‘The Infernal Machine’ Star Alex Pettyfer Details Finding His Character, Says ‘Being in a Scene With Guy Pearce Is Like Driving Air Force One’ (Exclusive)

Alex Pettyfer has built his career on never playing the same type of character twice, and in Paramount Pictures’ new thriller — The Infernal Machine — he takes his art to a whole new level. In the movie, Pettyfer plays Dwight Tufford, a man imprisoned since his youth after committing a heinous act that he claimed was inspired by The Infernal Machine, written by author Bruce Cogburn (Guy Pearce). PopCulture.com had a chance to speak with Pettyfer about the project, including his process for his character ad how being in a scene with Guy Pearce is like driving Air Force One.

First thing, however, Pettyfer was kind enough to give us a spoiler-free synopsis of the film. “It’s basically a writer who has written a bestselling book. We are cutting to 15 years later,” he said. “Unfortunately, there’s been a tragic incident of a mass shooting where the book was used as a manuscript for a very sick minded individual. And as Bruce Cogburn, played by Guy Pearce, is trying to write his second novel, he starts to get these telegrams from an anonymous person, haunting him about a secret that he has kept since the first book was published.”

Discussing his approach to Dwight, Pettyfer began by praising the script by the film’s writer/director, Andrew Hunt. “A lot of that was on the page,” he said, then offering an apt analogy. “But the only metaphor I can give you is you can only go as fast in the car that you’re driving. Do you understand what I mean by that? If you’re driving a Ford Fiesta, you’re going 75 miles an hour. If you’re in a Bugatti, you can go 200 miles an hour. And being in a scene with Guy Pearce is like driving Air Force One.”

Pettyfer continued, “The sky is the limit because he pushes you into an element of your own. He’s so supportive. He creates space for you. He navigates you. He curates your performance without you even realizing. And he’s such a giving actor. I went with a lot of preconceived ideas of who the character was. Obviously things that were concrete was voice, mannerisms and kind of my inflection and tone.”

He added, “But as far as performance, I have to say it’s all Guy and Andrew. I did a lot more. I did a lot less. And Andrew chose what he wanted in the edit. And then working with Guy is just a dream. He’s so giving on-screen and off, and also in front of the camera and behind. When you make movies, people give 110% when the camera’s on them. And when it’s not. They give 60, 70%. Guy does both. He gives 110 on-screen, and 100 on camera, and 110 off. And that’s why I was really grateful to be a part of this movie.”

When it comes to inspiration for his performance, Pettyfer spoke candidly about how Dwight could be compared to certain real-life figures, but explained that he never imagined the character as one of them. “I find it very hard to watch True Crime documentaries,” he said. “Let’s use it as that. Or YouTube videos, a lot of people are talking about the Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix series. I will not be able to watch that. I have some sort of thing inside me that just… I don’t enjoy those types of realisms. And I go back to the script. It was really in the script.”

Pettyfer shared that he did take “a tiny bit from a couple of different interviews of these very sad, horrific, tragic situations. And when I saw these individuals, I won’t even call them humans, talking or being interviewed, they all had a certain inflection and kind of glass eye to them with no remorse. Kind of removed and like an out-of-body experience.” After that, he says he “just worked on the voice. And I found that when I changed my inflection and my rhythm of how I was speaking, I kind of geared more towards a higher tone in my voice. And then I took all of those, let’s say preparational tools on set. And everything was elevated by Andrew and Guy. I can only say that, ’cause they’re great.

The Infernal Machine very much has a collaborative feel to it. You can sense that Hunt, his team, and the cast all had a fair share of involvement regarding the film’s execution, which Pettyfer points out is exactly how it should be. “I directed a movie in 2018 called Back Roads. And I had been in movies for 15 years at that point, since I’ve been 12. And making that movie, I realized that making film is a collaborative experience, “he said. “There’re hundred or 200, or sometimes 500 or 700 if you’re on a Marvel movie. We all wait 15 minutes till that end credit.”

He continued, “It’s a collaborative experience. And it doesn’t matter who you are on that movie, everyone has an opinion and has sometimes a great opinion, or a great judgment on what they think something might be. And it can come from a lighting grip. It can come from a DP. It can come from catering. It can come from anything. And all the experiences that I try and have now making film is to collaborate with people. And when I read a script, I’m not looking from an individual point of view of a character. I’m looking at the film as a whole because I just really want to make great films.” The Infernal Machine is now available to rent or buy online from digital retailers such as Amazon Prime Video. Check out our full video interview with Pettyfer above.