The Nolan Variations
The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan
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- £14.99
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- £14.99
Publisher Description
A rare, intimate portrait of Hollywood's reigning 'blockbuster auteur' whose deeply personal billion-dollar movies have established him as the most successful director to come out of the British Isles since Alfred Hitchcock.
'A masterclass . . . brilliant. Immersive, detailed, meticulous, privileged inside-dope.' - Craig Raine
More than just the tinkerings of a glass watchmaker, Christopher Nolan's films have an unerring grasp of the way time makes us feel. Time steals people away in his films, and he takes careful note of the theft. Time is Nolan's great antagonist, his lifelong nemesis. He seems almost to take it personally.
Written with the full cooperation of Nolan himself, who granted Tom Shone access to never-before-seen photographs, storyboards and sketches, the book is a deep-dive into the director's films, influences, methods and obsessions. Here for the first time is Nolan on his dislocated, transatlantic childhood, how he dreamed up the plot of Inception lying awake one night in his dorm at school, his colour-blindness and its effect on Memento, his obsession with puzzles and optical illusions - and much, much more. Written by one of our most penetrating critics, The Nolan Variations is a landmark study of one of the twenty-first century's most dazzling cinematic artists.
'Christopher Nolan is a wonderfully unlikely contemporary filmmaker. We're fortunate indeed to have him, and fortunate now to have this book.' - William Gibson
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drawing on interviews conducted over three years, film critic Shone (The Irishman: The Making of the Movie) shines a light on Christopher Nolan, who has "long perfected the art of talking about his films while giving away nothing about himself." Shone devotes a chapter to each of Nolan's films, from his 1998 debut, Following, to the forthcoming Tenet, while tracing a few common themes. These include what the Anglo-American Nolan gained from his teenage years attending a "really establishment, old-fashioned" U.K. boarding school (principally, "how to relate to an establishment you're inherently rebelling against but can't push too far"). Another is the counterpoint between his exacting planning while scripting and shooting ("rules are very important" in giving a fantastical story credibility) and his openness to experimentation and "surprise," as when he unexpectedly discovered the perfect last shot for The Dark Knight in unedited stunt footage. Shone also emphasizes the importance of collaboration for Nolan, including with composer Hans Zimmer (who "teaches me a new musical term with each film") and Inception's star Leonardo DiCaprio, whom Nolan credits with pushing the project from a genre heist film toward a "more character-based direction." Shone provides thoughtful context for Nolan's commentary, but readers will most value Nolan's own words about his work.
