This week Christopher Nolan releases his new film: Oppenheimer. The biopic about the inventor of the atomic bomb inspires critics and the public. Above all, the director proves that he can turn any subject into an exciting film that reaches the masses. What if you paired him with one of the most beloved pop culture figures in history?
The question, what a Christopher Nolan Bond film would look like, has been stimulating fans’ imaginations for years, at least since the sci-fi thriller Inception, a disguised spy film. In a new interview with journalist Josh Horowitz, Nolan has discussed a possible Bond engagement for the first time in a while.
Nolan as Bond director: “It would be a great privilege”
“The influence of these films on a body of work is embarrassingly evident”he says in the interview when asked if he would ever direct a Bond film. “It would be a great privilege to shoot one.” So far, so evasive. Nolan then becomes more specific and names his Conditions: He wouldn’t take on a film that he can’t take full creative control over. “As a writer, in casting, everything, it’s a whole package.”
At first glance, that sounds like an impossible requirement. But the interview goes on…
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A Nolan Bond: Why the opportunity is greater than ever
Nolan shortly afterwards recalls an older answer he gave to the Bond question, in 2017. At the time, he had just spoken to Bond producer Barbara Broccoli, he said:
Maybe one day it will be something. You should really be needed […] It would have to be one reinvention be necessary.
Nolan still stands by that answer today. “One would have to be needed”, he says now too. Needed “with everything you can bring to the character.” This condition must be met.
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Oh well. Coincidentally the Bond brand has been on the verge of reinvention since Daniel Craig’s departure almost two years ago. Coincidentally Christopher Nolan is needed as a possible Bond director like never before. Coincidentally he would even have a say in the selection of the main actor with whom he could shoot the debut. Coincidentally Apparently the preferred director, Sam Mendes, has just canceled the Broccolis. And coincidentally Nolan has worked for the Bond-related studio Universal for the first time since Oppenheimer.
More importantly: He would probably have more creative freedom with the upcoming Bond 26 than he would have in the next 20 years. And then it might already be too late.
So we can only hope the Broccolis saw Nolan’s interview.