serious musician. Then he hits the higher registers, turns the weird up to 11, and wins us over with his unapologetic, whole-hearted commitment to the bit. What other secret talents is this mysterious man hiding?

[Source: Creative Review]