Christopher Nolan Quotes
Christopher Nolan is the director of “Momento”, “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and the Oscar nominated “Dunkirk.”
“That trip was the initial inspiration and what planted the seed in mine and Emma’s minds about the importance of the subject, about the incredible nature of the story. It percolated for many years. About five or six years ago, Emma started giving me first-hand accounts of people who had been there. That opened up something in me in terms of how you might address this story. Emma and I had talked about the fact that this is one of the most incredible stories in history and that it hadn’t been addressed in modern films.” – Nolan Dec, 2017, discussing the trip with his spouse, and producer, Emma Thomas, attempting to reach Dunkirk in a small boat 20 years earlier.
“The sense of responsibility was extreme. You always feel a sense of responsibility for a large-budget movie or, in the case of the Dark Knight trilogy, a responsibility for the fans of the original comic-book character. But this was a real-life event.
“I had the honour and privilege of sitting down and talking to people who were actually there, who suffered through these events,” he continues. “That gives you inspiration but it also gives you a huge amount of fear in terms of the responsibility you’re taking on. For British people this is sacred ground so you need to tread very carefully.” – Nolan, Dec. 2017.
“At a time when there’s all kinds of storytelling around, movies that gravitate toward things that only movies can do carve out a place for themselves,” Nolan tells Variety during a wide-ranging interview at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. “As a director, I try to show people things they’ve never seen before.”
“I didn’t view this as a war film…I viewed it as a survival story.” – Nolan on “Dunkirk”
“The older techniques are working better…with visual effects, after a while the contemporary tricks look cheaper. The audience’s eye is ruthless.” – Nolan, ahead of the “Dunkirk” release.
Re: Influence of “Star Wars”: I think, for me, my whole career in making films, really every time I set out to make a film, I want to try and give somebody in the audience the experience I had watching that film, where it really felt like anything was possible in that world. That’s a really extraordinary experience to have as a moviegoer. – MTV interview while promoting “Inception” July 14, 2010
I think that’s the highest aspiration of the Hollywood blockbuster. – on trying to deliver ongoing impact from a film, during MTV interview while promoting “Inception” July 14, 2010
For me, Heath was the definitive Joker. It wouldn’t feel appropriate to readdress that character. – Conventry Telegraph interview on Joker not being in third Batman film, July 11, 2010
On the Superman reboot – ultimately named “Man of Steel”
“He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman,’” Nolan tells the LA Times of David Goyer’s vision for the reboot. “I immediately got it, loved it and thought: that is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s wife and fellow producer] and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.”
