[Leonard walks briskly up to Natalie's house and knocks on the door in burts of two three's, hard]Leonard: [aggitated] Natalie, right?
[He shows her a Polaroid of a dead man]
Leonard: Who the fuck is Dodd?
Natalie: [taking the photo] Guess I don't have to worry about him anymore.
Leonard: [irritated] What the fuck have you got me into?
Natalie: Come inside.
[Leonard enters brushing past her]
Leonard: Who is he.
Natalie: Calm down, alright? This is my problem. You offered to help. It has nothing to do with your investigation.
Leonard: How did you get me into this?
Natalie: You offered to help when you saw what he did to my face.
Leonard: How do I know he did that to your face?
Natalie: Because I came straight to you after he did it. I showed you what he did and I asked you to help me.
Leonard: Oh, and I just take your word.
Natalie: Yeah.
Leonard:Something doesn't feel right. I think someone's fucking with me, trying to get me to kill the wrong guy.
Natalie: Did you?
Leonard:What?
Natalie: Kill him.
Leonard:Of course not!
Natalie: Hey. sit down, OK? Sit.
Natalie: [she shows him the photo] This has nothing to do with you. You helped me out and I'm grateful.
[she tries to tear up the Polaroid]
Leonard: You have to burn them.
Natalie: Leonard, you decided to help me. Trust yourself. Trust your own judgment. You can question everything. You never know anything for sure.
Leonard: There are things you know for sure.
Natalie: Such as?
[he looks around]
Leonard: I know what that's going to sound like when I knock on it.
[he knocks on the table]
Leonard: I know what that's gonna feel like when I pick it up.
[he picks up a glass chochkie]
Leonard: See? Certainties. It's the kind of memory you take for granted.
[he puts the chochkie down]
Leonard: You know, I can remember so much. The feel of the world... and her.
[he turns sad]
Leonard: She's gone. And the present is trivia, which I scribble down as fucking notes.
[she touches him]
Natalie: Hey, come on. Try and relax. Come on.
Leonard: It's not easy for me to relax, you know?
[she speaks softly to him]
Natalie: Come on, take your jacket off. Now, come on.
[she helps him]
Natalie: Hey.
[she opens the collar of his shirt and sees a tattoo]Natalie: I didn't think you were the type.
[she opens his shirt further and sees a note tattooed on him]
Natalie: It's backwards.
[she studies it then takes his arm]
Natalie: Come here. Come here.
[She leads him to a mirror and turns him toward it then removes the shirt entirely. She looks at the tattoos and feel his chest, getting to a spot not written on.]
Natalie: What about here?
Leonard: Maybe it's for when I find him.
Natalie: I've lost somebody, too.
Leonard: I'm sorry.
[she shows him a photo and continues to speak softly]
Natalie: His name was Jimmy.
Leonard: What happened?
Natalie: He went to meet somebody. He never came back.
Leonard: Who did he go to meet?Natalie: A guy named Teddy.
Leonard: What do the police think?
[she moves around behind him as Leonard stares into the mirror]
Natalie: They don't look to hard for guys like Jimmy.
[pause]
Natalie: When you find this guy, this John G... What are you gonna do?
Leonard: [calmly] I'm gonna kill him.
Natalie: Maybe I can help you find him.
Guy Pierce as Leonard and Carrie Ann Moss as Natalie
Trivia (From IMDB):
EASTER EGG: The Limited Edition DVD (and the standard Region 2 edition) allows the movie to be watched in the exact chronological order of the events in the film. The first couple of scenes of the regular cut of the movie appear normal in this version, meaning they are not reversed. However, this version of the movie on Disc 2 is quite difficult to reach (the user must answer several questions and solve a puzzle), and forward, reverse and chapter skip capabilities are disabled.
During Teddy's line, "You don't have a clue, you freak!" director Christopher Nolan felt that Joe Pantoliano, who played Teddy, did not quite nail the end of the line, so he decided to re-record the last two words to his liking, delivering them himself. Therefore, in the final film, the words, "you freak," as we hear them, are actually being said not by Pantoliano, but by Nolan impersonating Pantoliano's voice. Pantoliano was unaware of the dubbing, until an interview for Anatomy of a Scene: Memento (2001).
The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia, the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems.
The film took 25 days to shoot.
Christopher Nolan's screenplay was based on his brother Jonathan Nolan's story "Memento Mori." However, the screenplay is still considered original (rather than adapted), because Jonathan's story wasn't published until after the film was completed.
Stephen Tobolowsky has stated that during his audition for Sammy, he had mentioned to director Christopher Nolan that he had experienced amnesia personally. A few years earlier, he was given an experimental pain killer that induced amnesia for a surgery he had undergone. Tobolowsky said it may have helped him get the part, because no other actor would likely have had his first-hand experience.
Chronology: When numbering the scenes chronologically, then sorting them how they appear in the film, the pattern becomes more clear. The letters A-V will represent the color scenes (with A happening chronologically first, and V chronologically last), and the numbers 1-22 represent the black and white scenes chronologically. The scenes appear in the film like this: 1, V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S, 5, R, 6, Q...20, C, 21, B, 22/A[1] The two types of scenes alternate. The black and white scenes (numbers) start from the beginning, and work forward to the climax at 22/A, while the color scenes (letters) work backward from the climax at 22/A. The climax scene (22/A) changes to color halfway through, showing the convergence of the two story lines.
After being impressed by Carrie-Anne Moss' performance as Trinity in The Matrix (1999), Jennifer Todd suggested her for the part of Natalie. While Mary McCormack lobbied for the role, Christopher Nolan decided to cast Moss as Natalie, saying, "She added an enormous amount to the role of Natalie that wasn't on the page."
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!"
The test given to Sammy Jankis involving the electrified objects is based on a real life case study of a patient commonly referred to as HM, who suffered from the same form of amnesia following surgery to treat severe epilepsy. A doctor repeatedly shook HM's hand with a joy buzzer, shocking him every time. After a few trials, HM refused to shake hands. The test shown in the movie is an illustration that Sammy's condition was not identical to a real life case study, but would not have excluded him from insurance coverage.
According to Christopher Nolan, Carrie-Anne Moss shot her whole part for the film in eight days.
Aaron Eckhart, Brad Pitt, Charlie Sheen and Thomas Jane were considered for the role of Leonard before Guy Pearce got the part. Director Christopher Nolan would later work with Eckhart on The Dark Knight (2008).
"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead was originally going to be used in the closing credits, but Christopher Nolan decided that the royalties needed to use this song (owned by Capitol Records) would be too great for this low-budget film.
Cinematographer Mark Vargo turned down an interview with Christopher Nolan because he didn't understand the script. He later admitted that this was a mistake.
The tattoo parlor in the movie is named after Emma Thomas, who is writer/director Christopher Nolan's wife and the movie's associate producer.
Christopher Nolan's first choice for the role of Leonard was Alec Baldwin.
Christopher Nolan's white Honda Civic can be seen parked next to Leonard Shelby's Jaguar at the motel.
The expiration date on Teddy's driver's license is 02-29-01, a day that does not exist since 2001 is not a leap year.
Before Carrie-Anne Moss was cast as Natalie, Ashley Judd, Famke Janssen and Angelina Jolie were considered to play the role.
The camera Leonard Shelby uses is a Polaroid 690.
Guy Pearce was originally 230 lbs, before the movie was made and lost all of the weight within a few months.
(at around 55 mins) The book that Leonard's wife is reading, which begins, "Two years have gone by since I finished the long story ..." is Claudius the God by Robert Graves.
Carrie-Anne Moss (Natalie) and Joe Pantoliano (Teddy) worked together in The Matrix (1999). She played the role of Trinity and he played Cypher.
Denis Leary turned down the role of Teddy.
The movie was filmed in Southern California, in and around the Sunland/Tujunga area. Other driving scenes were filmed in Burbank on Victory Blvd.
This movie marks the first in a long-time collaboration between director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister. They would make an additional six movies together before Pfister became a director himself.
Christopher Nolan wanted Peter Deming to be the film's cinematographer, but he was unavailable, having already signed on to shoot Scream 3 (2000).
In one scene, Leonard quickly passes in front of a comic book store. The Batman emblem is displayed prominently on the store's window. Christopher Nolan later directed Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). There is also a Superman emblem in the same store window. Nolan was producer of Man of Steel (2013) and is executive producer of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
The address on Teddy's driver's license has a non-existent ZIP-code 94181 transposed from an actual San Francisco ZIP-code 94118. The address number on Pine St (an actual street in San Francisco) shown does not lie inside ZIP 94118.
Droste Effect on the main poster of the movie is a reference to Doodlebug (1997), other movie by Christopher Nolan.
When we first see Leonard's map of the area we can see two streets that have commonality with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet." There is a "Booth St." The primary antagonist in "Blue Velvet" is "Frank Booth." A second street worthy of note is "Lincoln St." which Jeffrey is explicitly told to avoid and where the apartment of Dorothy Vallens resides in "Blue Velvet." These are the only roads that are not nominally numerical, i.e. "Seventh St."
Carrie-Anne Moss and Callum Keith Rennie both appeared on the TV show Due South.
The re-release in Barcelona (Phenomena) was in subtitled version and 35 mm. copy. It was only projected one day.
[He shows her a Polaroid of a dead man]
Leonard: Who the fuck is Dodd?
Natalie: [taking the photo] Guess I don't have to worry about him anymore.
Leonard: [irritated] What the fuck have you got me into?
Natalie: Come inside.
[Leonard enters brushing past her]
Leonard: Who is he.
Natalie: Calm down, alright? This is my problem. You offered to help. It has nothing to do with your investigation.
Leonard: How did you get me into this?
Natalie: You offered to help when you saw what he did to my face.
Leonard: How do I know he did that to your face?
Natalie: Because I came straight to you after he did it. I showed you what he did and I asked you to help me.
Leonard: Oh, and I just take your word.
Natalie: Yeah.
Leonard:Something doesn't feel right. I think someone's fucking with me, trying to get me to kill the wrong guy.
Natalie: Did you?
Leonard:What?
Natalie: Kill him.
Leonard:Of course not!
Natalie: Hey. sit down, OK? Sit.
Natalie: [she shows him the photo] This has nothing to do with you. You helped me out and I'm grateful.
[she tries to tear up the Polaroid]
Leonard: You have to burn them.
Natalie: Leonard, you decided to help me. Trust yourself. Trust your own judgment. You can question everything. You never know anything for sure.
Leonard: There are things you know for sure.
Natalie: Such as?
[he looks around]
Leonard: I know what that's going to sound like when I knock on it.
[he knocks on the table]
Leonard: I know what that's gonna feel like when I pick it up.
[he picks up a glass chochkie]
Leonard: See? Certainties. It's the kind of memory you take for granted.
[he puts the chochkie down]
Leonard: You know, I can remember so much. The feel of the world... and her.
[he turns sad]
Leonard: She's gone. And the present is trivia, which I scribble down as fucking notes.
[she touches him]
Natalie: Hey, come on. Try and relax. Come on.
Leonard: It's not easy for me to relax, you know?
[she speaks softly to him]
Natalie: Come on, take your jacket off. Now, come on.
[she helps him]
Natalie: Hey.
[she opens the collar of his shirt and sees a tattoo]Natalie: I didn't think you were the type.
[she opens his shirt further and sees a note tattooed on him]
Natalie: It's backwards.
[she studies it then takes his arm]
Natalie: Come here. Come here.
[She leads him to a mirror and turns him toward it then removes the shirt entirely. She looks at the tattoos and feel his chest, getting to a spot not written on.]
Natalie: What about here?
Leonard: Maybe it's for when I find him.
Natalie: I've lost somebody, too.
Leonard: I'm sorry.
[she shows him a photo and continues to speak softly]
Natalie: His name was Jimmy.
Leonard: What happened?
Natalie: He went to meet somebody. He never came back.
Leonard: Who did he go to meet?Natalie: A guy named Teddy.
Leonard: What do the police think?
[she moves around behind him as Leonard stares into the mirror]
Natalie: They don't look to hard for guys like Jimmy.
[pause]
Natalie: When you find this guy, this John G... What are you gonna do?
Leonard: [calmly] I'm gonna kill him.
Natalie: Maybe I can help you find him.
Guy Pierce as Leonard and Carrie Ann Moss as Natalie
Trivia (From IMDB):
EASTER EGG: The Limited Edition DVD (and the standard Region 2 edition) allows the movie to be watched in the exact chronological order of the events in the film. The first couple of scenes of the regular cut of the movie appear normal in this version, meaning they are not reversed. However, this version of the movie on Disc 2 is quite difficult to reach (the user must answer several questions and solve a puzzle), and forward, reverse and chapter skip capabilities are disabled.
During Teddy's line, "You don't have a clue, you freak!" director Christopher Nolan felt that Joe Pantoliano, who played Teddy, did not quite nail the end of the line, so he decided to re-record the last two words to his liking, delivering them himself. Therefore, in the final film, the words, "you freak," as we hear them, are actually being said not by Pantoliano, but by Nolan impersonating Pantoliano's voice. Pantoliano was unaware of the dubbing, until an interview for Anatomy of a Scene: Memento (2001).
The medical condition experienced by Leonard in this film is a real condition called Anterograde Amnesia, the inability to form new memories after damage to the hippocampus. During the 1950s, doctors treated some forms of epilepsy by removing parts of the temporal lobe, resulting in the same memory problems.
