Christopher Nolan is one of the world’s most influential and innovative directors. To honor his enormous contributions to the cinema, he was recently awarded the British Film Institute Fellowship. His most recent venture- Oppenheimer has not only grossed $959.9 million but also received 13 nominations at the Academy Awards including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Nolan has already won the Golden Globe Award for Best Director for this movie.
Christopher Nolan is predominantly known for his unconventional narrative structure and practical special effects. So far, the director has explored quite a few genres, but he has never been the one to limit himself. When asked if he would ever like to make a horror film, he responded that since his movie has those elements, he would not say no to making one.
Christopher Nolan Believes He Can Make a Horror Movie
Christopher Nolan is one of the leading directors of the 21st century. He is often credited with revolutionizing the global cinema with his brilliant filmmaking. From the superhero film series The Dark Knight trilogy to the historical war thriller film Dunkirk, the director has touched down several genres.
The success of Nolan’s most recent project- Oppenheimer, an R-rated three-hour-long biopic based on American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer’s contributions to the making of the first nuclear weapon, has led him to believe that global cinema is defined less by franchise-led and IP-driven films.
Additionally, the movie has also led Christopher Nolan to believe that he can make a horror film. Speaking at an in-conversation event at London’s British Film Institute (BFI) (via Variety), when asked if he would consider making a horror film, he said:
“Oppenheimer has elements of horror in it definitely, as I think is appropriate to the subject matter. I think horror films are very interesting because they depend on very cinematic devices, it really is about a visceral response to things and so, at some point, I’d love to make a horror film.”
Nolan went on to say that a good horror film needs an exceptional idea, which is quite rare. He has not found any such idea yet.
Christopher Nolan’s Views on the Horror Genre
The horror genre is not a genre that many movie directors like to take risks with. Even so, James Wan and Sam Raimi have made some of the greatest horror movies in Hollywood.
Elaborating further on horror as a genre, Christopher Nolan said:
“But I think it’s a very interesting genre from a cinematic point of view. It’s also one of the few genres where the studios make a lot of these films, and they are films that have a lot of bleakness, a lot of abstraction. They have a lot of the qualities that Hollywood is generally very resistant to putting in films, but that’s a genre where it’s allowable.”
Nolan went on to use the example of Oppenheimer to explain the theme of genre. He explained he used the heist genre and the courtroom scene in the movie because those are mainstream genres that draw the interest of the audience.
