The curious connection between Christopher Nolan and Jason Voorhees
Personalities don’t come much more diametrically opposed than Christopher Nolan and Jason Voorhees, but the Academy Award-winning director and slasher icon nonetheless developed a curious connection that saw their paths cross on the same picture.
Horror remains one of the most notable genres that Nolan has yet to tackle during a career that’s encompassed comic book adaptations, mind-bending thrillers, blockbuster action escapades, period pieces, biographical drama and more, but he isn’t entirely averse to the idea of seeing if his talents stretch far enough to scare audiences witless.
He’s never seen on set without wearing a suit and brandishing his trusted flask of tea, whereas Voorhees has always been more partial to a boiler suit, hockey mask, and machete. They aren’t two peas in a pod, to put it lightly, but one of Nolan’s many critical and commercial smash hits featured the Friday the 13th figurehead in an uncredited supporting role of sorts.
For two decades, Nolan was Warner Bros’ golden child after the studio backed every single one of his pictures from Insomnia to Tenet. The longtime pairing went their separate ways after that, ending one of the most fruitful creative partnerships in modern cinema, but it could have ended sooner if it wasn’t for Jason.
Nolan’s sci-fi epic Interstellar began life as a potential vehicle for Steven Spielberg, first entering development in the mid-2000s. The following year, Nolan’s brother Jonathan was hired to write the script, and the project remained set up at Paramount after the Dark Knight trilogy helmer officially came aboard in 2012.
Of course, Warner Bros was desperate to remain in bed with its prized asset, but Paramount had certain terms and conditions it demanded be met before the two rivals could partner up. To gain a stake in Interstellar, Warner Bros gave Paramount the rights it held to co-finance the next instalment in the Friday the 13th franchise, as well as a future South Park movie.
As a result, Paramount handled distribution in the United States for Interstellar, while Warner Bros dealt with the film’s international rollout. Both companies got to share in the profits after the movie hauled in $730million at the global box office and notched five Academy Award nominations, but the latter definitely got the better end of the deal.
Warner Bros got to maintain its position as Nolan’s go-to studio, whereas Paramount didn’t have a whole lot to show for it. How many Friday the 13th movies have been made since the studios struck the deal? None. How many feature-length South Park adventures have arrived on the big screen since? The answer is also a big fat zero.
The consistent 19-year bond between Nolan’s filmography and Warner Bros would have been brought to a halt seven years sooner had Voorhees not been dangled in front of Paramount like a carrot, only for the Friday the 13th favourite to have remained firmly in cold storage in the aftermath.
