Guy Pearce has claimed that he was barred from reuniting with director Christopher Nolan by an executive at Warner Bros.
The Australian LA Confidential actor, 57, played the lead role in Nolan’s breakout neo-noir Memento in 2000.
The British director, 54, went on to work with Warner Bros. on films including Batman Begins in 2005 and The Prestige in 2006.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Pearce said he was considered for roles in those films but ultimately rejected.
“He spoke to me about roles a few times over the years,” Pearce said of 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.”
Asked to clarify whether the Warner Bros. executive had a “no Guy Pearce” policy, Pearce added: “I think he just didn’t believe in me as an actor.”
Pearce went on to recall receiving an initial approach regarding Batman Begins, saying: “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?’”
Nolan left Warner Bros. behind amid a disagreement over the pandemic-era release strategy for his underperforming 2020 sci-fi thriller Tenet. He went on to work with rival studio Universal on his massive box office hit Oppenheimer, and his next movie is also set to be produced by Universal. When the interviewer pointed out that Nolan is “done” with Warner Bros., Pearce responded: “So now my time has come!”
Earlier this year, Nolan’s longtime producer and wife Emma Thomas teased Nolan’s forthcoming feature in an interview with Empire.
“I would say it’s very exciting,” she said. “This is the moment where the possibilities are sort of limitless, we haven’t started thinking practicalities, or anything.
“Oppenheimer was so absurdly successful and we feel like we have an opportunity.”
It has been reported that Matt Damon, who previously assumed supporting roles in Interstellar and Oppenheimer, is set to star in the film.
