Director Christopher Nolan gives us an in-depth look at the way he planned his intense World War II dramatic-thriller Dunkirk. Subscribe to Film4 for more interviews, clips and trailers: bit.ly/2up0y8g #Film4 #Nolan #Dunkirk
That's right - he's the initiative, he made his own first film (Following - approx. $5000) with his own money as opposed to relying on others to provide dough. I personally know a friend who spent five years trying to collect enough to make his first feature, but seriously, do it yourself. Then you have a film, at least! It's easier to get distribution deals and funding if you're a proven director (even if the film sucks, you've done something). Think of Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi) and Kevin Smith (Clerks). Nolan seen those films prior to making Following, he studied them in depth and grew in his craft - that's what taught him filmmaking - observing others, how they steadied the shot, blocked the actors - how to tell a compelling story. Nolan grew in skill by watching other films. He read a lot as well. He didn't need to blow through thousands at the New York Film Academy (for example), and today he's Hollywood's best. I you plan to be a filmmaker, writer, or anything else that falls under the title of "creativity," do it yourself, then see where you land - and it you fail - rinse, wash, repeat. This is what Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford did - they failed a thousand times before reaching stardom, Cruise was living in his car for years! But that's the catch. One cannot give up in this industry. This is how Nolan made it big. Without Following, there'd be no Dunkirk today, and no dark theater (IMAX) to watch as the lights go down, and the sound splashes in, as a twinkle of light breaks open a dark screen, revealing the first shots of a grand spectacle.
David Murphy Given how genius he is, he should know. Based on what I’ve seen though he’s an extremely humble person. He doesn’t like to show off, he just likes making brilliant work 😂 Truly the best kind of artist there is.
Interstellar , inception , momento , all created by him (and his brother you might say)......like from scratch. and this being an adaptation of an event and to shape it the way he did...... the top just got higher.
Interstellar - boring and dull ending. Inception - logical mistakes along the whole movie. Memento - genius new way, but in the end boring. Dunkirk - great pictures, terrific sound, boring movie to the bottom.
The simple fact that he looks at his shots and tries to place himself as an audience member lets me know that he is a still passionate filmmaker.(I like his movies regardless) He always trying to innovate and really draw you in to the story, not just tell it. Anyone who hasn't seen Dunkirk is missing out.
It is shocking to see that so few people on the internet seem to understand Dunkirk and what Nolan visually does with the film. So many people complain about the lacking gore, the film being boring (lol, what?), no character development (heck, there is some, decent and visually), no dramatic characters etc. I understand Nolan but don't understand those people. This film is a masterpiece for what it is and I hope Nolan finally gets the award season recognition he deserves.
I can understand everything he says, but getting to the point of thinking it all through as he does is unbelievable. It's such an impressive way of thinking. For me, he managed to succeed in everything he explained in this interview. I have huge respect for this man and hope for many more films to come !
I'm very impressed and moved after watching Christopher Nolans Dunkirk movie. The film was more than I had hoped for. I couldn't help feeling that deep sense of ingrained pride for our nation and of all the people who fought and died during WW2 (My great grandfather being one of them who actually died at Dunkirk) The movie has ultra realism and accuracy so it feels as if you're witnessing the events as if it were 77 years ago. The harrowing visuals are astounding and I kept thinking about all who must have gone through everything that I was watching on screen. The aerial fighting scenes are beautiful and spectacular to watch with some terrifying and heroic scenes. The fantastic soundtrack carries through the whole story with an urgent soaring scale. There is little dialogue as there is a lot of clever visual story telling. No one person is the central character of the film as it's more about the event and everybody in it. There are many moments that will bring anyone close to tears and after it was over I couldn't quite move from my seat for a while due to contemplating on everything I'd seen. This is for sure Nolans greatest film and will be remembered as a world war 2 movie classic for years. I highly recommend anyone to go see it while it's still at the cinema.
It's funny due to not my perfect English language I barely understood anyone said in their proper English accent in DUNKIRK. And still I understood what going on in the movie. It kept me guessing whats gonna happen next, a lot of tension,confusion and suspense were mixed in.But as a whole everything was clear what is happening.
There's a quiet power in Nolan. It's a rare thing in the industry. He's also probably the last of his kind; having come along just on the cusp of modern media tech. As a result his was a much more organic success story. The talent of today won't fare as well.
amit I hope you are being sarcastic because if you are not you are one sad fkcer calling somebody rasist for admiring somebody's blue eyes makes you wonder who the racist really is
What I love is his justification for his choices. Whether you like the film or not, you can't argue that every moment in this movie was purposefully curated for the viewer by Nolan and his team. That's the difference between a good filmmaker and a great filmmaker.
Abdulrahman Mahmoud هههههههههههههههههههههه انت يعجبك اسوأ افلام نولان. ماشاء الله على النظرة الثاقبة. Lemme guess. You think inception and Dunkirk and the prestige too boring. This dude is hailed as the next Spielberg and you call him boring. يعني هذا دليل على ذكائك الخارق
+jimmyholster Uh, okay. If you say so. One could argue that cinematography is slightly more difficult an art than utensil use, but maybe you're a better forker than I can comprehend. I don't believe directing movies is quite as easy as you'd have it sound, though.
