Given how great his performance is in “Memento,” it’s pretty shocking that Christopher Nolan hasn’t worked with Guy Pearce again. It’s been nearly 25 years, at this point. Well, according to Pearce, there’s a reason for that.
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Speaking to Vanity Fair, while promoting the release of “The Brutalist,” Guy Pearce talked about his collaboration with Christopher Nolan. Well, actually it was his lack of collaborations with the filmmaker that was covered. The way Pearce explained it, the reason why he hasn’t collaborated with Nolan again isn’t due to any sort of friction between him and the filmmaker. Apparently, it was a Warner Bros. executive who wouldn’t let it happen.
“Not really, but he spoke to me about roles a few times over the years,” said Pearce about whether or not he keeps in contact with Nolan. “The first ‘Batman’ and ‘The Prestige.’ 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… I think [the executive] just didn’t believe in me as an actor.”
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He added, “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. So I get there and Chris is like ‘hey, you want to see the Batmobile and get dinner?’”
So, there you have it. According to Pearce, he very well could have starred in “Batman Begins” or “The Prestige,” but an executive above Nolan’s head made it clear the actor wasn’t going to be cast. You could very well imagine Pearce in either “Batman Begins” or “The Prestige.” He would have fit in just fine.
Pearce, of course, has had a perfectly fine career over the past couple of decades. He’s appeared in a number of big films, including flexing his superhero film muscles with “Iron Man 3.”
Now that Nolan is gone from WB and has seemingly buddied up with Universal, perhaps there’s a reunion possible between him and Pearce. We’ll have to wait and see.
