Summary
- Joe Pantoliano's association with villainous roles was a big reason why he was perfect for the part of Teddy in Memento.
- Christopher Nolan initially resisted casting Pantoliano because he was concerned that the audience wouldn't trust him due to his previous villainous roles.
- Pantoliano's performance added subtlety to the character of Teddy and maintained the mystery surrounding him, making him a great choice for the role.
Joe Pantoliano ended up being the perfect choice for the role of Teddy in Memento, but Christopher Nolan initially didn’t want to cast him for one reason in particular. Memento stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man with short-term memory loss who uses a series of tattooed clues to track down his wife’s killer. Pantoliano plays John Edward Gammell, better known simply as Teddy, a who initially seems to help Leonard in his investigation, but – based on a note Leonard left for himself on an annotated Polaroid – might not be trustworthy.
According to James Mottram’s book The Making of Memento, Pantoliano was recommended for the part by his Matrix co-star Carrie-Anne Moss, who Nolan had cast as Natalie. But Nolan didn’t like the idea at first and resisted giving the role of Teddy to Pantoliano. While it seems like a no-brainer to cast Pantoliano now that he’s starred in the movie and proven himself to be the right choice for the part, the director had a very specific reason for wanting to avoid casting Pantoliano.
Christopher Nolan Thought Joey Pantoliano Was Too Villain-Like To Play Teddy
When Moss first suggested Pantoliano to Nolan, Nolan was concerned that Pantoliano was too closely associated with villainous roles to play Teddy. If the audience recognized Pantoliano from one of his many roles as villains, Nolan feared they wouldn’t trust him and there would be no mystery surrounding whether or not he was really Leonard’s ally. Even in The Matrix, the movie that convinced Moss that her co-star should her in the Memento cast, Pantoliano’s character is a supposed ally who ends up betraying the heroes and emerging as a villain.
Before casting Pantoliano, Nolan sought out some other actors for the role of Teddy. Mottram’s book mentions that the producers reached out to comedian Denis Leary, but he proved to be unavailable. Nolan eventually relented and gave the role to Pantoliano. In Mottram’s book, Nolan said that he was surprised by the subtlety in Pantoliano’s performance. Nolan’s concern that Pantoliano was too well-known as a villain actor ended up being a big reason why he was so perfect for the part of Teddy.
Joey Pantoliano Being Associated With Villains Makes His Casting Better
Pantoliano’s association with villainous roles, like Guido in Risky Business, Francis Fratelli in The Goonies, and Ralph Cifaretto in The Sopranos, is exactly why the actor is perfect as Teddy. At the beginning of the movie (which is the end of the story in Nolan’s twisty, complicated narrative structure), the audience isn’t sure whether Teddy is actually a bad guy or why Leonard shot him. Then, throughout the movie, the audience doesn’t know if they should trust him. When Memento was released, thanks to some viewers’ recent memory of his villainous role as Cypher in The Matrix, Pantoliano seemed like a duplicitous character, maintaining the mystery about Teddy.
