Memento - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[ethel]

Carrie-Anne Moss and Callum Keith Rennie both appeared on Due South (1994).

[ella]

After Brad Pitt expressed interest in signing up to play Leonard but ultimately had to pass on the project due to other commitments, Christopher Nolan did not consider any other "A-list actors" because he realized that having a talented but lesser-known lead actor would allow for the film's budget to be more evenly distributed. That process led to Nolan nearly casting Aaron Eckhart in the role, and eventually giving the part to Guy Pearce. Nolan would go on to work with Eckhart a few years later in The Dark Knight.

[cameron]

When translating from Latin to English, "Memento" translates to "Remember".

[kristen]

Many of Leonard's unique voiceovers were improvised by Guy Pearce.

[kenzi]

The expiration date on Teddy's driver's license is 02-29-01, a day that does not exist in reality, since 2001 is not a leap year. However, in the fictional setting of this movie, it does.

[jesus]

Carrie-Anne Moss personally recommended Joe Pantoliano for the role of Teddy, having become good friends with him while they were working on "The Matrix". Christopher Nolan and his producers had reservations about this because they weren't sure Pantoliano's screen persona (often overtly villainous) was the right match for Teddy, but they met with him and decided his talent made him the right person for the part. Nolan later praised Pantoliano for having brought the right amount of subtlety to his performance as Teddy.

[sophie]

Although the opening scene is literally shown backwards, every single sound effect is, in fact, a "normal" forward-played sound effect. The only sound played backwards is Teddy screaming, "No!"

[richard]

Guy Pearce was originally two hundred thirty pounds (104.3 kilograms) before the movie was made, and lost all of the weight within a few months.

[carl]

The narrative jumps one hundred thirteen times, from one time period in the story to another. The first scene of the movie is the end of the story, and the story begins in the middle of the movie (when Leonard meets Sammy Jenkis).

[eli]

The film's subject matter was conceived of when Christopher Nolan was joined by his brother Jonathan on a late summer cross-country road trip, as Christopher was moving to Los Angeles and Jonathan had time before returning to his studies at Georgetown to spend time with his brother and help with with the move. By the time they arrived in L.A., the entire screenplay had been stated out loud between the brothers.