Christopher Nolan’s surprising soft spot for Michael Bay: “He sees something in it, and I don’t”
As part of the much-beloved ‘Orange Wednesday’ cinema deal, it was a tradition of mine and my brothers’ to watch a film together at least once a month, but in 2008, that deal had ramped up a notch.
He now had a driving license, and I had just turned 12 years old, meaning we could watch Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight as fully fledged adults.
I won’t claim that I was intelligent enough at that age to understand how Nolan was pivoting into an auteur of cinema, remodelling the otherwise tired superhero tale, nor could I tightly follow on to the ever-changing narrative that extended beyond the simple three-act rule and instead layered shades of socio-political themes into the story, both of which came later, but I did nevertheless, realise that what I was watching was one of the greatest films ever produced.
It remains at the very top of my personal list for both emotional and artistic reasons combined, as the meanings of Nolan’s narrative evolve with my growing wisdom. It was subsequently a gateway into a filmography that I have loved, and at times, bemoaned, ever since. If Tenet was supposed to be cinema in reverse, then my appraisal of it is the reverse word of bollocks, whatever that may be.
But there is no denying that Dunkirk, Interstellar and Inception have all heightened the level of commercial storytelling. Big action sequences can combine with considered storytelling to make cinematic stories that are both intimate and elaborate at the same time, without the idea that they are mutually exclusive, an idea created by a legion of big action directors like Michael Bay.
For better or worse, Bay has crafted a legacy for himself that is centred around high-octane action, rapid-fire editing and slick visuals that many critics have labelled ‘Bayhem’.
On the surface, it seems like the complete antithesis of Nolan’s style, as while they operate on a similar budget these days, Nolan tries to let the narrative lead the explosive decisions that come later on during the production, yet Bay’s commitment to delivering elaborate action sequences has actually become a source of inspiration for Nolan, who is rumoured to be a closet Bay fan.
“There are the movies out there that he loves and I hate,” one of his cinematography collaborators, Wally Pfister, explained, “I’m not a big Michael Bay fan. Chris loves Michael Bay’s movies. And so I’m always like, ‘Come on, dude!’ But he sees something in it, and I don’t see it.”
There is a clear difference between how a director and a cinematographer are supposed to see the film, and it is ultimately Pfister’s job to bring the style and nuance to Nolan’s projects, allowing for something that balances the intimacy with the plotline, however, for Nolan, Bay clearly serves as a loose inspiration for how to orchestrate large-scale chaos onscreen and choreograph a string of high-octane sequences. Perhaps without Bay, Inception’s explosive ending might not have been quite as grand.
