The one thing Christopher Nolan regrets about his early career
It would be hard to believe any director could harbour a feeling of regret having single-handedly transformed the superhero genre with the innovative Dark Knight trilogy, among many other modern classics, but the British filmmaker Christopher Nolan does rue one specific event from right at the start of his career. Indeed, after his highest-grossing movie outside of his superhero efforts, in the shape of Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy, in contemporary cinema, Nolan is on top of the world.
Known as one of the greatest directors of modern cinema, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Denis Villeneuve, Yorgos Lanthimos and the Safdie brothers, Nolan has transformed the modern landscape of cinema with such movies as Tenet, Dunkirk and Interstellar. His greatest career regret was linked to a classic filmmaker too, making a mistake before the release of the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction in 1994.
Despite only really coming to the consciousness of the general public at the turn of the new millennium with the release of Memento in 2000, Nolan was very much active in the industry in the 1990s. Making his directorial debut with Following in 1998, Nolan preceded his feature with a number of short films released from 1989 to 1997, with many of the movies starring himself and his brother Jonathan.
Understandably, Nolan was, therefore, pretty excited when a young Tarantino emerged in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs and generated considerable buzz for his eventual Palme d’Or winner, Pulp Fiction.
Back in the early 1990s, Nolan was working for an array of production companies, even getting the chance to read the script for Tarantino’s sophomore flick before it was released. Reflecting on this period, Nolan told The New York Times: “I was interning at a film company years ago, and I read the script for Pulp Fiction before I saw the movie, and I always regretted it”.
Continuing, he added: “I’m a huge Reservoir Dogs fan, I was really excited to see [Quentin Tarantino’s] next film. Reading the script wasn’t the same as seeing the film. And then seeing the film, having read the script, wasn’t the same as seeing the film”.
Known as Tarantino’s most famous movie, Pulp Fiction enraptured fans and critics back in the early 1990s, winning the most prized trophy at Cannes whilst also winning ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards. Starring the likes of Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson, the film is a snappy crime thriller that tells the story of several groups of people who are each after a mysterious briefcase.
Speaking further about his regretful decision, Nolan added: “It’s like you want to open your presents before Christmas, and then if you do, you regret it. We try to hide the presents up in the top of the closet where people can’t get at it. But it’s an unusual movie, and so it’s a lot harder to just put out a two-and-a-half minute trailer and everyone goes, ‘Oh, yeah, I know what that is.’ An original concept – a world the audience hasn’t entered into before – for me as a filmgoer, that’s the most exciting thing”.
