Why Christopher Nolan & Guy Pearce Haven't Worked Together Again After Memento

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It's strange to think of Christopher Nolan hustling his way through the streets of 1990s London to shoot his first film, "Following," guerilla-style. The British filmmaker has since become arguably the pre-eminent director of his time, racking up hit after hit without compromising his artistic vision and, with 2023's "Oppenheimer," delivering the first blockbuster to win the Best Picture Oscar in 20 years. Before all of that, though, Nolan was fighting to make a name for himself.

After "Following" caused enough of a buzz to get him recognized in wider circles, the young director was given his first modest studio budget. Rather than spending that money on a more commercially-friendly movie than his $6,000 black and white neo noir, however, he delivered a layered psychological thriller that required audiences' focused attention in order to make any kind of sense whatsoever. 2000's "Memento" was full of intentionally confusing moments, many of which arose as a result of its two timelines playing out in opposite directions and meeting in the middle. But despite this perplexing narrative approach, the movie proved enough of a hit to further catapult Nolan into the mainstream, even earning him an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.

Much of the film's success was surely down to Guy Pearce, who played protagonist Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator who suffers from anterograde amnesia and is unable to form new memories. Pearce put in one of his best performances in a role that was truly unlike anything he, or frankly most actors, had ever taken on. Considering Nolan would go on to chart a career that saw him establish long-term relationships with many actors, you might think he'd at least stay in touch with the guy from the film that earned him his first Oscar nom. Alas, it seems Nolan and Pearce's relationship was hampered by that perennial villain of the film industry: the studio exec.

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After "Memento," Christopher Nolan directed Al Pacino in a remake of the 1997 Norwegian thriller "Insomnia." But it was with 2005's "Batman Begins" that he really became a household name, reinventing the Dark Knight for a whole new generation and reinvigorating a comic book franchise that had almost been killed off entirely by Joel Schumacher's "Batman & Robin" in 1997 — a movie that remains one of Hollywood's most infamous missteps despite Kevin Feige's contention that "Batman & Robin" is one of the most important comic book movies ever made.

Following "Begins," Nolan worked with stars Christian Bale and Michael Caine on his follow up film, "The Prestige" in 2006. In fact, "Begins" saw Nolan work with a handful of actors with whom he'd maintain a working relationship for the rest of his career. He cast Caine in 2014's "Interstellar" and 2020's "Tenet," and gave Scarecrow actor Cillian Murphy the lead role in 2023's "Oppenheimer." So, why have we never seen him re-team with Guy Pearce?

When asked by Vanity Fair if he'd been in touch with Nolan in the years since "Memento," Pearce said, "Not really," before revealing that the director had actually contacted him about potential roles in "Batman Begins" and "The Prestige." Unfortunately, it seems both Pearce and Nolan were thwarted by a Warner Bros. executive who apparently wasn't the Aussie actor's biggest fan.

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It would have been interesting to see which roles Guy Pearce would have done in "Begins" and "The Prestige." According to the actor, Christopher Nolan even flew him to London to read for the role of Ra's al Ghul in "Begins," with Pearce telling the outlet, "I think it was decided on my flight that I wasn't going to be in the movie." Who made that decision? Well it seems like it could all come down to one Warner exec who apparently had trouble "getting" Pearce. The actor told Vanity Fair:

"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."

It's an odd way to put it, really, isn't it? I'm not sure you're supposed to "get" a human being. But there you have it. Meanwhile, Nolan himself is done with Warner Bros. following a very public falling out with the studio over how his 2020 film "Tenet" was handled. That doesn't seem to have hurt his standing much, however, considering his first film for Universal, "Oppenheimer," became the highest-grossing biopic of all time, making almost $1 billion worldwide. Though his dramatic breakup with Warners might not be permanent, we do know that Nolan's next movie will be a Universal project starring Matt Damon. If this creative collaboration continues, then, we may yet see Pearce and the director reunite.