The genre Christopher Nolan wants nothing to do with: “Any other type is of interest to me”
If you were to ask certain people, the genre most diametrically opposed to the cinematic stylings of one Christopher Nolan is comedy. The man can make heart-pounding, mind-bending blockbusters with the best of them, but making audiences laugh? That ain’t his forte.
Having said that, anyone who has paid even the least bit of attention to most of his films knows that he isn’t a director who ignores comedy altogether. Sure, he’s not making Talladega Nights – although he has gone on record with his love of that film – but The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Tenet, and even Oppenheimer all include funny moments.
Hilariously, in a 2004 interview with Screenwriter Utopia, Nolan even took umbrage with the idea that making a comedy would be insane, simply because his early films were so dark and upsetting. “Well, I think both of them are quite funny,” the offended director noted with a stern face. “Maybe no one else agrees. I do find a lot of what goes on in films like Memento and Insomnia to be darkly serious – they are very straight-faced films – but they get a lot of laughter at screenings.”
Perhaps Nolan doth protest too much, although I’d agree that there are moments of mirth in Memento, especially. Remember when Guy Pearce’s memory-challenged sleuth wonders why he’s chasing a criminal, only to realise he’s actually the one being chased when the guy shoots at him? That’s comedy, baby!
Anyway, being upset that people don’t recognise his love of laughter (“I’d love to do a comedy,” he insisted) soon led him off on a tangent about the other genres he likes. He claimed that he’d “like to do all kinds of movies,” and since that interview, he’s made superhero flicks, a period mystery, science-fiction epics, a war movie, a biopic, and an upcoming fantasy epic. It’s long been rumoured that a horror movie might be on the cards, too, but a true comedy has remained elusive.
Interestingly, though, Nolan was forced to admit there is one genre that is well and truly off the cards for him. He has a fondness for all genres, you see, “except maybe musicals,” which is sure to be a dagger in the hearts of the six people out there hoping they’d see Nolan tackle a po-faced remake of Cats someday. Aside from that brand of musical spectacular, though, he was adamant, “Any other type of movie is of interest to me.”
In truth, the revelation that Nolan isn’t a song and dance man isn’t particularly surprising, as it’s never seemed in his wheelhouse, despite his movies being filled to the brim with ear-destroyingly loud orchestral scores. Seriously, between Hans Zimmer and Ludwig Goransson, there’s barely been a second of Nolan’s filmography in the last two decades that hasn’t featured their insanely dramatic musical offerings rumbling in the background. However, score is, of course, a very different kettle of fish to making a film about people who burst into song at every given opportunity, and Nolan just can’t see himself wanting to make a movie like that.
Still, to demonstrate that he isn’t a complete monster, Nolan does love one musical. In fact, he called it an “extraordinary film” and revealed that he watched it “three or four times”. This shocked him, as he blatantly admitted, “I don’t usually like musicals,” but he was so captivated by the directing that it trumped any reticence he had for the genre.
What was the movie, you may ask? Why, Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, of course, which probably charmed Nolan with its themes of pursuing the Hollywood dream almost as much as it did with its massively fun musical numbers.
