Guy Pearce criticises his ‘Memento’ performance: “I was shit in that movie”
Guy Pearce has revealed he hates his own performance in Memento – and he suspects director Christopher Nolan does, too.
In the buildup to the release of The Brutalist, for which Pearce received a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Academy Award nomination, the star revealed that an unnamed Warner Bros executive vetoed him starring in any Nolan movies after Memento. He claimed he didn’t know exactly why, except that he theorised the executive didn’t rate him as an actor. However, after watching Memento again, he now feels he understands the executive’s thinking.
“I’m having an existential crisis,” Pearce told The Sunday Times. “I watched Memento the other day, and I’m still depressed. I’m shit in that movie. 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 realised I hate what I did.”
“So, all this stuff about an exec at Warners being why I’ve not worked with Chris again?” Pearce continued. “It came crashing down. I know why I didn’t work with Chris again — it’s because I’m no good in Memento.”
When asked what he didn’t like about his performance in Nolan’s masterful backwards neo-noir, Pearce explained, “I was trying to do a flippant attitude, but it was all wrong. 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 realised I’m bad in a good movie. Fuck!”
Pearce confessed that he hadn’t mentioned his change of heart to Nolan, and it’s not because he thinks the director would reassure him that he was good in the movie. “I reckon he’d agree with me,” a defeated Pearce admitted. “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.”
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