Christopher Nolan has always been vocal about his fascination with the James Bond franchise. In fact, he has previously admitted to taking inspiration from the films and applying it to his own works. He mentions Christian Bale’s The Dark Knight trilogy in particular.
Still, there is one film that many people accused him of ripping off from the spy movies despite it having the least James Bond elements. What does Nolan say about this?
Christopher Nolan Reacts To Allegations Of Copying James Bond Movies
In an Empire interview via Den of Geek, filmmaker Christopher Nolan admitted that the James Bond movies have been a major source of inspiration for his projects. As someone who grew up admiring the British spy agent, he claimed it was inevitable:
“I’ve been plundering ruthlessly from the Bond movies in everything I’ve done, forever. They’re a huge influence on me.”
He singled out Batman Begins as a great example and mentioned the elements he borrowed from the famed spy installment via IndieWire:
“The globe-trotting elements of Batman Begins mostly came from the Bond films. One of the first films I remember seeing was The Spy Who Loved Me and, at a certain point, the Bond films fixed in my head as a great example of scope and scale in large-scale images. That idea of getting you to other places, of getting you along for a ride if you can believe in it.”
While he loved using the Bond influences in his Batman films, he only had small touches of it in his 2010 movie Inception. Interestingly, people noticed one detail from the film, and that was enough evidence for viewers to accuse the director of copying James Bond. Nolan explained in his interview with Seattle Pi:
“We had been ripping off Bond in the Batman movies for a while, but nobody ever called us out. We throw in a snowmobile chase in Inception, and everyone calls me on it.”
Regardless, Nolan’s love for James Bond films has manifested in his works, and he has somehow managed to seamlessly incorporate them in a subtle way.
Christopher Nolan Is Rumored To Direct The Next 007 Film
In a recent post from World of Reel, Christopher Nolan is reportedly in talks of helming the next James Bond movie. According to the outlet, the only concern right now is the extent of the director’s creative freedom. It also stated:
“The deal being negotiated would be for Nolan to direct two Bond films, writing both of them as well. Still no word yet on who the actor playing Bond would be, but some encouraging signs are pointing towards Aaron Taylor-Johnson taking over the role.”
How would Nolan feel about directing a James Bond movie? While he confessed feeling more than happy to tackle the job, he also noted that he needs to be in a certain creative space to properly execute it. He said via Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“When you take on a character like that you’re working with a particular set of constraints. It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong.”
Nolan further noted that he has spoken to James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, and while he has not yet ruled out the possibility, the director said he’s happy to see what they have in store for the franchise.
