Christopher Nolan's 100 Best Quotes

Christopher Nolan is an outstanding film director of London origin who has in his career great movies like “The Dark Knight”, “Interstellar”, “Inception” or “The Prestige”, among many others jewels. His films usually revolve around epistemology and metaphysics, focusing their plots on human evolution and the way we perceive time. He is one of the filmmakers who has best known how to mix commercial cinema with cinematographic art..

• We recommend you read: "The 90 best phrases of Martin Scorsese"

Great quotes and reflections from Christopher Nolan

To learn more about the career and personal life of this director, we bring you the best quotes from Christopher Nolan.

1. A camera is a camera, a shot is a shot, as the story goes, it's the main thing.

The story is what grabs the viewer.

2. I studied English literature.

Talking about his studies.

3. But for all our facula and self-importance, we are all slaves to what we fear most. You have a lot to learn.

Fears can control us if we let ourselves be carried away by them.

4. As far as dreams go, I would really just point out that there are times in my life where I experienced lucid dreams, which is a great feature of “Inception”.

Speaking of his inspiration for Inception.

5. For me, any kind of movie that is reactive is not going to be as good as something more inventive and original.

About the types of movies you enjoy the most.

6. People want to see something that shows that you can do what you say. That's the trick.

Reading the tastes of people who watch movies.

7. I wasn't a very good student, but one thing I got out of him, while doing movies at the same time with the university film society, was that I began to think about the narrative freedoms that authors had enjoyed for centuries and it seemed to me that filmmakers should enjoy those freedoms too.

An interesting anecdote about his time as a student.

8. Each film must have its own world, a logic and feel that expands beyond the exact image the audience is seeing.

Each film is a different and unique world.

9. The latest incarnation of Bruce Wayne. He has exactly the balance of dark and light that we were looking for.

Showing his character build for Bruce Wayne.

10. Batman is a wonderfully complex character, someone who has absolute charm and then can just turn it into icy cruelty.

Talking about what he likes most about Batman.

11. The idea of ​​realizing that you are in a dream and therefore trying to change or manipulate in some way that is a very amazing experience for people who have it.

The reason why he loves basing his stories on dreamlike fantasies.

12. I like movies where music and sound design are sometimes almost indistinguishable.

Subtle things but that generate a certain remarkable impact.

13. Directing for me is about listening and responding and realizing how much they need to know about me and how much they've discovered for themselves, really.

What it means for him to be a film director.

14. My most enjoyable movie experiences have always been going to a movie theater.

Showing how much he enjoys going to the cinema to watch a movie.

15. I think that insomnia and memory films share all sorts of thematic concerns, such as the relationship between motivation and action, and the difficulty of reconciling his vision of history with the supposed objective vision of that history.

The stories that most appeal to you to put on the screen.

16. My approach with actors is to try to give them what they need from me.

A reciprocal relationship.

17. Yes, it's strange when you look back at your own work. Some filmmakers don't look back on their work at all.

It is always good to look at our previous jobs to analyze what we have achieved and what we need to improve.

18. I look at my work a lot, actually.

It doesn't hurt to be constructive critics of ourselves.

19. When television became the only secondary way movies were viewed.

Talking about the power of television as a home theater screen.

20. To be honest, I don't like to watch movies very much when I'm working. They tend to fall apart on me a bit.

When he works, he only focuses on achieving what he expects.

21. To me, Batman is the one that can most clearly be taken seriously. He is not from another planet, nor is he full of radioactive garbage.

For Christopher, Batman is the most real superhero of all.

22. Why did we fall? So that we can learn to recover.

The only way to recover is to keep going.

23. Revenge is a particularly interesting concept, especially the notion of whether or not it exists outside of just an abstract idea.

Talking about revenge as a theme to explore in movies and stories.

24. I have always been a man of cinema, movies have been my thing. I love movies, all kinds of movies.

A fan of the seventh art.

