Skip over navigation

Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is an award-winning filmmaker who has been recognized for his work as a director and screenwriter. Nolan began making movies at an early age with his father's Super-8mm camera. While studying English Literature at University College London, Nolan shot 16mm films at UCL's film society, learning the guerrilla film techniques he would later use to make his first feature Following. The 'no-budget' noir thriller enjoyed great success at a number of international film festivals, including Toronto, Rotterdam, Slam-dance, and Hong Kong prior to being released in the US, UK, France, and other various territories.

Nolan's second film was was the low-budget independent feature Memento, starring Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano, which Nolan directed from his own screenplay, based on a short story by his brother Jonathan. The film brought Nolan numerous honors, including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, two Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay, and a Directors Guild of America Award nomination. In addition, he won Best Screenplay Awards from several critics groups, including the Los Angeles, London, Chicago and Broadcast Film Critics Associations, as well as the American Film Institute's Screenwriter of the Year Award, and the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival.

Nolan followed Memento with the critically acclaimed psychological thriller Insomnia, starring Academy Award winners Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. For that film, Nolan won the London Critics Circle Award for Best Director of the Year.

In 2005, Nolan co-wrote and directed Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman. The blockbuster reimagined the Batman film franchise, pleasing critics and fans alike and paving the way for The Dark Knight.

Before returning to the Batman franchise, Nolan directed, co-wrote and produced the mystery thriller The Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Michael Caine. Empire Magazine named Nolan the Best Director of the Year for the film, which also received Oscar nominations for its extraordinary art direction and cinematography.

In 2008, Nolan returned to the "caped crusader" series with The Dark Knight. It debuted in the summer of that year breaking box-office records left and right. It eventually went on to become the second highest grossing film ever domestically, and racked up massive billion plus dollars worldwide. It was also a huge critical success, placing on many Top Ten lists that year, as well as earning 8 Oscar nominations and 2 wins, including the late Heath Ledger's now legendary performance as The Joker.

Nolan started working on his 7th full-length feature film, Inception, in the summer of 2009. The film starred Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, and many others. It opened in July of 2010 with wide critical and commercial success. It ended the year as one of the highest grossing films of 2010 and went on to win 4 Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography.

In 2012, Nolan released his third and final Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises. Like its predecessor, it performed extremely well at the box-office, earning over a billion dollars worldwide. The only other director to achieve this milestone with two separate films is James Cameron. The Dark Knight Rises also marks the final collaboration between Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister, who plans to start his own directing career in 2013.

Filmography:

1998 - Following
2000 - Memento
2002 - Insomnia
2005 - Batman Begins
2006 - The Prestige
2008 - The Dark Knight
2010 - Inception
2012 - The Dark Knight Rises








News | What members say | Filmography

Christopher Nolan - news / articles


  • Christopher Nolan sues over movie commission - 6 September 2012
    -Director Christopher Nolan has taken legal action against his talent agents in a bid to settle a dispute over film commission.-The Dark Knight Rises filmmaker signed with William Morris Endeavor (WME) earlier this year (12) after his lead agent was fired from Creative Art


  • Christopher Nolan devastated by midnight movie massacre - 21 July 2012
    -Moviemaker Christopher Nolan has broken his silence following the midnight massacre at the screening of his new film The Dark Knight Rises.-Devastated by the news that 12 Batman fans lost their lives in the cinema shoot-out in Aurora, Colorado early on Friday morning (20J


  • Christopher Nolan delayed new Batman film for Marion Cotillard - 16 July 2012
    -Director Christopher Nolan stalled production of The Dark Knight Rises so his pregnant leading lady Marion Cotillard could still appear in the final installment of his Batman trilogy.-Cotillard struck up a friendship with Nolan while working on his blockbuster Inception a

Christopher Nolan - what members say


  • Insomnia
  • Insomnia review by Alfod from West Midlands
    Rated - 4.0 stars Cerebral and Absorbing 11 March 2004
    ...Christopher Nolan's Memento was one of the standout treasures of 2000 and I went into this knowing it would be a cerebral and absorbing effort. I was not disappointed. The s...   Read customer review
  • Following
  • Following review by from London
    Rated - 4.0 stars Quality low-budget fare 7 January 2005
    ...In this film Christopher Nolan hones the time frame splicing technique he goes on to perfect in the brilliant Memento. A good but fairly simple story made more interesting by a...   Read customer review
  • Memento
  • Memento review by A customer from wales
    Rated - 5.0 stars Beautiful piece of work 26 October 2005
    ... Great directing from Christopher Nolan, beautiful production, mind frying writing (kind of reminded me of Hitchcock / Palahniuk) and excellent acting especially from Guy Pearc...   Read customer review

