The British Film Institute (BFI) discusses cinema with Christopher Nolan at the BFI London Film Festival. The discussion explores Christopher Nolan’s early cinema influences and takes us through his filmmaking journey from Memento (2000) through to Oppenheimer (2023).
BFI Screen Talk – Christopher Nolan’s Early Cinema Influences
Christopher Nolan mainly credits three films that made the biggest impact on his film career. An early childhood memory watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) launched animation’s golden age and reshaped cinema history as the first cel-animated feature-length film. He describes his viewpoint as first viewing the film as a child. As he found himself recounting its emotional intensity from feeling fear through to despair. As well as describing how the film was an emotional experience.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977):
However, it was after viewing Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) as a child when Christopher Nolan truly began to understand the pure scale and depth of filmmaking. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) serves as a great example. Not just for word-building but to also show how films can be a total immersive experience for the audience. He uses the term, ‘cinematic space’ to describe how he sets out his own films. Such examples include Interstellar and Tenet where the storylines play with the audience’s sense of time, memory, and perception.
2001: A Space Odyssey: (1968)
The third film Christopher Nolan credits in building his love for film is Stanley Kubrick’s game-changing, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He first saw the film at a very young age. Although the themes and story were a little complicated, it was the impact of the film’s emotional silence which truly captivated his attention.
But this taught him an important film lesson – that not everything has to be understood. 2001 (1968) carries philosophical meanings which cannot always be explained. It was the emotional silence which added to the intelligence of the film as it provokes deeper questions about humanity itself.
BFI Screen Talk: Christopher Nolan – Independent Cinema to Hollywood: From Memento to Oppenheimer
Memento:
Christopher Nolan’s attraction to the genre of film noir shaped the characterisation, story development, and filmmaking techniques used in Memento (2000). In film noir, the protagonist is often battling with an internal conflict. But the characters and their morals are usually quite ambiguous so in turn, there are no straight-forward heroes and villains. Like in Memento (2000), Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is not a clear-cut hero. Yet the story is shaped as if he is the hero because of perspective. Christopher Nolan plays with perspective – a storytelling element which is often manipulated in film noir.
Film noir works best as an extrapolation of relatable fears and anxieties.
(Christopher Nolan on Film Noir).
Creating The Dark Knight Trilogy & Inception:
To create and shape the world within The Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012), Christopher Nolan adhered to the Modern Gothic Style. The fictional world full of crime and chaos, named ‘Gotham City’ was inspired by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927) – a classic film of the German Expressionist era. Such techniques as the use of shadows, modern architecture, and high-rise buildings represent the modern world Christopher Nolan intended to shape and create for Gotham City.
I needed the Joker to be like the shark in Jaws.
(Christopher Nolan on shaping the Joker in The Dark Knight (2008)).
After The Dark Knight Trilogy (2008-2012) found huge worldwide commercial success, earning more than $2.5 billion at the box office, Christopher Nolan gained more power and creative freedom among studio executives. For the release of Inception (2010), he had proven himself worthy in an industry that is so tough to break into. After such a big break, Christopher Nolan was trusted by studios to write, direct, and produce creatively however he wished.
IMAX:
In the BFI Screen Talk: Christopher Nolan, the Oscar-winning Director described IMAX as not only being able to grab such strong emotions on-screen but at a much larger scale too. Seeing the film on a larger frame makes the audience truly see the story. The Dark Knight (2008) was Christopher Nolan’s first venture into using IMAX cameras with a few action sequences shot. Then came along the blockbuster of summer 2023, Oppenheimer (2023) which was shot using black-and-white 65mm IMAX film.
After filming Oppenheimer (2023), IMAX even designed new camera technology so Christopher Nolan could shoot his feature-length film. The British director was so taken aback by the power of IMAX that he decided to shoot his latest film, The Odyssey (2026) entirely on IMAX cameras, which is a first-of-its kind in filmmaking.
Interstellar & Oppenheimer:
Christopher Nolan underwent extensive research in finding scientific accuracy during the writing process for Interstellar (2013). He collaborated with physicist and Nobel-Prize winner, Kip Thorne to ensure complete credibility. The physicist brought scientific models and equations which inevitability added an accurately rare charm to Interstellar (2013) making the film feel even more authentic.
In a similar way, Christopher Nolan used the editing technique of cross-cutting in Oppenheimer (2023). This was used to not only fasten the pace but add emotional momentum to the story as we watch how Oppenheimer develops his creation of the atomic bomb over time.
Future Projects & Explorations:
Christopher Nolan hinted that a future project may or may not involve an exploration into the horror genre. This would be a first for the filmmaker whose films often explore psychological themes, and scientific stories with philosophical meanings. Undoubtedly there’s an air of fear and tension built into Oppenheimer (2023). So it’s not too further afield to think his future project(s) will be horror-related.
At some point I’d love to make a horror film… but I haven’t found the story yet.
(Christopher Nolan on exploring the horror genre in future projects).
You can watch the full interview of Christopher Nolan’s BFI Screen Talk here.
Also make sure to check out our analysis on the Martin Scorsese BFI Screen Talk too. You can stay updated by subscribing to the Filmotomy newsletter. In the meantime, why not check out our movie reviews, like Freakier Friday (2025)?
