Steven Soderbergh Called the Warner Bros. Exec Who Disliked ‘Memento’ and Told Him to Consider Christopher Nolan for ‘Insomnia’: ‘Take the Meeting’

Steven Soderbergh recently spoke to Rolling Stone while promoting his new series Command Z about the origins of his friendship with fellow filmmaker Christopher Nolan. According to the Traffic and Oceans Eleven director, a Warner Bros. executive refused to meet with Nolan about a potential directing gig for the studios thriller Insomnia. The exec allegedly disliked Nolans Memento, which counted Soderbergh as one of its biggest fans.

What happened was, I got a call from Chris agent, Dan Aloni, who I had known because he screened Memento for me after it couldnt find a distributor after being on the festival circuit for a year, Soderbergh said. Dan calls me up out of the blue and says, Could you watch this movie? I have this client of mine who has this movie, and we think its really good, but nobody will pick it up and we dont understand why. Maybe were all crazy. I see the movie and I think its a fucking instant classic.

Cut to months later, Dan calls me and he goes, Look, theres this script over at Warner, Insomnia. Chris is really interested in it, but Warner wont take the meeting,' Soderbergh continued. And I go, What do you mean they wont take the meeting? And he goes, Well, the executive there didnt like Memento. And I said, Well, so what? Why wont they take the meeting?'

Soderberghs love for Memento inspired him to personally get in contact with Warner Bros. to advocate on Nolans behalf.

I called that executive and I said, Take the meeting. Youve got to take the meeting,' Soderbergh said. And he goes, But I didnt like the movie. And I go, Well, did you like the movie-making? And he goes, Well, yeah, its brilliantly made. And I go, Take the meeting. That is all I did. I knew Chris well enough to know that if he gets in the room, hes going to get that job.

Memento earned Nolan an Academy Award nomination for original screenplay, while the movie also picked up a nomination for film editing. The director was jostling to break into the studio world with Warner Bros. Insomnia, but it took Soderberghs help to land the job.

Based on the 1997 Norwegian film of the same name, Insomnia stars Al Pacino as a detective thrust into a cat-and-mouse game with a killer (Robin Williams) in Nightmute, Alaska, where its always daylight. The film, which grossed $113 million worldwide, started a career-defining relationship between Nolan and Warner Bros, which ended up giving Nolan the keys to the Batman franchise based on the success of Insomnia.

It started a very fruitful relationship [between Nolan and Warner Bros.], Soderbergh said. But lets be clear: one way or another, Christopher Nolan is going to emerge. If he didnt make Insomnia, hed have made something else and still had the career he has. That was just a fortunate set of circumstances where I could get on the phone and advocate for him.

Nolans latest directorial effort, Universals Oppenheimer, is now playing in theaters nationwide.