He is an incredible brilliant director, so involved in the whole process. And am I the only one who finds his voice so calming? All that said, Nolan is one of a kind genius.
Did you have any trouble making out the dialogue? Because that would be my only major issue with the film. Which is otherwise a masterpiece and deserves all kinds of awards.
@Bernard Black. Actually I did, yea. For me it wasn't because of the audio quality or it being too low or anything. But it was some of the accents that gave me a little trouble in figuring out some words they were saying. I don't think that's the fault of the movie or Nolan though but just me having a hard time with some of the accents. But it definitely wasn't often enough to ruin anything. I'll be happy to have subtitles though when it comes out on blu-ray that's for sure haha.
Oh yea I totally agree. I had no problem with there being accents. It's just a little difficult sometimes for me to hear certain words in different accents from different countries. Definitely not implying that I want everything to sound like American accents or anything, cuz that's not what I mean. I'm perfectly happy with how the movie handled all that, it seems accurate enough to me. But like I said I'm certainly excited for the blu-ray to come out so I can get some subtitles and rewatch it again. I already saw it twice in theaters, I just love it so much.
best war movie ever made will always be Apocalypse Now / Full Metal Jacket - That Circus scene with Roach, Shit was madness caught in film. And that graduation night watch scene is so vivid. No one can forget such violence and tragedy in one scene.
You don't need to go to film school. Tarantino and Spielberg also didn't. You can learn here with a lot of tutorial or read books. I recommend "Story" by Robert McKee and "Grammar of the film language" by Daniel Arijon. It's all there. Then you must practice, practice, practice, write and direct as much as you can. Good luck!
The stream of consciousness that comes from his mind is unlike anyone else I've ever heard. He speaks with such intense clarity - it's akin to the clarity of a great writer. Yet it's just his moment-to-moment thoughts. A gifted mind!
My all time favourite director. Discovered back in 2007 from The Prestige and eversince has stirred imaginations in every possible direction to every possible dimension.
He is a film school. The kind of factors and verticals that need to be perfectly coordinated to come up with a masterpiece like this- it is insanely difficult. And he delivers every time. So lucky to be watching his films and cherishing it :) Totally unrelated and insignificant but he is outrageously handsome too 😂 God really took his time in designing this human being.
Nolan is one of the best talents in directing alongside PT Anderson, Wes Anderson and a few others. Wonder if he will ever reach the big legends like Scorsese, Spielberg and Coppola.
What's so dang good about Nolan's films is that this is what i find, his films dont have the 'greatest scene(s)' or 'favourite scene(s)' or even if there r any it's hard to decide which one & there r only very few of em, all the scenes progresses very uniformly, the vibe, the message, pace & thrills r well balanced in each scene, thus making the whole film great to watch, u wont easily feel bored, especially the new Dunkirk
Enormously helpful interview from Nolan for a young filmmaker like myself. I love how you can see the informed choices he makes in the final product of his films; he has ideas and beliefs that make it through from inception to theatres. I particularly respect how he carefully crafted this film mathematically and then wrote it subjectively. My own personal mantra while making films starting out is KISS: "Keep It Simple, Stupid". I find this works well even when things are complex. He also espouses the same sentiment that the editor for Jaws had in that the audience doesn't know, nor care, how difficult something was to film, they care about what ends up on screen and whether the images matter within the film. After seeing it in IMAX I wholly agree that that this is a virtual reality experience without the goggles.
There are far more that he intended to do with this film especially with how actors are expressing their own emotions with various ways, and so as how situations are so realistically described as well, what I am so surprised is that with this 9 min interview he is very easily delivering all of the important points that people need to focus mainly; its rather a guidance than a interview of the movie, thats how I feel about this inter view. Simply amazing
I’m watching it again just to hear his voice and the video! Best interview video I’ve ever seen! Could you please tell me which mic 🎙 and lens used to film this interview? Please!
Chris Corley hmm Memento, The Dark Knight, Inception and Interstellar aren't the masterpieces everybody said they were, so I was more than pleasantly surprised by this one.
he is the most impecible film maker ever.....firstly putting urself into the shoes of the audience.....framing the working movements of their mindsets....and then finally putting and altering his own style of filmmaking accordingly....
Does anyone know what directors he's referencing at 1:07? The closest I could find to what they sound like is: F. W. Murnau, Josef von Sternberg, Erich von Stroheim - but I'm not sure
This film was very unique. How the 3 timelines converged was pretty seamless to me. It was also very interesting to see a WW2 movie where the “villain” is once again Germans (kinda) but we never see them. The Brits and French were the heroes in a way and you cheered for them but not because there were big baddy Jerry soldiers slaughtering them. The action was very real and concerning too since we always saw the explosions etc. from behind some soldiers. Therefore the hits look like it hurt and actually had an emotional impact.
The film is excellent, totally worth watching for the sound experience you won't get at home! - I wasn't sure if the yellow nose on the Messerschmitt plane was realistic, seems disadvantageous to stick out like that. Looked it up - yes, appraently they actually did this to avoid friendly fire when flying close to the ground. Apparently they lost quite a few planes in Poland when their own guys shot at the planes.