39 IS JUST A NUMBER -- ASK GUY PEARCE.

Byline: Rob Lowman

Entertainment Editor

Thirty-nine years, two months and one day.

That was how old Guy Pearce's father was when he was killed in a plane crash. The star of "L.A. Confidential" and "Memento" was only 8 at the time, and the actor says that throughout his life he's been "fixated on the date that I would become the age my dad was when he died."

Pearce is currently on screen in "First Snow," playing a man obsessed with his own death after being told by a psychic that he only has until the first snow to live.

Last October, Pearce turned 39 while he was filming the ironically titled "Death Defying Acts" with Catherine Zeta-Jones, a story about Harry Houdini.

"And when I became 39, two months and a day, it was the strangest experience," Pearce says. "It was the strangest experience because nothing actually happened. But I was there on that day, going, 'This is the age my dad was when he left this planet.' "

Having a conversation with a movie star about death and psychology may seem a bit odd, but not so with Pearce. The Australian actor is well-known for sticking mostly to what he considers interesting indie films, shunning the Hollywood limelight and preferring to stay down under, where he lives with with his wife, Kate Mestitz.

The couple had just had their 10th anniversary the day before this interview. Kate, a former actress, was back in Australia where she's studying to be -- you guessed it -- a psychologist.

Pearce is also known for being particular about scripts and pouring himself into a role, which is why "First Snow" director Mark Fergus was thrilled that he wanted to do the film.

"I think we hit the jackpot," says Fergus, who co-wrote the film with Hawk Ostby (the pair were part of the Oscar-nominated writing team on "Children of Men" and the upcoming "Iron Man"). "All we really wanted to do was get the script in front of him."

"Initially, what attracted me to the script was how well-put-together it was," says Pearce, who plays Jimmy Starks, an "obnoxious" flooring salesman in New Mexico. The two, however, had some reservations about meeting. Pearce says he expected Fergus to be as obnoxious as the character in the script, while the director expected the actor to be tough and demanding.

Both were surprised, and the results are the craftily made film, which Fergus accurately calls an "existential Hitchcock-ian thriller."

Critics have called Pearce's performance in the film "riveting." Seen earlier this year in "Factory Girl" as Andy Warhol, Pearce's smooth-talking character in "First Snow," sees his world fall apart as he begins to believe the prediction that he will meet his death.

"I wonder what emotional seeds would be planted in finding out something like that?" Pearce says. For Jimmy, everything takes on a foreboding quality, and past sins in the form of an old friend he double-crossed begin to haunt him.

As for Pearce, he says he doesn't think he'd want to know if somebody could predict his death.

"The basic rules are that we're all going to die. But we've all got to live our lives to the fullest prior to that. It's a fascinating conundrum."

But, while the actor is more than willing to talk about heavy matters, he lights up when the subject turns to music. He collects guitars (or, as he more aptly puts it, is the "custodian" of vintage guitars) and has a recording studio in his home.

A guitar player and a singer himself, Pearce says he goes through musical phases, though he immediately mentions being a big fan of Nina Simone and Jeff Buckley.

Right now, he's going through a huge Beatles revival because of the release of "Love," the Cirque du Soleil soundtrack that has remixed versions of the Fab Four's songs.

"The 'Abbey Road' and 'Let It Be' albums were, for lack of better term, the soundtrack to my childhood," says Pearce, who currently is in L.A. filming "Winged Creatures," which also stars Forest Whitaker, Kate Beckinsale and Dakota Fanning.

And now that he's passed 39 years, two months and one day, he's singing a different tune.

"It was funny, friends have asked me about turning 40. No, I haven't given 40 one thought. My whole life, I've thought about 39, 39, 39," he says, laughing.

"So now, suddenly enough, I'm going, 'Yeah, OK, 40 -- what do I think about that?' It's like a novelty to me."

Rob Lowman [phone]

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Photo:

(color) - Guy Pearce 

Mark Mainz/Getty Images