Despite the critical and commercial success of their sole collaboration, Guy Pearce was blocked from working with Christopher Nolan for 20 years.
The 2x Golden Globe nominee recently claimed he was denied roles in multiple Nolan films after a Warner Bros. exec took issue with him following their 2x Oscar-nominated movie Memento (2000).
“He spoke to me about roles a few times over the years. The first Batman and The Prestige,” he told Vanity Fair. “But there was an executive at Warner Bros. who quite openly said to my agent, ‘I don’t get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to get Guy Pearce. I’m never going to employ Guy Pearce.’ So, in a way, that’s good to know. I mean, fair enough; there are some actors I don’t get. But it meant I could never work with Chris.”
Pearce speculated, “I think he just didn’t believe in me as an actor.
Despite being blocked by the exec, it didn’t stop Nolan from campaigning for the actor to appear in his subsequent projects.
Guy Pearce in Memento (2000)
“They flew me to London, to discuss the Liam Neeson role for Batman, and I think it was decided on my flight that I wasn’t going to be in the movie,” explained Pearce. “So I get there and Chris is like, ‘Hey, you want to see the Batmobile and get dinner?’”
With Nolan moving on from Warner Bros. in 2020 and currently working on a star-studded event film, Pearce quipped, “So now my time has come!”
Pearce added of working with Nolan on Memento, “It’s hard to compete with Chris Nolan. He’s such a towering intellect.”
Written and directed by Nolan, Memento stars Pearce as Leonard, a man struggling with short-term memory loss while trying to track down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The film also starred Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano.
Memento grossed $40,047,236 worldwide, and it’s currently Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, holding a 94% Tomatometer and Popcornmeter score.