Christopher Nolan recalls hard sell of Memento

Just as memory can change the shape of a room, an offbeat film with a “wtf” ending can change the shape of independent cinema. Despite being a remarkably difficult sell ahead of and even after its premiere at the 2000 Venice Film Festival, Memento would go on to be a sensation at the following year’s Sundance Film Festival. And while it’s hard to associate director Christopher Nolan with the indie scene, he knows just how important the fest was to the success of Memento.

Speaking at Sundance this week, Christopher Nolan said, “A lot of people know that Memento came to Sundance. A lot of people know that it was a hit, and it enabled so much more that came after it for us. But not a lot of people know that what really happened with that film is we finished it and then somebody, not me, had the bright idea of screening for all of the independent distributors at the same time to try and sell the film, get a bidding war going or whatever. And they all passed…No one wanted the film. In the year or so after that, we were in terrible limbo, we never knew whether anyone would ever see this film.” But people would, as Newmarket picked it up and got it into theaters; while Nolan’s movie would barely crack the top 10 during its run (hard to imagine now), word of mouth helped Memento recoup its budget and later spawn the most inventive DVD release of its time.

Memento would end up winning a screenwriting award and help usher in the next century of young filmmakers. And while it took some time for Memento find its audience and for Nolan to become a recognized director, he championed the very idea of Sundance by saying, “If you can get your film here, it’ll fill the seats and you’ll connect with an audience. They won’t always see eye to eye with you or whatever, but you’ll be experiencing that pride of ownership. If that little fire that you already had in you that could get you to the festival gets fanned, the flame grows bigger. You carry that when you climb down the mountain, then you go and become part of a cog in a much bigger machine.”

As a “cog”, Christopher Nolan has gone on to be one of the most revered filmmakers in modern movies, with his works grossing around $6 billion worldwide. His most recent, Oppenheimer, proved a massive hit as well and is looking to nab Nolan his first Best Director Oscar, while the movie is poised to take home Best Picture. Pretty good for a guy who made his first flick for $6,000.

Nolan was honored with the first-ever Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award by Oppenheimer star Robert Downey Jr.

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