Guy Pearce was blocked from Christopher Nolan roles by studio exec who didn’t “get” him as an actor

nme.com:

Christopher Nolan by a Warner Bros. executive.The actor told Vanity Fair that the reason he hasn’t worked with Nolan since the 2000 thriller Memento was due to an executive at the studio who wasn’t a fan of his acting.While Nolan is known for working with many of the same actors repeatedly, Pearce shared that he’d not worked with the director since he began working with Warner Bros.

in 2002 for the thriller Insomnia – his relationship with the studio ended in 2020 with the sci-fi action movie Tenet.Pearce explained that Nolan had approached him to play Ra’s al Ghul in 2005’s Batman Begins, a role eventually taken by Liam Neeson, as well as a character in The Prestige the following year.He said: “He spoke to me about roles a few times over the years – 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,” he added. “I mean, fair enough: there are some actors I don’t get.