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

[@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💗

[@watcherofthewest8597]

Not saying Johnathan isn't talented, but westworld was awful after great first season and fallout was fun, but plot and dialogue were straight up bad

[@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

[@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.

[@Marie-ew9lw]

No ​@@Narendersingh-id5ng

[@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

[@neilwiththereeldeel]

no, it took him some time to come to that conclusion...oh yeah, and his movies: "DUUUUUDE, DARK KNIGHT, FUCKIN' AWESOME" 😂😂😂😂...cause, ya know, his movies aren't ACTUALLY that fucking challenging...and if you think they are, you're just mentally deficient 😂😂👎👎

[@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

[@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!

[@sizzling_rozes]

criminal offensive side eye

[@ChedaT7]

I watched all his movies, all of them more than few times. I would rank it like this; 1. Interstellar 2 The Dark Knight 3. Inception 4. Memento 5. The Dark Knight Rises 6. The Prestige 7. Batman Begins 8. Dunkirk 9. Tenet 10. Insomnia I don't know maybe, I have missed something, even after repeats. Maybe it is time I give Insomnia another shot.

[@chino-bw5wx]

I may be among the few who think tenet is his best work so far

[@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.

[@rjmacready9828]

One of our generation's finest artists, let alone filmmakers

[@RakibErick]

Such an intelligent director

[@jurgenmathiae6682]

Such an interstellar director 😉

[@theempire00]

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

[@neilwiththereeldeel]

@@theempire00 that's literally why he made that statement...unless you're being sarcastic 😂😂

[@Olga_Efremov]

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

[@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

[@ralphiecifaretto8961]

Who underrates it? I've never heard anyone say anything bad about it before.

[@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!!

[@SamL12345]

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

[@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

[@dashboard7287]

@@nobad6843 marvel

[@jimmyog]

That triology was a great run!!!

[@its3amagain.]

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

[@northernpaladin66]

So good to hear a true artist speak so clearly

[@swishknowsball]

the host did a wonderful job. loved her commentary.

[@Erasureeraser]

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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@josephjasem7926]

Memento is still my favorite Nolan film.

[@adammohamed..]

Masterpiece

[@Jxvani1]

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

[@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.

[@tanvirasif4395]

Huge thanks to the great Mr. Spielberg, Mr. Nolan is the director of INTERSTELLAR

[@hothotheat3000]

What a gent. Massive respect for him.

[@seangrezel7913]

I love his Batman triology

[@thert.hon.thelordnicholson7261]

I prefer the one with Arnie and George Clooney myself

[@bloomer.musicuk]

I watched Dunkirk in the cinema on acid with my best friend. My most memorable experience yet.

[@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.

[@MegaSoapsFan-fe1ul]

Well done for winning Best Director at Oscars 2024! 👏

[@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.

[@MyFaveMoviePage]

17:08 Chris Nolan name drops my all time favorite Film Nior "Out of the Past". It's a good day.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@Krubba]

A true genius artist of modern cinema.

[@jamieaguilar5911]

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

[@flaviantropy]

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

[@bilalkahhaleh3403]

Yes! Thanks for the upload

[@VRKyurem]

I grew up going to one of those dome theaters. It’s actually where I saw dark knight rises opening night 21:18

[@yifeizhou7112]

Following is amazing! Many more should watch it!

[@austindmilligan]

Why did they skip over The Prestige?!?

[@cinemaatob]

Same.

[@24FramesALife24]

Without A Doubt, one of the greatest movie directors ever. Finally got the deserving Academy Award with Oppenheimer.

[@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’?

[@Khansolo2212]

Ah yes, the director of my favorite triology

[@cjmedson]

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

[@Precious81191]

Hail to you Christopher. Hail to you. I give you your flowers 🌸 🌸🌸🌸❤️❤️❤️🙌

[@Blaineisawarlock]

Being a huge movie nerd I have many favorites (LOTR being top) but as I list them in my head (Inception, DARK Knight Trilogy, The Prestige, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer) I started to notice a pattern lol. Nolan is by far my favorite Director.

[@RobPerreault]

A fantastic visionary and creative, good on ya Nolan!

[@DavidOakesMusic]

*Saves to Watch Earlier*

[@Animodeus]

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

[@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

[@alcottdevalte7440]

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

[@andrewstorm8240]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@Sachin_C10]

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

[@LuisAFvWetzler]

Brilliant director un grand châpeau

[@TheShadowrun.]

Insomnia is underrated, and the prestige

[@rubyrobaroba123-km8dl]

I love you my husband Chris i can’t wait ❤

[@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!

[@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

[@maxheadrom3088]

and after watchin 2001 Chris Nolan went home and decided that if he ever became a film director he would only film in 70 millimeter negatives!

[@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.

[@DedicatedSpirit8]

Imagine the minds of this man and his brother..

[@williamgregory1848]

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

[@senshai1267]

no questions about tenet!

[@sangramkale3243]

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

[@iknowtospeak]

THE GREATEST DIRECTOR OF 21ST CENTURY. Periodt

[@Pawkiiko]

Im lucky to be in the same timeline as christopher

[@tushantsharma8519]

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

[@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.

[@shankarbalakrishnan2360]

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

[@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.

[@loneranterism]

Did they purposefully avoid any discussion about The Prestige??

[@samuelroselli138]

What?!!? I can’t hear you! Interviewee must have mixed the audio.

[@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.

[@theempire00]

What watch is he wearing?

[@watcherofthewest8597]

I can't stand Nolans self indulgent time movies: momento, interstellar, tenet, inception...but with a. Narrower subject, I e. Historical event, he created a great movie in Dunkirk and an absolute masterpiece in Oppenheimer.

[@12345jammy]

The audience hasn't stopped coughing!

[@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.

[@hamademic]

Underrated comment

[@dinkaraikarai]

WA CAYA SAMA LU, LU MEMANG REAL BRADER ! ❤

[@helenheeney2284]

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

[@Micah__]

Somebody count how many times a person coughed in the crowd. Haha

[@phantomfire8228]

12:51

[@michaelakintonwa6512]

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

[@CameronRyan]

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

[@rr.martin5614]

?

[@phantomfire8228]

11:00

[@KhaldyFathy]

7:00 why Fade to Black?

[@alexfrog9191]

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

[@JustABowlOfCherries]

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

[@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

[@dragonverde188]

Please someone add timestamps to the vieo

[@phantomfire8228]

17:00

[@phantomfire8228]

19:00

[@sprafa]

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

[@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

[@GamezGuru1]

it's probbaly his worst film, but ok...

[@PeakDennisReynolds]

​@@GamezGuru1 Insomnia is much better than Tenet, Dunkirk and Dark Knight Rises. You simply have bad taste.

[@noperiod]

3:32 ding

[@arnabchakraborty3645]

What you guys think that he what movie he will make next after oppenheimer? Answer: I believe that he will make a amazing complex non linear structure horror movie.

[@raizanong]

l e g e n d