Christopher Nolan has described the idea of directing a James Bond film as an “amazing privilege”.
The 52-year-old filmmaker’s name has often been mentioned in association with the popular espionage franchise. Nolan has spoken on multiple occasions about the influence James Bond has had on his work.
Ahead of the release of his latest project Oppenheimer, Nolan spoke about Bond during an interview with Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast.
Asked if he would ever direct a 007 movie, Nolan replied: “The influence of those movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent. It would be an amazing privilege to do one.
“At the same time, when you take on a character like that you’re working with a particular set of constraints,” he continued. “It has to be the right moment in your creative life where you can express what you want to express and really burrow into something within the appropriate constraints because you would never want to take on something like that and do it wrong.”
Nolan explained that this was “the kind of responsibility I felt very much taking on Batman”.
Between 2005 and 2012, Nolan directed a trilogy of Batman adaptations for Warner Bros studio: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
“You wouldn’t want to take on a film without being fully committed to what you bring to the table creatively. So as a writer, casting, everything – it’s a full package,” he continued. “You’d have to be really needed and wanted in terms of bringing the totality of what you bring to a character. Otherwise, I’m very happy to be first in line to see whatever they do.”
Cillian Murphy in ‘Oppenheimer’— (AP)
He added: “You wouldn’t want to take on a film not fully committed to what you could bring to the table creatively. So, as a writer, casting, everything, that’s the full package. You’d have to be really needed, you’d have to be really wanted in terms of bringing the totality of what you bring to a character.
“Otherwise, I’m very happy to be first in line to see whatever they do.”
Oppenheimer is based on the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, the inventor of the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy stars in the title role, alongside Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Florence Pugh.
You can read The Independent’s four-star review of Oppenheimer here.
The film is out in UK cinemas on 21 July.
