Christopher Nolanalways knew he wanted to be a filmmaker ever since he began experimenting with his dad’s Super 8 camera at the age of seven. Nolan made hisfeature film debutin 1998 with the neo-noir thrillerFollowing, about an aspiring writer who stalks strangers for writing material. The film would greatly influence his breakout filmMemento, released in 2000. The British-American filmmaker has since made a name for himself as one of Hollywood’smost influential directorsand has received numerous awards throughout his career.
Nolan is well known for his distinct cinematic style and complex conceptual narratives. Over the years, he has often discussed his favorite films and which movies have influenced his work. His upcoming filmOppenheimerdraws inspiration from some of his earlier work. Here are some of his earlier examples: the black and white filming inMemento, the IMAX camera technique used inBatman Begins,and his propensity to tell stories based on history. Below, we examine some of the movies the famed director holds in high esteem, whether for the love of film or as inspiration to his own body of work. Here are 12 of Christopher Nolan’s favorite movies.
Shortly after the 20th anniversary of Michael Mann’s action-packed heist filmHeat, Nolan moderated a post-screening question-and-answer segment with the cast and crew for Variety Magazine, revealing, “I’ve drawn inspiration from it in my own work.” Nolan would later elaborate on how the iconic film inspired his blockbuster hitBatman Begins. In interviews for the 2020 Tom Stone bookThe Nolan Variations(viaNo Film School), Nolan said, “Batman Beginshad been as big as we could make it. So you have to look at the scale in a different way. What I wound up doing is looking at it differently in terms of storytelling and cinematography. One of the biggest epic films I have ever seen is Michael Mann’sHeat. That is a true Los Angeles story, just wall-to-wall within the city. Okay, we’ll make it a city story.”
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Nolan has previously stated that one of the movies he drew inspiration from when creating his tense war-epicDunkirkwas Jan De Bont’s 1994 action-thrillerSpeed, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Nolan was impressed with the intensity and pacing of the film and referred to it as a “ticking-clock nail-biter.”
102001: A Space Odyssey
In a 2013Entertainment Weeklyarticle, Nolan recalled his experience watching2001: A Space Odysseyin theaters with his dad in his youth:“My dad took my brother and me to Leicester Square, which is where you’d find the biggest theaters in London. I remember very clearly just the experience of being transported to another world. I was a hugeStar Warsfan at the time. But this was a completely different way of experiencing science fiction. I was seven years old, so I couldn’t claim to have understood the film. Istillcan’t claim that. But as a seven-year-old, I didn’t care about understanding the film. I just felt this extraordinary experience of being taken to another world. You didn’t doubt this world for an instant. It had a larger-than-life quality.” Nolan has previously revealed that2001: A Space Odysseywas one of the movies that inspired his otherworldly hitInterstellar.
912 Angry Men
12 Angry Menis included on the list of films highly recommended by Nolan, and it’s not hard to see why. With its focus on character archetypes, a strong story, and relentless conflict, Sydney Lumet’s taut courtroom drama, about a jury deliberating over the fate of a Hispanic boy accused of killing his father, has earned its place in cinema history asa timeless classiceven 65 years later.
8Chariots of Fire
In collaboration with British Film Institute, Nolan revealed in a special event screening titled “Christopher Nolan Presents” thatChariots of Firewas one of many films that he drew inspiration from for his historical war epicDunkirk. He further stated, “The visual splendor, intertwined narratives, and aggressively anachronistic music of Hugh Hudson’sChariots of Firecombined to create a masterpiece of British understatement whose popularity rapidly obscured its radical nature.”
One of Nolan’s biggest directorial influences throughout his lifetime is the work of Ridley Scott. Nolan tells Media Factory, “I have always been a huge fan of Ridley Scott and certainly when I was a kid.AlienandBlade Runnerjust blew me away because they created these extraordinary worlds that were just completely immersive.The lauded director also cited the 1979 science fiction horror filmAlienas a point of inspiration for his work onDunkirk, revering the sci-fi classic as an “established classic of tension” to IndieWire.
6Blade Runner
Nolan once again drew inspiration from Scott’sBlade Runnerwhile working onBatman Begins, telling Farout Magazine, “From a pragmatic point of view,Blade Runneris actually one of the most successful films of all time in terms of constructing that reality using sets. OnBatman Begins, unlikeThe Dark Knight, we found ourselves having to build the streets of Gotham in large part. So I immediately gravitated toward the visual treatment that Ridley Scott had come up with, in terms of how you shoot these massive sets to make them feel real and not like impressive sets.”
5The Right Stuff
When makingInterstellar, Nolan drew inspiration from two of his favorite movies: the previously mentioned2001: A Space Odyssey, andThe Right Stuff. In an interview withIndieWire, Nolan stated, “You can’t pretend2001doesn’t exist when you’re makingInterstellar.But the other film I’d have to point to isThe Right Stuff.I screened a print of it for the crew before we started because that’s a film that not enough people have seen on the big screen. It’s an almost perfectly made film. It’s one of the great American movies and people don’t quite realize how great it is — probably because it’s four hours long!”
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4Metropolis
Among his favorite directors Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, Nolan also highly recommends German Expressionist director Fritz Lang. Not only is Nolan a fan of the iconic 1927 filmMetropolis, which is often dubbed one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, but he is also a fan ofThe Testament of Dr. Mabuse, calling the former a “key touchstone” in cinematic history and the latter as “essential research for anyone attempting to write a supervillain.”
3Lawrence of Arabia
In 2005, Nolan told LA Times that, when shooting his superhero blockbusterBatman Begins, he took more cinematic inspiration fromLawrence of Arabiathan from any graphic novel. The film is among Nolan’s favorites. In 2015, he further cited the film as proof of why shooting on celluloid film is superior to shooting digitally, stating, “the very subtle shadow detail and the particular tonality of skies” pop out to the audience far sooner on celluloid.
