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We’ve shared that Guy Pearce has spoken about his feeling that he was backlisted at Warner Bros. following his performance in 2000’s Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan; he’s said that he believed that the reason he never worked with Nolan again — despite the possibility of the two re-teaming on 2005’s Batman Begins — was because an unnamed WB executive had decided that he would never again work for the studio.

Now, he says, he’s not entirely sure that was ever actually the case... and he could have been the problem all along.

Pearce — who’s nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award in this year’s Academy Awards as a result of his work in The Brutalist — has admitted that, perhaps he was being a little eager to assume the worst about studio interference preventing any collaborations with the director.

“I watched Memento the other day and I’m still depressed. I’m shit in that movie,” Pearce told the Times. “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.”

Is this simply an actor having no faith in his previous performances? It’s unclear; Pearce has no problems accepting that he did a good job on other movies — “It’s funny; people say I should’ve been nominated [for a Best Actor award] 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!’” he says. Worse, he compares his performance in the movie to his run on Australian soap opera Neighbours: “If I reckon my performance in Neighbours is two out of ten, Memento is a five …”

Previously, Pearce had suggested that his failure to work with Nolan again was the result of a vendetta from a studio executive; “[Nolan] spoke to me about roles a few times over the years. The first Batman and The Prestige,” he said in a 2024 profile for 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.”

Or, maybe, the executive was a cover story created to smooth away the results of a bad performance…? After all, Pearce had previously believed the story that he was told not from an executive himself, but from his long-time manager... but how much of that might have come from the manager wanting to protect his client's feelings? We may never know — but now that Pearce is up for an Oscar and Nolan is no longer working with Warner Bros., the path to a reunion may be a lot clearer, no matter what.

The Brutalist is in theaters now. The 2025 Academy Awards take place March 2 at 7pm Eastern, and will be broadcast on ABC and streamed live on Hulu.

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