Julian Jarrold's and Sam Mendes's producer approached Christopher Priest for an adaptation of his novel "The Prestige". Priest was impressed with Nolan's films "Following" and "Memento", and subsequently, producer Valerie Dean brought the book to Nolan's attention. In October 2000, Nolan traveled to the United Kingdom to publicize "Memento", as Newmarket Films was having difficulty finding a United States distributor. While in London, Nolan read Priest's book and shared the story with his brother while walking around in Highgate (a location later featured in the scene where Angier ransoms Borden's stage engineer in Highgate Cemetery). The development process for "The Prestige" began as a reversal of their earlier collaboration: Jonathan Nolan had pitched his initial story for "Memento" to his brother during a road trip.