Guy Pearce says Warner Bros. prevented him from working with Christopher Nolan on Batman Begins and The Prestigue.
“He approached me about roles several times over the years,” Pearce told Vanity Fair. “The first Batman and The Prestige. But there was an executive at Warner Bros. who openly told my agent, 'I don't understand Guy Pearce.' I'm never going to get Guy Pearce. I'm never going to get Guy Pearce. So, in a way So, that's good to know. I mean, fair enough; there are some actors I don't understand. But that meant I could never work with Chris.”
When Pearce was asked why he thought the executive prevented him from working with Nolan, he responded, “I think he just didn't believe in me as an actor.”
Pearce starred in Nolan's 2000 psychological thriller Memento, which follows a man named Leonard Shelby who suffers a traumatic experience that causes him to develop anterograde amnesia, resulting in short-term memory loss and the inability to form new memories. . Leonard uses an elaborate system of photographs, handwritten notes, and tattoos (which he gives himself) in an attempt to discover the perpetrator who killed his wife and caused him to lose his memory. The emotional film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $40 million on a $9 million budget and earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
After the commercial failure of Tenet, Nolan ended his partnership with Warner Bros. and released Oppenheimer with Universal, which became a critical and commercial success of epic proportions. Nolan will also release his next film, starring Tom Holland and Zendaya, with Universal.
Pearce can next be seen in The Brutalist, now in select theaters. For more information, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond.