Christopher Nolan on his career, including Oppenheimer and the Batman triology | BFI in conversation

The BFI Fellowship recipient and internationally acclaimed filmmaker discusses his hugely successful two-decade career, including Oppenheimer, the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception and Memento.
In a remarkable 25-year career Nolan has extended the limits of filmmaking, gaining recognition as an exhilarating and visionary film artist who is also able to connect with audiences on a cerebral level. Acclaimed as an innovator by critics and peers alike, his films have garnered 11 Academy Awards and grossed over $6.1 billion worldwide.
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[@aninjaguardian]

It's a privelage to listen to Nolan speak about anything at such length. One of our greatest directors of all time

[@kevinfought]

Privilege*

[@hexedits369]

💯

[@AshPragasam]

*Prestige

[@peterhaberlehner6749]

Greatest already, honestly

[@joewas2225]

Not one of but is

[@BooneLuleyo]

The Prestige and Insomnia are criminally underrated. What a great Director.

[@nobad6843]

Prestiege is not

[@ARS1508]

I’m still not over the plot twist of the prestige!

[@cereal_qilla]

criminal offensive side eye

[@madmaxmel]

Many may forget how great Jonathan Nolan is as well, a brother who is a skilled screenwriter and was naturally connected to Christopher's career as well, especially early on.

[@KonHuMaiBataoChalo5MinetDetaHo]

Yes. Thanks for addressing.

[@priyamkumar2297]

Westward co created by him.

[@its3amagain.]

westworld💗

[@majectic-berry]

7 year old me watching movies: "YEAHHH DRAGONS LESS GOOOO" 7 year old Christopher Nolan watching movies: "hmmm 2001 yes yes indubitably one of the best films of our time of course 🧐"

[@ivan4087]

-Neeeerd -30 years later Nolan is billionaire

[@nobad6843]

​@@ivan4087Steven Spielberg is already a billionaire

[@ivan4087]

@@nobad6843 yeah all these nerds are billinaires now

[@dp27thelight9]

Nolan isn't thinking about those tiktok brains

[@seancorrigan7448]

"Memento" is my personal favourite of his masterpieces. Guy Pearce was incredible and it's a shame they've never worked together since. Nolan is a true genius and thank you to the BFI for this.

[@DRM-nb1fg]

I would love to see Pearce & Nolan work together again.

[@Narendersingh-id5ng]

Gajni better than memento

[@_CoasterNinja]

Been wanting them to work together again too!

[@KonHuMaiBataoChalo5MinetDetaHo]

It's a Shame for Academy That they never recognised him as a Director.

[@LazyHowis]

How crazy that this guy has made The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, Inception... and he's only just reached the top of his game. Can't wait for his next couple of films.

[@joewas2225]

He's not even close to the top of his game. He's got far more potential than he's putting out. We have yet to see his best movie. Yet he's arguably the best director living today.

[@nobad6843]

​@@joewas2225dickriding or PR?

[@JerNo415]

​@@joewas2225agreed. I think his best film will wind up being something smaller and more intimate, a la Prestige or Memento.

[@nobad6843]

​@@joewas2225not the best, but one of the best Best is just extreme and ridiculous opinion 😂

[@KonHuMaiBataoChalo5MinetDetaHo]

​@@nobad6843Yes, he's Best. It's a Subjective Opinion.

[@lutherfox5744]

The Prestige is such an underrated film.

[@theempire00]

Why

[@chriswright4677]

No one is underrating The Prestige, you goon!!

[@dianariverjackson5123]

dude I agree the plot twist was insane

[@CharlotteYKN]

I was there and asked the question at 39:55, thank you BFI!

[@bolshevi3187]

🙌

[@cumpanions8105]

ok?

[@frankathl1]

@@cumpanions8105The writer is inviting you to share in her pleasure. What’s wrong with that?

[@nickolaasmedia]

Awesome!!

[@alfsmith7210]

That's actually a brilliant question to ask Mr Nolan! Awesome 😀

[@waynespencer3036]

I was in the front row for this excellent talk. A great experience to hear him talk about his incredible films. And so good to see his producer and wife Emma Thomas there as well. He received the BFI Fellowship Award the night before this, and he and his wife Emma visited the BFI Archive on the same day as this talk. Nolan’s films mean a lot to so many of us. Truly great filmmaking. Very glad this was filmed and made available on here for everyone to see. Apparently it was the most in demand event that the BFI has ever had.

[@DrVonNostrand]

No you weren't

[@fettfan91]

I think Mr. Nolan makes a very good point about independent filmmakers finding a small amount of success and then immediately being thrown into the studio system. It makes much more sense to slowly build your experience before taking on projects that cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

[@antonego9581]

Yep it's like when a promising rookie QB comes out of college into the NFL and is immediately thrown out there day 1 and gets destroyed. A lot of guys never recover from that.

[@nobad6843]

Which fukin studio gives 100M to new directors after getting small success?😂 U have to prove by atleast 3 good films

[@electrictwilight]

​@@nobad6843Josh Trank and Colin Treverrow come to mind.

[@GreenGretel]

​@@electrictwilight Also Chloe Zhao - went from completely small-scale, indie films straight to Marvel, lol

[@Olga_Efremov]

I never cease to love listening to him talk and just being charmed by his stories. He is such an interesting person! 😌

[@15Candles]

Christopher Nolan's first Oscar win is right around the corner and it's about time he deserves the long overdue Oscar as the pinnacle of his entire incredible career 🙌

[@jk12340]

Stop acting like he’s not the most beloved mainstream director of the 21st century.

[@Nova-fh2et]

Oscars mean absolutely nothing. It's just a popularity contest that pays the academy the most. Look it up. His work speaks for itself, who needs awards?

[@tamilanimatedstories5610]

@@jk12340I mean until TDK and Inception, he was the underdog, he should have won for the Prestige, so it makes sense that so many of us are rooting for him.

[@DRM-nb1fg]

@@tamilanimatedstories5610 Maybe not a win for The Prestige, but at least a nomination. Scorsese was long overdue when they gave him Best Director & Best Picture for The Departed. But The Prestige is pretty much equal to The Departed in my view, so a nomination for Nolan would have been appropriate. The Prestige got snubbed pretty hard with zero nominations in major categories. And they continued the nomination snubs with The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar. Finally gave him nominations for Best Director & Best Picture on Dunkirk.

[@TheGoshdarnJets]

@@Nova-fh2etyou’re right. But in all fairness, it would be *cool* to see our boy get his.

[@RakibErick]

Such an intelligent director

[@jurgenmathiae6682]

Such an interstellar director 😉

[@theempire00]

@@jurgenmathiae6682 Did you know he made a film called “Interstellar”

[@jimmyog]

That triology was a great run!!!

[@shreyadodia282]

When you've got so much time for conversation with a legend, and you end up asking the same questions that every other interviewer asks. I think they could've done a better job with the questions coz at this point he just ends up repeating the same things. Loved the audience QnA though! I wish I could've been there.

[@sreesub]

I think she did a good job. Problem here is Nolan is overexposed to media over past 9 months. With Actors strike, he was made to carry marketing in the final week and he is still on during awards season. I dont think I have seen so much of Nolan in last 2 decades of watching his movies. Even during Dark Knight or Dark Knight Rises mania, he did not have to be so much front and center as he is now.

[@DrVonNostrand]

Agreed, she is a poor interviewer and you can tell there was little preparation, which is a shame. The same old questions.

[@josephjasem7926]

Memento is still my favorite Nolan film.

[@adammohamed..]

Masterpiece

[@bilalkahhaleh3403]

Yes! Thanks for the upload

[@elliottobelliotnwaobi4779]

Intelligent Masterful Filmmaker who is humble enough to give credit to his collaborators and acknowledge/ appreciate his modest start and how it played into his current success. Major respect to Nolan.

[@its3amagain.]

Always love to listen to the greatest people. So much to learn. So inspiring. Thank you.💗

[@Jxvani1]

We’re getting so much Nolan content. My goat 🥹

[@seangrezel7913]

I love his Batman triology

[@thert.hon.thelordnicholson7261]

I prefer the one with Arnie and George Clooney myself

[@northernpaladin66]

So good to hear a true artist speak so clearly

[@Mr_Saxon]

As a Brit, DUNKIRK was one of the most affecting movies I've ever watched. When the two young soldiers discover that their homeland doesn't view them as cowards but survivors, and cheer for them, I had tears pouring down my face in the cinema. Something that had never happened before, or since. my favorite Nolan movie.

[@mariagemavalerdiaguirre3792]

Hello from Spain con 21 años también vi a Guy Richie en Londres entonces cuando vosotros los tíos lo tengáis claro You give me a call, Congratulations Oppenheimer Cilian deserved the Oscar ❤

[@rufashaochicken]

Thank you BFI!

[@MegaSoapsFan-fe1ul]

Well done for winning Best Director at Oscars 2024! 👏

[@flaviantropy]

I wish they talked about the beauty that is The Prestige.

[@austindmilligan]

Why did they skip over The Prestige?!?

[@cinemaatob]

Same.

[@TheConstructiveCritic888]

I wish interviewers would spend time talking about The Prestige. I feel like it’s up there for his best film in his filmography along with Interstellar.

[@JokerSlaysthegame]

the host did a wonderful job. loved her commentary.

[@Tophe]

Just before I watch this, I've seen Chris speak on so many promotional videos... he just seems like such a geeza. Need to work with him one day on a film. #believe

[@yifeizhou7112]

Following is amazing! Many more should watch it!

[@GreenGretel]

I enjoyed the Batman films (esp. Dark Knight), but it's his standalone films that really get under my skin: Oppenheimer, Inception, The Prestige, Dunkirk, and Memento are my favorites.

[@RohitKumar-dq8fb]

Maybe unpopular opinion but i liked how his movies looked more when Wally Pfister was the cinematographer. Also Prestige is my fav movie of his, quite liked Tenet too although its got a lotta haters.

[@cinemaatob]

Hoyt seems to prefer a more yellow/green white point than Wally did. Wally tended towards blues which I prefer. It's not like some sort of big drop-off though and frankly the skin tones between both cinematographers feel largely the same. As far as shot selection I don't feel like there's a huge disparity there.

[@RohitKumar-dq8fb]

@@cinemaatobYup , looks a wee bit more greyish dull with Hoytema which worked well for Dunkirk imo. But yea prefer the more "colorful" work done by Pfister.

[@tamilanimatedstories5610]

Hoyte is the subtler, yet plays a significant role in gauging the depth of the frame, colour wise. It just looks far more stunning.

[@MaxwellSmartOddy]

The Dark Knight Rises is favorite film of his partly for that reason. Nolan, Pfister, Smith, and Zimmer all knocked it out of the park for that one.

[@tamilanimatedstories5610]

@@MaxwellSmartOddy valid

[@andrewstorm8240]

Thanks for recording this - any chance to create special backgrounds for these on stage talks

[@hothotheat3000]

What a gent. Massive respect for him.

[@liambrophy6542]

Why does nobody mention The Prestige!? It's a masterpiece.

[@davidlean1060]

Great movie. I think a lot of his fan base joined after the Batman movies, so they see him just as that. Oppenhiemer I really like, but The Prestige is still the best thing he's made in my opinion. I re watch it regularly. Don't get me started on the 'does the Tesla machine actually work?' debate!

[@kdcndw1]

The Prestige is my favorite but Oppenheimer is a damn good movie.

[@DigitalSolitudeZXK]

With our hungry eyes and thirsty ears, I'm pretty damn sure that we can listen to Sir Chris Nolan for hours, sharing his analytical and cimenatic POVs even on the genuis behind making a delicious Pasta...

[@southlondon86]

Who’s ‘our’?

[@dianariverjackson5123]

I have this idea of him taking on Mary Shelley Frankenstein and tell the story from Victor´s perspective. I have read this novel on university and I became completely hooked by it that I started to write my own movie script lol

[@DavidOakesMusic]

*Saves to Watch Earlier*

[@Krubba]

A true genius artist of modern cinema.

[@LuisAFvWetzler]

Brilliant director un grand châpeau

[@jamieaguilar5911]

Kinda bummed he didn’t talk about The Prestige at all. I love that movie so much!

[@RobPerreault]

A fantastic visionary and creative, good on ya Nolan!

[@HighFlyingEYE]

i can watch Nolan talk all day long, the man is a genius and is very intelligent to say the least also he dresses cool as a cucumber cant wait to see what he does next, All his films are groundbreaking in scale and spectacle, emotion, story telling etc thank you for giving us Memento that movie is one of a kind and is in my top 10 favourites of all time,,, Remember sammy jankis

[@shankarbalakrishnan2360]

U guys go get life I'm little and have all the time and I dont loose the purpose and direction ❤❤🎉🎉

[@AmirKhan-he6cw]

Ah yes, the director of my favorite triology

[@jimmyl324]

It’s about time his brilliant career is acknowledged.

[@GeneralKenobi69420]

What? He's literally been a superstar director since the Dark Knight.

[@Nova-fh2et]

What are you talking about? Guy has been popular since Memento and a household name since The Dark Knight

[@BenNJerrys2xaday]

we see what you did there jimmy. Brilliant comment. it’s about time…because Nolan loves the theme of time

[@rhettawilliams]

He's literally one of the biggest box office draws in history, has numerous awards, and constantly talked about lol

[@cinemaatob]

Lol, good one.

[@Animodeus]

I can 24 hour video of nolan talk about the dark knight trilogy

[@tushantsharma8519]

Nice to hear what his thoughts were when making these films.

[@alcottdevalte7440]

Nolan should have gotten a few Oscar's already, especially for Dark Knight. Anyway, gonna get it next.

[@brandonrobertkersjes]

Yes! Directors should work their way from a no-budget film up to wherever they end up going. Too many directors are going straight to the big leagues, just to be controlled by the studio, due to having too much to handle at their current skill level, causing them to inevitably fail with a 100+ million dollar film that has absolutely no vision, when they should have taken a small step, and continued to develop their craft and vision film-by-film.

[@akasstan1]

Shame the interviewer is just reeling off pre-prepared questions.. as opposed to having a free flowing interview. Very basic questions. Would love to have an actual fan of his work ask him questions

[@DrVonNostrand]

Agree so much. They give anyone these jobs don't they? Such a terrible interviewer.

[@jllkprice6207]

He's dressed in his film colour palette -- Black, Dark Gray, Light Gray, and brown. That covers almost every colour ever displayed in his work!

[@TheShadowrun.]

Insomnia is underrated, and the prestige

[@cjmedson]

Any place to listen to the raw audio before it was cleaned up with AI?

[@Art__Arman93]

The master of combining ART FILM with BLOCKBUSTERS

[@senshai1267]

no questions about tenet!

[@sangramkale3243]

Yes. I felt the same. To me, Tenet is the most intriguing movie made by Nolan.

[@VariTimo]

The man has been in Hollywood for over twenty years, wouldn’t his time be better spent than retelling his history again? This is all out there already. I’d much rather hear him talk about his new projects. Especially since he really hasn’t talked as much about Tenet as he did about others.

[@dinkaraikarai]

WA CAYA SAMA LU, LU MEMANG REAL BRADER ! ❤

[@Sachin_C10]

The Dark Knight Rises wasn't the best capper but it's very underrated & doesn't deserve the flak it gets.

