The Nolans moved back to England and when they left (again) in the late '80s, Chris stayed there. At University College London, he met his wife-to-be--then a student, now a film producer--and made the nonlinear psychodrama Following, about a young writer whose habit of trailing strangers on the street gets him into serious trouble. Shot on weekends, the $6,000 movie took a year to finish and eventually won best black-and-white film at the 1999 Slamdance festival (it's now available on DVD).
Nearly two years later, Steven Soderbergh attended an early screening of an ingenious thriller about a man with short-term-memory loss searching for the guy who raped and killed his wife. Most of Hollywood hadn't seen Memento yet--distributors hadn't passed, the movie hadn't wowed crowds at Sundance and Toronto, and, of course, no one had any idea that it would end up the indie success story of the year.
''I immediately called Chris to say, 'Jeez, if there's anything I can ever do, let me know,''' remembers Soderbergh. ''Then I got a call from him saying there's a movie at Warner Bros. that he wants, but they're only interested in triple-A-list directors. So I called [Warner production executive] Lorenzo di Bonaventura and said they'd be nuts not to hire him.''
The project was a remake of Insomnia, a 1998 thriller directed by Erik Skjoldbjaerg (who himself has moved onto the Hollywood front with the upcoming Prozac Nation) about a Swedish detective investigating a murder in a remote Norwegian town situated so far north that it doesn't get dark during summer nights. With constant light keeping him awake for days, the officer (played by Stellan Skarsgard) starts to disintegrate, and ends up making a corrupt alliance with the killer.
''It's a classic, from my point of view,'' says Nolan. ''I wanted mine to be identical in terms of plot. I saw the situations as a great way to explore the iconic cop film.'' Pleased with the screenplay by newcomer Hillary Seitz, he pitched his vision to the studio: The movie would take place in a tiny Alaskan town and be flooded with bright light---in essence, a film blanc. Soderbergh and business partner George Clooney lent their names as executive producers, with financier Alcon Entertainment covering most of the budget.
''We were facing the actors' strike and the guy we wanted [to star] was Al Pacino, and it's very difficult to get Al to commit,'' says Alcon copresident Broderick Johnson. After weeks of meetings with Nolan--who tailored the role to Pacino's specifications--the Oscar-winning actor said yes. ''The only time I freaked out [about Pacino] was the first time I walked into his trailer and he was on the phone and said, 'Oh, God. Gotta go. My director is here,''' Nolan says, laughing.
With Pacino as bait, Hollywood talent swarmed. Soon there were Oscar winners in the second and third leads: Robin Williams offered to take a pay cut to play the hunted killer and Hilary Swank was convinced by a single phone call from Alcon. ''Chris was amazingly calm about making such a big movie,'' says the actress. ''He's done all his homework, he knows every shot and has an incredibly strong vision.'' Adds screenwriter Seitz: ''Chris had two performers who can be showboaters, and he brought them way down. When [Williams and Pacino] are subtle, they're so effective.''
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