The film took 25 days to shoot.
Christopher Nolan's screenplay was based on his brother Jonathan Nolan's story "Memento Mori." However, the screenplay is still considered original (rather than adapted), because Jonathan's story wasn't published until after the film was completed.
Stephen Tobolowsky has stated that during his audition for Sammy, he had mentioned to director Christopher Nolan that he had experienced amnesia personally. A few years earlier, he was given an experimental pain killer that induced amnesia for a surgery he had undergone. Tobolowsky said it may have helped him get the part, because no other actor would likely have had his first-hand experience.
Chronology: When numbering the scenes chronologically, then sorting them how they appear in the film, the pattern becomes more clear. The letters A-V will represent the color scenes (with A happening chronologically first, and V chronologically last), and the numbers 1-22 represent the black and white scenes chronologically. The scenes appear in the film like this: 1, V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S, 5, R, 6, Q...20, C, 21, B, 22/A[1] The two types of scenes alternate. The black and white scenes (numbers) start from the beginning, and work forward to the climax at 22/A, while the color scenes (letters) work backward from the climax at 22/A. The climax scene (22/A) changes to color halfway through, showing the convergence of the two story lines.
After being impressed by Carrie-Anne Moss' performance as Trinity in The Matrix (1999), Jennifer Todd suggested her for the part of Natalie. While Mary McCormack lobbied for the role, Christopher Nolan decided to cast Moss as Natalie, saying, "She added an enormous amount to the role of Natalie that wasn't on the page."
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!"
The test given to Sammy Jankis involving the electrified objects is based on a real life case study of a patient commonly referred to as HM, who suffered from the same form of amnesia following surgery to treat severe epilepsy. A doctor repeatedly shook HM's hand with a joy buzzer, shocking him every time. After a few trials, HM refused to shake hands. The test shown in the movie is an illustration that Sammy's condition was not identical to a real life case study, but would not have excluded him from insurance coverage.
According to Christopher Nolan, Carrie-Anne Moss shot her whole part for the film in eight days.
Aaron Eckhart, Brad Pitt, Charlie Sheen and Thomas Jane were considered for the role of Leonard before Guy Pearce got the part. Director Christopher Nolan would later work with Eckhart on The Dark Knight (2008).
"Paranoid Android" by Radiohead was originally going to be used in the closing credits, but Christopher Nolan decided that the royalties needed to use this song (owned by Capitol Records) would be too great for this low-budget film.
Cinematographer Mark Vargo turned down an interview with Christopher Nolan because he didn't understand the script. He later admitted that this was a mistake.
The tattoo parlor in the movie is named after Emma Thomas, who is writer/director Christopher Nolan's wife and the movie's associate producer.
Christopher Nolan's first choice for the role of Leonard was Alec Baldwin.
Christopher Nolan's white Honda Civic can be seen parked next to Leonard Shelby's Jaguar at the motel.
The expiration date on Teddy's driver's license is 02-29-01, a day that does not exist since 2001 is not a leap year.
Before Carrie-Anne Moss was cast as Natalie, Ashley Judd, Famke Janssen and Angelina Jolie were considered to play the role.
The camera Leonard Shelby uses is a Polaroid 690.
Guy Pearce was originally 230 lbs, before the movie was made and lost all of the weight within a few months.
(at around 55 mins) The book that Leonard's wife is reading, which begins, "Two years have gone by since I finished the long story ..." is Claudius the God by Robert Graves.
Carrie-Anne Moss (Natalie) and Joe Pantoliano (Teddy) worked together in The Matrix (1999). She played the role of Trinity and he played Cypher.
Denis Leary turned down the role of Teddy.
The movie was filmed in Southern California, in and around the Sunland/Tujunga area. Other driving scenes were filmed in Burbank on Victory Blvd.
This movie marks the first in a long-time collaboration between director Christopher Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister. They would make an additional six movies together before Pfister became a director himself.
Christopher Nolan wanted Peter Deming to be the film's cinematographer, but he was unavailable, having already signed on to shoot Scream 3 (2000).
In one scene, Leonard quickly passes in front of a comic book store. The Batman emblem is displayed prominently on the store's window. Christopher Nolan later directed Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). There is also a Superman emblem in the same store window. Nolan was producer of Man of Steel (2013) and is executive producer of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016).
The address on Teddy's driver's license has a non-existent ZIP-code 94181 transposed from an actual San Francisco ZIP-code 94118. The address number on Pine St (an actual street in San Francisco) shown does not lie inside ZIP 94118.
Droste Effect on the main poster of the movie is a reference to Doodlebug (1997), other movie by Christopher Nolan.