[@thomasgibbs995]

I really enjoyed this but 10 ads over 40 mins is not ''lit' -

[@aguzman222]

1-Use an Ad blocker OR - 2-Pay for KZbin premium

[@thomasgibbs995]

I actually dont mind ads ( I was raised with terrestrial TV ) but an ad every 4 mins is killing my investment in the subject matter and ability to retain interest. My ad blocker is selective vid to vid as to when it decides to block ads.

[@joewas2225]

I only saw 4 ads

[@gordon_gekkor]

If god was a director . He would be Christopher Nolan.

[@12345jammy]

The audience hasn't stopped coughing!

[@theempire00]

What watch is he wearing?

[@fidgyblitzers]

❤

[@phantomfire8228]

17:00

[@phantomfire8228]

12:51

[@phantomfire8228]

14:00

[@christianlucas91]

🐐❤️

[@MahamNaseerBaig]

❤❤❤

[@prasannasurange]

Did they purposefully avoid any discussion about The Prestige??

[@noperiod]

3:32 ding

[@williamgregory1848]

Nolan giving these open interviews confirms a longstanding theory that has plagued society: He’s human.

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

Please Nolans come back. This blind pain is OVERBEARING. I FEEL SUICIDAL. PLEASE GIVE ME A CHANCE TO RECOGNIZE YOU. IT HURTS SO MUCH. I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS. I HAVE A#1 SCRIPTS.🙏Jesse

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

I'm feeling okay now but you have to realize I didn't see your hand and just blindly assumed you were waiting through. JES-DUH-LOL😮

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

I typed walking through? Nodding to pass on by.

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

Someone/thing moves around my cursor. Why the Nolans and I need to save the world.

[@JustABowlOfCherries]

So much film and information locked up in the BFI archives, that will probably never see the light of day. What a shame...

[@helenheeney2284]

They must be an extremely intelligent and genius family such a truly lovely man soooooo respectful to all

[@helllohi2098]

Greatest director of all time, please give him Oacar this time

[@joewas2225]

I'd bet you $1000 he gets Snubbed again. I'm that confident he won't get it. He should've gotten one long before now & been snubbed too many times. Look at Kubrick & Hitchcock. They're regarded as some of the best Directors of all time & never got an Oscar. Neither one of them made a bad movie.

[@CameronRyan]

Nolan took Ricky Gervais’s advice in order to win an Oscar Award.😂

[@rr.martin5614]

?

[@dragonverde188]

Please someone add timestamps to the vieo

[@joshuajayaratne7655]

How incredibly disrespectful to skip over insomnia like that

[@Animodeus]

She talked about it

[@Sh23-hv7sn]

It's not disrespectful its simply a matter of time. Relax

[@raizanong]

l e g e n d

[@sprafa]

BFI social media team - Batman triology is not a thing !! Hope its ok to fix

[@DavidOakesMusic]

I love mad sci-fi and I really hope he doesn't stop doing massive mind boggling sci fi just because TENET didn't get a chance to perform. I want more of that and less wartime films cause they're one of my least favourite genres.

[@Sh23-hv7sn]

Wa wa wa me me me

[@AndroidCovenant]

He made 2 references to James Cameron

[@PelvisPresley420]

When I saw batman begins, I told myself yeah we're dealing with a master filmmaker here

[@cereal_qilla]

he wears the same outfit if its 100 degrees or -100 degrees

[@michaelakintonwa6512]

Interviewer - 8:13 - “you used to make such personal films…” Chris - 8:25 - ummm ACTUALLY I consider my films equally personal thankyouverymuch hahaha

[@Nigmax1991]

Question: Would you ever be interested in making a horror film ? Nolan: Oppenheimer is a Horror film 😅

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

Just a misunderstanding Chris, my boy! Swing back for your RISE OF CONSCIOUSNESS!! Difficult to comprehend faceblindness. Please hear me out! 📚🎥😎🙏

[@spinin1251]

This was actually filmed before Oppenheimer was made and before Nolan's Oscar win for it. It occurred around the time Tenet was released, hence why he has to leave at the end to go to its screening. I haven't finished editing the whole thing yet so it will make more sense once I add those parts in before the interview.

