Guy Pearce Considers Himself ‘Sh*t’ in ‘Memento’: ‘I Know Why I Didn’t Work with Chris Again’
Actors are typically known to be a little hard on themselves, with many avoiding watching their final, cut-together performances at all, but Academy Award nominee Guy Pearce is happy to engage with a little self-evaluation. Well… not exactly happy.
In a recent interview with The Times of London, the Australian actor reflected on his work in Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending crime thriller “Memento” and the “existential crisis” that was brought on from revisiting it in a recent viewing.
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“I watched ‘Memento’ the other day and I’m still depressed. I’m shit in that movie,” Pearce said. “I’d never thought that before, but I did this Q&A of ‘Memento’ earlier this month and decided to actually watch the film again. But while it was playing I realized I hate what I did. And so all this stuff about an exec at Warners being why I’ve not worked with Chris again? It came crashing down. I know why I didn’t work with Chris again — it’s because I’m no good in ‘Memento.’”
Pearce was referencing another quote of his that circulated towards the end of last year in regards to a Warner Bros. exec essentially blacklisting him following the release of “Memento,” preventing him from nabbing a role in future Nolan projects.
“He spoke to me about roles a few times over the years. [It was about] the first ‘Batman’ and ‘The Prestige,’” Pearce said in an interview with 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.”
Now that he agrees with the Warner exec, Pearce understands why Nolan hasn’t brought him onto any of his most recent projects.
“I was trying to do a flippant attitude but it was all wrong,” Pearce said of his turn in “Memento.” “John Gielgud once said, ‘You can be good in a good movie, good in a bad movie, bad in a bad movie, but never be bad in a good movie.’ Yet I watched ‘Memento’ and realized I’m bad in a good movie. F***!”
He added later, “It’s funny; people say I should’ve been nominated for ‘Memento.’ Now I understand why I wasn’t. Look, I’m pleased with ‘LA Confidential,’ but I look at this and go, ‘Oof! Nails on a chalkboard!’ If I reckon my performance in ‘Neighbours’ is two out of ten, ‘Memento’ is a five …”
Though Pearce doesn’t expect to be reuniting with Nolan anytime soon, with the cast of his upcoming project “The Odyssey” growing larger every day, there may be another chance yet. Until that moment comes, Pearce will keep scouring through scripts to find that next great story, though not everything can stand in the pantheon of the now-classic films he’s been a part of.
“I start every script hoping it will be another ‘LA Confidential,’ that feeling you’ve been sucked into a vortex,” Pearce told The Times of London. “But a lot of times, by page 20, I think, ‘Ah, damn.’”
Pearce is currently up for Best Supporting Actor at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards for his performance in Brady Corbet’s American epic, “The Brutalist.”
“The Brutalist” is currently in theaters from A24.
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