TV & Film Profile

Christopher Nolan

Inventive British-Born Director By Eric Schneider

A director of imaginative and intriguing thrillers, Nolan is unmatched by his cinematic peers.

English-American filmmaker Christopher Nolan is easily the most consistent, engaging, and intelligent director working within the Hollywood system. Raised in both London and Chicago, Nolan was drawn to movies at an early age and began making his own short films while still in college. Nolan's first feature, Following, proved to be a smart, suspenseful movie limited by its budget, but clearly not by the writer/director's imagination. The film also revealed Nolan's penchant for nonlinear storytelling, an approach that he would further explore in Memento, a taut psychological thriller that toys with both time and memory. While Memento marked Nolan's arrival as a significant filmmaker, 2005's Batman Begins elevated him to the status of a top-tier director, one capable of reinvigorating a familiar decades-old comic-book character. The runaway blockbuster also paired Nolan with highly focused actor Christian Bale, who reunited with the filmmaker for The Prestige, a sweeping drama featuring feuding stage magicians, and The Dark Knight, a massive hit that both expanded and deepened the Batman mythos. Ever out to challenge himself and his audiences, Nolan next ventured into the world of dreams for the mind-bending Inception, continuing his exceptional streak of stories that present the fantastic, but remain tethered to a gritty, realistic foundation.

TAGS: Action/Adventure, Auteur, Blockbusters, British, Cerebral, Director, Drama, Thriller,

FACTS: Born/Formed: July 30, 1970; Location: London, England; Nolan Fans

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