[@rr.martin5614]

No. Tenet was releasing again!

[@spinin1251]

It was a time-jumping joke.

[@deshbhakt444]

Underrated comment

[@sempercompellis]

Do you wanna know how real 7 year olds who loved star wars and are then brought to watch something "similar" like 2001 ...wanna know how they react??? Daaaad this is bOOOOOOORINg... where are the explosions...and the bad guys.....??? where are the guns???

[@KhaldyFathy]

7:00 why Fade to Black? doesn't know what's just happened

[@alexfrog9191]

They cut out all the movie clips that were originally shown, probably to avoid copyright claims/demonitisation/deletion etc.

[@risingtide_official]

Unlike his movies, you can actually hear him speaking.

[@gussygoro2469]

Why are his vaunted co-writers Goyer and Jonathan Nolan always failing after TDKR? Goyer hasn’t done anything worth watching and Nolan Jr’s projects are always cancelled after season 1. Westworld turned to garbage. I one beer why. 🤔

[@rr.martin5614]

Goyer is making second season of sandman w/neil gaiman. Jonah is releasing fallout on amazon prime.

[@BooneLuleyo]

Jonah Nolan actually did Person of Interest and Westworld after TDKR. I think he’s doing alright 👍🏾

[@southlondon86]

I one beer why too.

[@The1JesseArcherAzar]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/kJWuq5V8bM9nkMksi=m8N9qZQZbv0fTvrw JES-🇺🇲🌠🌌

[@WjldiMwWej]

Stop making biography and make scifi fantasy or any other fantasy. We want grand movie. Oppenheimer is enough.

[@iCrazyMidget]

YES WE NEED A SCI FI OR FANTASY FROM NOLAN

[@nebulous6660]

His movies can be so bipolar. They can go from being pretty intelligent to mind-numbingly stupid. It's almost like there's two completely different directors making them at times. Either way, I'm always there to see them in IMAX. Thought Tenet was a boring mess, Interstellar made no sense & Anne Hathaway's love rant is unbearably dumb. His TDK trilogy often gives Batman horrible dialogue. I think Dunkirk is his best big film & Memento is his best small film.

[@southlondon86]

Sir I’m no fan of his but Inception was genius. At what part in that film was it mind numbingly stupid?

[@nebulous6660]

@@southlondon86 I said they can be and are at times. I didn't single out Inception. That movie's biggest fault is being overly saturated with expository dialogue but otherwise it didn't have many dumb moments that stand out to me.

[@deshbhakt444]

I think movies aren't for you if you're seriously saying Interstellar "made no sense"

[@nebulous6660]

@@deshbhakt444 Even astrophysicist Neil DeGrass Tyson said the premise they used for leaving the Earth in the film did not make sense. Anne Hathaway's "love is another dimension" rant was ridiculous because it was built on the assumption that loving people who have already died has no utility which is laughably false. The time-loop handshake also made no sense because it falsely postulates that once you have witnessed a "future event" you cannot change it. Nolan used the same contradictory logic in Tenet. When Cooper is reunited with his daughter at the end, her family unceremoniously leaves the room not even acknowledging Cooper. This is their ancestor, the most amazing event in human history is taking place at that moment in that room & Cooper is just treated like a regular hospital visitor. And then he just leaves his daughter there to go score with Anne Hathaway? Not a chance. Interstellar is one of Nolan's dumbest films in my opinion.

[@babel-fishai]

Plausible sci-fi? 😂😂😂😂 they got some of the FX work correct. It looks like what we think those things would look like but that's the only thing plausible in the whole thing it goes completely off the rails into pure nonsense once they leave the solar system. Lol the ending was a damn insult to my intelligence and it is merely a film that makes dumb people feel,smart. Dumb and dumber in the most literal sense.

[@southlondon86]

Why is that borefest Oppenheimer so overhyped?