#72: The Story of Christopher Nolan: Biography Breakdown #4

**Jack** (0:00)
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of The Movies and Stuff with Jack Podcast. I'm your host, Jack. And in today's episode, I am going to be discussing the book The Nolan Variations, The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan by Tom Shone. So, to kick things off, I want to begin with a quote from the book that really encapsulates Nolan's unique mindset. Here it is. Always in the back of my head, I was like, can you really do this? You're gonna make a film backward, he told me. It was like, at some point, someone is gonna break in and go, I think that's crazy. What happens when you make a film is you burrow into it or dig in, so you kind of can't see it anymore. You're so immersed in it and the film stops being real. So, this is the first quote I wanted to discuss in this biography because I think it really speaks a lot about Nolan's approach. He's not really just a filmmaker that makes movies for money. He is, like many other directors and some of which I've discussed, someone who burrows his way into a project in a way that few others do. And throughout the book, this theme of deep immersion in his work is repeated. Nolan has always been told that the ideas he pursues are crazy and the way he wants to film things or the ideas for films or the scale of the films are crazy. Yet time and time again, you're going to see he pushes through and brings his bold visions to life. And this is especially evident in Memento, which is the film that that quote was discussing, and a film that left even the most seasoned critics and fans reeling with its nonlinear structure and very in deep, in depth, I should say, and confusing narrative. It was really with Memento that we first see Nolan begin to challenge conventional filmmaking, and it marked the start of his pattern of defying expectations and rising to unexpected success. And similar to guys like Spielberg, Lucas, and James Cameron, all of which I've discussed on this podcast, Nolan doesn't follow the traditional path for making movies. And I very much think that's something important to note, because instead he challenges the norms of the industry. And this book really does a great job of illustrating how Nolan has stood out from everyone else. Here's another quote. Nolan's ascent has been near vertical. Of all the directors to break through in the late 90s to win either popular or critical success or both, Paul Thomas Anderson, The Wachowski Brothers, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, no other filmmaker of his generation has had as meteoric a career, film historian David Bordwell has written. In the space of two decades, the British-born director has gone from ecking out micro-budgeted three-minute shorts to making such billion-dollar blockbusters as The Dark Knight, which came out in 2008, Inception, which came out in 2010, Interstellar, which came out in 2014, and Dunkirk in 2017
Collectively, Nolan's films have earned over $4.7 billion worldwide, making him the most successful filmmaker to come out of the British Isles since Alfred Hitchcock. To the studios, he is as close as a short thing as a director gets. One of a few filmmakers who can walk into a studio with an original script idea, one that is not part of a pre-existing franchise, intellectual property, or a sequel, and exit with the $200 million necessary to make it.
Like Spielberg and Lucas before him, he has become a franchise unto himself. In this quote here, we see that Nolan has this just rare ability to inspire confidence in studios. And similar to guys like Spielberg and Lucas, like I mentioned, he has become this brand name. And because of that, he's able to secure funding for almost any original project that he wants to pursue. And, you know, as we'll see throughout the entirety of this episode, really, this pattern of success is no accident. And I want to dive deeper into these strategies and work habits that make Christopher Nolan such an incredibly successful director. And here is a quote from the book from Matthew McConaughey. Minds don't wander on a Chris Nolan set, said Matthew McConaughey. Nolan is known by his crews for shooting fast, starting at 7am and finishing at 7pm with a single break for lunch.
And this is a common theme when it comes to Christopher Nolan. He is highly focused on his work and sometimes ignores everything else. To Christopher Nolan, film is more than just a job. It really is his life. He doesn't care about the billions of dollars that his films make, or the awards he might receive. He's more focused on the art itself, which I think is really interesting because it shows this journey oriented approach rather than a destination oriented one. And continues, there is an interaction between Christopher Nolan and Michael Kane that just really illustrates this almost obsessive love for film. And of course Michael Kane, very famous actor, he played the role of Batman's butler in the Dark Knight trilogy. So here it is. Well, I'll read it and get back to you, Kane said. No, no, can you read it now, Nolan said. Nolan insisted on staying with him, drinking tea in the actor's living room, until he had finished reading the script, then took it away with him. He stayed there drinking tea while I read it, said Kane. And then I have back to him. I have to give it back to him. He's very secretive. He's made all these millions and millions of dollars, but none of that has rubbed off on him. He lives exactly the same way. No Rolls Royce, no Gold Watch, no Diamond Cufflinks, none of that. He still has the same watch he always had, still wears the same clothes. You wouldn't know he's the director. And to me, in part why I want to discuss Christopher Nolan today, I think this secrecy behind his projects and this reverence towards them is part of what makes him so interesting. So I really want to explore that further, starting with the beginning of his life in his childhood.