When we first see Leonard's map of the area we can see two streets that have commonality with David Lynch's "Blue Velvet." There is a "Booth St." The primary antagonist in "Blue Velvet" is "Frank Booth." A second street worthy of note is "Lincoln St." which Jeffrey is explicitly told to avoid and where the apartment of Dorothy Vallens resides in "Blue Velvet." These are the only roads that are not nominally numerical, i.e. "Seventh St."
Carrie-Anne Moss and Callum Keith Rennie both appeared on the TV show Due South.
The re-release in Barcelona (Phenomena) was in subtitled version and 35 mm. copy. It was only projected one day.
Spoilers ―
After his wife's death, Sammy is shown sitting in a mental institution. Briefly, just after someone walks in front of him and before the scene cuts back to Leonard on phone, Sammy's character is actually replaced by Leonard sitting in the same chair. This supports the conclusion, that the tragic end of Sammy's story is actually an event from Leonard's own past, just as Teddy later tries to convince him.
The picture of Leonard that Leonard finds in the envelope under his motel door shows him pointing at a bare spot on his chest. He tells Natalie that this spot is reserved for when he finds John G. Later, when Leonard is driving to the tattoo parlor, he thinks about his wife, and a flashback is shown in which he is lying in bed with his wife. The bare spot in this shot now contains, "I've done it."
While Leonard is watching TV at Natalie's, a picture of a needle with a person wearing a white v-neck shirt in the background can be seen. In the story of Sammy Jankis, Sammy injects his wife with insulin while he watches TV. This alludes to the possibility that Sammy Jankis's story is really Leonard's own. Moreover, the white v-neck in the background is the same shirt that Leonard's wife wears in another scene.
During Leonard's third and final conversation with the anonymous caller, his fingers hover over the numbers 555-0134. This is Teddy's phone number, which is on the bottom of his photograph, thus hinting that Leonard is actually talking to Teddy.
Before filming the scene where Leonard kills Jimmy, Larry Holden told Guy Pearce to really attack him. Pearce, a former bodybuilder, complied and left Holden covered in bruises after the scene.
Jimmy G. is the name used by Dr. Oliver Sacks to refer to one of his patients in the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Jimmy G. suffers from retrograde and anterograde amnesia and is incapable of forming new memories, just as Leonard is. Throughout the movie, Leonard is in search of a man whose name could be John or James G., and in fact one of his victims is one such "Jimmy G."
Christopher Nolan: [Dead wives] Leonard seeks revenge for his dead wife. Dead wives also pop up in Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and The Prestige (2006).
The narrative jumps 113 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).
After his wife's death, Sammy is shown sitting in a mental institution. Briefly, just after someone walks in front of him and before the scene cuts back to Leonard on phone, Sammy's character is actually replaced by Leonard sitting in the same chair. This supports the conclusion, that the tragic end of Sammy's story is actually an event from Leonard's own past, just as Teddy later tries to convince him.
The picture of Leonard that Leonard finds in the envelope under his motel door shows him pointing at a bare spot on his chest. He tells Natalie that this spot is reserved for when he finds John G. Later, when Leonard is driving to the tattoo parlor, he thinks about his wife, and a flashback is shown in which he is lying in bed with his wife. The bare spot in this shot now contains, "I've done it."
While Leonard is watching TV at Natalie's, a picture of a needle with a person wearing a white v-neck shirt in the background can be seen. In the story of Sammy Jankis, Sammy injects his wife with insulin while he watches TV. This alludes to the possibility that Sammy Jankis's story is really Leonard's own. Moreover, the white v-neck in the background is the same shirt that Leonard's wife wears in another scene.
During Leonard's third and final conversation with the anonymous caller, his fingers hover over the numbers 555-0134. This is Teddy's phone number, which is on the bottom of his photograph, thus hinting that Leonard is actually talking to Teddy.
Before filming the scene where Leonard kills Jimmy, Larry Holden told Guy Pearce to really attack him. Pearce, a former bodybuilder, complied and left Holden covered in bruises after the scene.
Jimmy G. is the name used by Dr. Oliver Sacks to refer to one of his patients in the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat." Jimmy G. suffers from retrograde and anterograde amnesia and is incapable of forming new memories, just as Leonard is. Throughout the movie, Leonard is in search of a man whose name could be John or James G., and in fact one of his victims is one such "Jimmy G."
Christopher Nolan: [Dead wives] Leonard seeks revenge for his dead wife. Dead wives also pop up in Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014) and The Prestige (2006).
The narrative jumps 113 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).
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