The only actor who didn’t enjoy working for Christopher Nolan: “It’s very disconcerting”
With an Oscar in hand, endless financing of his ideas and a queue of A-list actors, all begging to work on his next project, it’s safe to say that Christopher Nolan has officially worked his way into cinematic immortality.
There weren’t exactly many barriers to entry for a young Nolan, honing his craft in 1990s London. But nevertheless, his talent shone through and warranted the continued praise his work received. After a string of several short films, Nolan finally broke through the mould and earned global critical praise, with Memento, a movie starring Guy Pierce as the protagonist who has anterograde amnesia and uses notes and tattoos to hunt for his wife’s murderer.
A distinct writing and directing style shone through immediately in the 2000 film, and so a full blooded career directing Hollywood’s most expensive A-listers beckoned. Insomnia with Al Pacino and Robin Williams came soon after, before his career-defining work on the Dark Knight trilogy cemented his place at the top.
Batman Begins set the scene for Nolan’s grittier new Gotham, before The Dark Knight came in and staked its claim to be considered one of the greatest films of all time. Ambitious action sequences met with nuanced character development and a plot line that pushed the viewer beyond the simple redemption arc.
Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Gary Oldman’s performances combined showcased a level of dedication that was required from actors, were they to jump on board the Dark Knight project for the third instalment.
Christopher Judge grappled with that challenge as he played the leader of Bane’s henchmen. Albeit a supporting role, the weight of independence felt heavy on his shoulders, as he explained, “I did Dark Knight Rises with Christopher Nolan, who’s a true genius, but he doesn’t really talk to you as an actor a lot, so it’s very disconcerting.”
He continued, “Actors are fragile, they gotta be told exactly every 3.7 minutes, ‘You’re wonderful, babe, you’re doing great,’ and Nolan doesn’t do that.”
The lack of mollycoddling clearly lent itself to the cold and uncompromising world he created in his Dark Knight trilogy, particularly in that third film, when most of the characters had to experience some sense of social isolation.
But that isolation is what Michael Caine calls minimalism. Caine didn’t just play an integral role in all three Dark Knight films, portraying Alfred, but he has also collaborated with Nolan on a string of his other films, namely The Prestige, Inception and Interstellar.
He too acknowledged Nolan’s more stripped-back approach, explaining, “I’ve had intimate direction from great directors, but I’ve never had the sort of intimacy and minimalist direction I get from Chris,” he explained to The Times. “He reminds me of Hitchcock, the way that everything is about creating the best moments of suspense.”
With an Oscar to his name and several hundred million grossed at the box office, it’s hard to question the method of his approach as ineffective. Over the 25 years that exist between Memento and right now, Nolan has proven himself to be a unique director, worthy of his praise.
