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12th Mar 2024

Christopher Nolan has reportedly already started writing his next film

Simon Kelly

At least take the week off.

Only a few days after winning his first Best Director golden statuette at this year’s Oscars, Christopher Nolan is reportedly already working on his next movie.

The Oppenheimer writer and director has an extraordinary back catalogue of films including the Batman trilogy, Inception and Dunkirk, and has consistently gotten them out within gaps of three years.

Now, after the success of his last film, all eyes are on him to see what he comes out with next, and hopefully we won’t have to wait too long.

According to The Puck, the English filmmaker has already started work on his new film and, since it was announced in 2021 that Nolan would write Oppenheimer, we can live in hope that a time span of two to three years from writing to release is doable.

Christopher Nolan has reportedly already started writing his next film

Speaking after the release of Oppenheimer, Nolan teased that his next film would be “something not quite as bleak”.

“Part of me wants to leave the story behind,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege.

“But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic. And, yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak.”

Oppenheimer is, of course, quite a bleak film. However, Christopher Nolan isn’t known for heading uplifting projects – But there are some other hints as to what he does next.

If you look at his recent filmography, it tends to follow a pattern over the last decade, switching between sci-fi and historical thriller (Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer). This could give us a hint us towards sci-fi for his next project.

Sci-fi films that Nolan has worked on in the past, including Tenet and Inception, included lighter elements to them, which also leads us to believe that’s what he is eyeing next.

Nolan has also mentioned that he would love to direct a horror film, provided it was “a really exceptional idea”.

Speaking at an in-conversation event at at London’s British Film Institute in February, he said, “I think horror films are very interesting because they depend on very cinematic devices, it really is about a visceral response to things and so, at some point, I’d love to make a horror film.

“But I think a really good horror film requires a really exceptional idea. And those are few and far between. So I haven’t found a story that lends itself to that.”

However, he did add that horrors “have a lot of bleakness,” so we can probably rule that one out for the time being.

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While we can only go on educated guesses for now, what we do know is that Nolan is incredibly secretive with his work for as long as is needed. He reportedly sends over scripts to his actors on red photocopy-proof paper, sometimes even making them read it at his own house.

So, the chances of any information coming out before its announced on his terms are slim. All we can do now is wait.

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