The “absolute classic” Christopher Nolan ripped off in ‘The Dark Knight’
There are a bunch of contemporary filmmakers who are dedicated to preserving the craft of classic cinema, with the likes of Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve and Quentin Tarantino often shooting their innovative movies using celluloid. In addition, such auteurs have a love and respect for the history of cinema, often taking inspiration from the greatest films of the art form.
For Nolan, a filmmaker with deep admiration for the cinematic titans of the past, including Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa and Francis Ford Coppola, iconic movies have long played a part in influencing his own style. For example, when Nolan took to revolutionising the superhero genre with the release of The Dark Knight in 2008, he borrowed aspects from across the landscape of cinema history.
A sinister and dark take on the world of Gotham City, Nolan’s movie starred Christian Bale as Batman, the titular ‘Dark Knight’ and protector of the community against crime syndicates and warlords such as Heath Ledger’s Joker. Wishing to change the genre as audiences knew it, Nolan took ideas from such classic films as Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and even Orson Welles’ iconic masterpiece Citizen Kane.
Still, there is one movie above all that Nolan admits to having kept ripping off during the making of The Dark Knight, revealing this in an interview with Konbini.
“Heat. Absolute classic,” he announced whilst walking the endless shelves of DVDs and Blu-rays with the star of 2023’s Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy. Continuing, he adds, “I’ve been talking about this one for years, I kept ripping it off. Big influence on The Dark Knight”.
Contributing to Nolan’s passionate description, Murphy adds that the film has the “best shootout sequence,” to which the filmmaker replies, “incredible shootout”.
Released back in 1995, Michael Mann’s iconic crime movie stars Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer as seasonal criminals who are fighting to pull off one last heist before they finally retire, only for a simple mistake of inviting Al Pacino’s Lt. Vincent Hanna to chase their tails. An iconic crime thriller of the 1990s, Heat is recognised as one of Mann’s finest films, featuring frenetic performances from each celebrated cast member.
Nolan hasn’t shied away from the influence of Heat, however, having previously spoken about how the tone and look of Los Angeles inspired his approach to the visual style of Gotham City. Speaking about Mann’s movie whilst discussing his favourite films, he explains: “Batman Begins had been as big as we could make it…One of the biggest epic films I have ever seen is Michael Mann’s Heat. That is a true Los Angeles story, just wall-to-wall within the city. Okay, we’ll make it a city story”.
Take a look at Nolan and Murphy discuss Heat alongside some of their other all-time favourite movies in the interview below.
