Christopher Nolan Signals Search For His First-Ever Horror Movie

The search for a Christopher Nolan horror movie has begun.

Christopher Nolan’s movies span a wide range of genres, including the neo-noir thrillers Following, Memento, and Insomnia, a superhero’s journey in The Dark Knight trilogy, the science-fiction stories of The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar, and Tenet, and the historical drama of Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. While horror is an element in some of his films, including in his newest one, The Odyssey, he has never done a movie primarily rooted in this genre.

In an interview with Fred Asquith, Nolan was asked if he is interested in ever “doing a full horror movie.” The Academy Award-winning director revealed that he would “love” to make a film in this genre, but has not found an idea yet that felt worth pursuing. In the meantime, he has embraced the horrific elements in the stories of Oppenheimer, The Odyssey, and his other works, as it is a genre that he finds to be incredibly “cinematic” and “visceral” when done right. Check out his comments below:

I’d love to do a horror movie. But it’s all about the idea. It’s all about is there a story that really compels you, and I’ve never found that for me, other than in other ways. There’s a sense in which Oppenheimer is a horror movie. It’s certainly very dark material to engage with for that long, and there are very significant elements of horror baked into The Odyssey, the original text. And so I’ve tried to fully embrace those, because I think it’s a genre that’s really essentially cinematic. It’s a visceral genre. It’s one where you’re really trying to give the audience a feeling of what the characters are experiencing. And that’s the type of filmmaking I’ve really enjoyed.

During The Odyssey press tour, Nolan also spoke about the horror genre while praising the critical and commercial success of the new movies Backrooms and Obsession. In an interview with The Telegraph, he praised the movies for being evidence of how cinema “continues to transform itself” and how “Those films are so mysterious and ruminative. I mean, parts of Backrooms are like David Lynch at his most obscure. And yet young people can’t get enough of them.”

Nolan’s next movie after The Odyssey has not been revealed yet, but his comments about doing a horror movie and his reactions to Backrooms and Obsession raise the chances of him tackling this genre next. Despite all his success, he has never clung to the same genre, even when it may have been the safest option to do so.

After Oppenheimer‘s seven Academy Award wins, including for Best Picture and Best Director, and grossing almost $1 billion worldwide, he easily could have stuck with historical drama, but instead shifted to the epic fantasy mythology of The Odyssey. He has discussed how this is the first time that the classic myth written by Homer will be adapted in its entirety on a blockbuster scale and how the source material features storytelling’s “original superheroes.” These ideas made The Odyssey compelling to Nolan, and he has to find something that inspires him as deeply if he pursues horror.

If he does make a horror movie, another important question is whether he will adapt existing material or if it will be an entirely original story. His last two films have been in the former category, with Oppenheimer based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. From Inception to Interstellar, though, he has plenty of experience crafting a completely original story, and it would be the first time he has done this since Tenet.

For now, audiences can experience the horror in The Odyssey, including the sequence where Odysseus (Matt Damon) and his soldiers encounter the cyclops Polyphemus and other terrifying mythological creatures. The movie is directed and written by Nolan, and in addition to Damon, the cast includes Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, and Charlize Theron as Calypso.

The Odyssey releases in theaters on July 16.

Birthdate

July 30, 1970

Birthplace

Westminster, London, England, UK