Christopher Nolan has tackled superhero blockbusters and indie hits and even took a 3-hour drama to a billion dollars. But he’s never ventured into the world of horror filmmaking.
While recently participating in the Q&A to promote Oppenheimer, Nolan was asked if he would tackle a horror film, and he’s very open to the idea.
Nolan dishes, “I think horror films are very interesting because they depend on very cinematic devices. It really is about a visceral response to things, and so, at some point, I’d love to make a horror film. But I think a really good horror film requires a really exceptional idea. And those are few and far between. So I haven’t found a story that lends itself to that.”
The filmmaker does note that making the most out of the cinematic space is what he wants to do with any genre, adding: “But I think it’s a very interesting genre from a cinematic point of view. It’s also one of the few genres where the studios make a lot of these films, and they are films that have a lot of bleakness, a lot of abstraction. They have a lot of the qualities that Hollywood is generally very resistant to putting in films, but that’s a genre where it’s allowable.”
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Nolan currently looks on track to win Best Director at this year’s Oscars, having just picked up BAFTAs for Best Director and Best Film. Could he return to the Academy Awards stage with a horror film? Only time will tell.
Written for the screen and directed by Christopher Nolan, OPPENHEIMER, thrusts audiences into the mind of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), whose landmark work as the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory created the first atomic bomb.
Starring alongside Cillian Murphy’s titular scientist are Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich, David Dastmalchian, Olli Haaskivi, Jason Clarke, James D’Arcy, Michael Angarano, Guy Burnet, Danny Deferrari, Matthias Schweighöfer, Gary Oldman, Harrison Gilbertson, Emma Dumont, Devon Bostick, Trond Fausa, Christopher Denham and Josh Zuckerman