Christopher Nolan - filmography


  • The Dark Knight Rises on DVD (2012)
    Starring: Christian Bale,  Anne Hathaway,  Tom Hardy
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, the terrorist leader Bane arrives in Gotham City, pushing it and its police force to their limits, forcing its former hero Batman to resurface after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's crimes.
    4 stars out of 5 77% from 11,634 members
    Sign up
  • Inception - Blu-ray (2010)
    Starring: Ellen Page,  Cillian Murphy,  Joseph Gordon-Levitt
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Blockbuster sci-fi thriller written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a professional thief with a difference: the spoils he goes after are not material objects but the thoughts, dreams and secrets buried in the minds of other people. This rare talent has cost him ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 80% from 29,942 members
    Sign up
  • Inception on DVD (2010)
    Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio,  Ken Watanabe,  Joseph Gordon-Levitt
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 77% from 84,090 members
    Sign up
  • The Dark Knight - Blu-ray (2008)
    Starring: Morgan Freeman,  Aaron Eckhart,  Michael Caine
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Director Christopher Nolan's sequel to his own 'Batman Begins' sees Gotham's avenging angel squaring-up to a new kid on the block - psychotic prankster, the Joker (Heath Ledger, in the role that won him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor). In the space of a year, Batman (Christian Bale), ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 84% from 24,607 members
    Sign up
  • The Dark Knight on DVD (2008)
    Starring: Christian Bale,  Heath Ledger,  Maggie Gyllenhaal
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.
    4 stars out of 5 80% from 111,097 members
    Sign up
  • The Prestige on DVD (2006)
    Starring: Piper Perabo,  Scarlett Johansson,  Hugh Jackman
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) are London-based magicians of the highest order, both blessed with spectacular powers of deception and both cursed with unrelenting envy for one another's skills. When Alfred performs an awe-..read more »
    3.5 stars out of 5 74% from 100,837 members
    Sign up
  • The Prestige - Blu-ray (2006)
    Starring: Piper Perabo,  Scarlett Johansson,  Hugh Jackman
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    Thriller starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Rupert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) are London-based magicians of the highest order, both blessed with spectacular powers of deception and both cursed with unrelenting envy for one another's skills. When Alfred performs an awe-..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 78% from 7,756 members
    Sign up
  • Batman Begins on DVD (2005)
    Starring: Liam Neeson,  Katie Holmes,  Morgan Freeman
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    The tale finds the disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne, in the wake of his parents' murder, traveling the world to seek the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 74% from 139,542 members
    Sign up
  • Batman Begins - Blu-ray (2005)
    Starring: Liam Neeson,  Katie Holmes,  Morgan Freeman
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 12
    Watch now: Unavailable
    The fifth outing in the 'Batman' movie franchise explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels the world seeking the means to fight ..read more »
    4.5 stars out of 5 85% from 12,047 members
    Sign up
  • Insomnia on DVD (2002)
    Starring: Maura Tierney,  Al Pacino,  Martin Donovan
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Watch now: Unavailable
    A sleep-deprived detective is sent to a small Alaskan town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl. Forced into a psychological game of cat-and-mouse by the primary suspect, events escalate and the detective finds his own stability dangerously threatened.
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 21,666 members
    Sign up
  • Memento on DVD (2000)
    Starring: Guy Pearce,  Carrie-Anne Moss,  Joe Pantoliano
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is suffering from acute short-term memory loss and is unable to remember anything for more than a few minutes at a time. This means that not only does he have no idea who he is, but that also, whenever he meets someone, a few minutes later he will have forgotten who they ..read more »
    4 stars out of 5 75% from 75,601 members
    Sign up
  • Memento - Blu-ray (2000)
    Starring: Guy Pearce,  Carrie-Anne Moss,  Joe Pantoliano
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is suffering from acute short-term memory loss and is unable to remember anything for more than a few minutes at a time. This means that not only does he have no idea who he is, but that also, whenever he meets someone, a few minutes later he will have forgotten who they ..read more »
    4.5 stars out of 5 87% from 555 members
    Not available for rental
  • Following on DVD (1999)
    Starring: Lucy Russell,  Alex Haw,  John Nolan
    Director: Christopher Nolan
    Certificate: Certificate: 15
    Following is a wickedly clever story of how a young man's obsession with following people leads him into a dark underworld. Bill, the unlikely hero, is a marginalized but intriguing Everyman who follows strangers at random on the street. When Cobb, a man Bill has been following, catches him in the ..read more »
    3 stars out of 5 64% from 4,168 members
    Sign up

Christopher Nolan facts

5 most recent films

The Dark Knight Rises - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
The Dark Knight Rises - 4.0 stars
Inception - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
Inception - 4.0 stars
The Dark Knight - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars

5 highest-rated films

Memento - Blu-ray - 4.5 stars
Batman Begins - Blu-ray - 4.5 stars
The Dark Knight - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars
The Dark Knight - 4.0 stars
Inception - Blu-ray - 4.0 stars

5 lowest-rated films

Following - 3.0 stars
Insomnia - 3.0 stars
The Prestige - 3.5 stars
Batman Begins - 4.0 stars
Memento - 4.0 stars

Most frequent co-stars

Christian Bale - 19 times - show films
Michael Caine - 19 times - show films
Morgan Freeman - 12 times - show films
Gary Oldman - 12 times - show films
Cillian Murphy - 9 times - show films