Christopher Nolan

By Brendan Flynn

Background

Christopher Nolan was born in London, England on July 30th of 1970.

At the age of 7 he made his first short film.

His mom was American and his dad was British so he spent time in both countries and has dual citizenship, much of his background comes from London and Chicago.

He studied English literature at University College London where he joined the school's film team.

Here he created the short films of Tarantula, Larceny, and Doodlebug, before he went on to write and direct in Hollywood.

Background

Christopher Nolan's first feature length film was Following(2008) which he filmed with a budget of around $6000, however you could see his style emerge from this first film that influenced the rest of his films.

The film was well received in the film festival community, winning 5 awards and was nominated for another 4 in 1999.

This film helped him obtain enough money to shoot his second feature length film Memento (2000).

Major Films

Following (1998) – Director, Writer, Producer

Memento (2000) – Director, Writer

Insomnia (2002) – Director

Batman Begins (2005) – Director, Writer

The Prestige (2006) – Director, Writer, Producer

The Dark Knight (2008) – Director, Writer, Producer

Inception (2010) – Director, Writer, Producer

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – Director, Writer, Producer

Man of Steel (2013) – Writer, Producer

Interstellar (2014) – Director, Writer, Producer

Signature Style – Non Linear Storytelling

One of Christopher Nolan's signature styles is the non-linear storytelling that encompasses almost all of his movies, with the exception of the Batman Trilogy.

In Memento the story is told scene by scene from the ending to the beginning.

In Inception the story slows down time within a man's brain as they pass through each level, it compresses time across the entire movie.

In The Prestige the story telling aspect uses flashbacks within flashbacks to tell the entire story.

Signature Style – Gray Morality of Characters

Insomnia presents us with Will Dormer, a detective who confesses to planting evidence to put a pedophile in jail. Then in a later portion of the movie he plants evidence to make it look like the killer is the one who shot his partner, not himself.

Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy has a collection of antagonists who you'd think would all be considered “bad”, and they are, but one character who you get to see as someone who turns to the bad side is Two-Face or Harvey Dent. He was once a man who stood for justice in Gotham city who ends up turning on the city after an explosion burns half of his face off.

Signature Style – Twist Endings

For Memento's ending we find out that Leonard has been falsely leading himself along to give purpose to his life, where at the end of the movie he writes down his handler's license plate which is why he was killed in the beginning of the movie.

The Prestige has a twist at the end that shows us how the disappearing man trick works with Borden, he actually has a twin who take turns playing him every moment throughout the movie.

In The Dark Knight Rises we find out that Bane wasn't Ras al Ghul's real offspring like we were led to believe, it was actually Miranda who becomes the main villain of the movie.

Video Example

Insomnia this is an example of the gray morality in this movie, it's the beginning of a chain of events where Dormer covers up the accidental shooting of his partner to get himself out of trouble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRXkLLBrBtA

This video was from The Prestige where it shows the trick that was used to make the disappearing man act work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHKan75x7GI

Sources

Biography.com http://www.biography.com/people/christopher-nolan-20881457

IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154506/?ref_=ttawd_awd_tt

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Nolan#Filmography

Sources

Biography.com http://www.biography.com/people/christopher-nolan-20881457

IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154506/?ref_=ttawd_awd_tt

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Nolan#Filmography