Christopher Nolan has made some of the best movies in the history of Hollywood cinema in all the years that he has been working as a filmmaker. He has made some rather big-budget movies and luckily, all of them have been more or less successful at drawing profits.
Although he has only been making movies with big budgets, he has proved his proficiency as a director with his independent film Memento, which proves that he is capable of good movies on a smaller scale. He does not make franchises unless he finds it relevant.
Case in point: The Dark Knight Trilogy, which is considered one of the best superhero movie series to date. However, he once admitted that he could not have directed another great trilogy, namely The Lord of the Rings (TLOTR).
Christopher Nolan Claimed He Would Not Have Been Able to Direct The Lord of the Rings
Christopher Nolan is regarded as one of the leading directors of the 21st century and he has established himself among the best filmmakers of this period in the entertainment industry. He is also popular among the audience, who eagerly await new projects from the director.
More than two decades ago, Nolan began working on one of the best superhero movies ever made. Batman Begins, the first movie of The Dark Knight Trilogy was released to critical acclaim in 2005. Although he was initially doubtful about making the next two Batman movies, he made them and they did exceptionally well.
In the cover story for Entertainment Weekly in 2012 (via IndieWire), Nolan openly admitted that he would not be able to do what Peter Jackson did with TLOTR. He said:
“What Peter Jackson did was completely different. He had the whole story for all three films; he was physically capable of shooting it all at once. I can’t imagine doing it myself. It’s one of the great achievements in movies.”
The Tenet director also admitted that they had taken inspiration from Lords of the Rings for the making of the Dark Knight trilogy.
Christopher Nolan Credited The Lord of the Rings Trilogy as Inspiration for Another Movie
Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy adventure movie series, based on British author J. R. R. Tolkien’s eponymous novel. Released between 2001 and 2003, the trilogy is one of the most successful fantasy film series.
In an interview with The New York Times, the Oppenheimer director admitted that he drew inspiration from some of the best fantasy works in the industry for his movie Inception. The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars served as the primary inspiration for his movie. In addition, The Matrix starring Keanu Reeves was also a great source of inspiration for Nolan while he was working on Inception.