25. But in the back of my mind I've always looked at Hollywood movies on a larger scale.

Not only as a spectator but as someone who wants to build something new.

26. I like movies that keep turning your head in all sorts of different directions after you've seen them.

Films that do not remain static but may have even more of a story to tell.

27. Sitting there and the lights go down and a movie comes on the screen that you don't know everything about, and you don't know every plot move and every character move that's going to happen.

The mystery that leads us to see a movie at the cinema.

28. I like movies that don't have that unanimous response; that have no consensus in the audience.

A particular type of film that catches your attention.

29. What it is essentially for me is if you go back and watch the movie a second time, do you feel like you've been played fair? Are all the clues in place? In fact, sometimes these things are even exaggerated. Specifically for that reason.

There are criticisms in the cinema that do not have an understandable context.

30. They just think the audience will. And I think you can feel that separation.

Many directors take into account the future reaction of the viewing public.

31. I never like to feel in a position to demand that an actor trust me to do something worthwhile.

He prefers to keep everything transparent with his actors.

32. What I react to in other people's work, like a movie, is when I see something in a film so I feel like I should feel emotional, but I don't think the filmmaker shares that emotion.

Many cinema stories make us awaken deep feelings.

33. I remember the initial genesis quite clearly.

Talking about how it all started in his career.

34. The best actors instinctively sense what other actors need and just go with it.

Actors who mix with the character as if they were oneself.

35. I will miss Batman. I like to think he'll miss me, but he's never been particularly sentimental.

One of the films that marked him the most.

36. What attracted me to Batman in the first place was the story of Bruce Wayne, and that he is a real character whose story begins in childhood.

On what convinced him to create 'The dark night' trilogy.

37. I never considered myself a lucky person. I am the most extraordinary pessimist. I really am.

How he perceives himself.

38. Actually, I don't tend to do much research when I write.

Apparently it is something that happens in him more spontaneously.

39. I feel the responsibility to articulate what I am going to do. Either I show them a full script or they sit down with them and describe my ideas in detail.

It is better to have an organized idea from which a story can be developed to a coherent ending.

40. But what is absolutely unifying for me is the idea that every time I go to the movies and pay my money and sit down and watch a movie in screen, I want to feel that the people who made that movie think it's the best movie in the world, that they poured everything and really loves.

Referring to the fact that every director should be proud of his product.

41. Don't be afraid to dream a little bigger, honey.

We can always continue to grow and be better.

42. To me, Batman is the one that can most clearly be taken seriously.

On his preference for Batman over any other superhero.

43. I think there's a vague feeling out there that movies are becoming more unreal. I know I have felt it.

On the transformation of films.

44. You know that Hollywood makes a big blockbuster that really engulfs you in a world, and allows that you believe in extraordinary things that move in some way, in an almost operatic. That for me is the most fun I have in the cinema.

Talking about the reason for his love for the cinema.

45. But I've been interested in dreams, actually since I was a kid.

A subject that was always present in his interests and that became his strongest point to tell a story.

46. Every great story deserves a great ending.

Without a doubt, the end of a story should represent the good of it.

47. For me, the most interesting approach to film noir is subjective. The genre is really about not knowing what's going on around you and that fear of the unknown.

On what is actually concentrated in film noir.

48. The real truth of that is that even though you want to believe that you are in the know, you are actually massively trusting the people around you.

The truth is not always absolute.

49. He would never say that someone else's movie is not "a real movie". The quote is inaccurate.

Each director makes his film what he considers to be the best.

50. We all wake up in the morning wanting to live our lives as we know we should. But we usually don't, in small ways.

Many dreams, but we have no idea how to make them come true.

51. You should always be well aware that the public is extremely ruthless in its demand for newness, novelty, and freshness.

The worst movie critics are the audience.

52. The only way to do this effectively is to go into the maze, instead of looking at the maze from above, so that's where I come in.

The way he creates such deep and meaningful movies.

53. You have to deal with memory and desire problems.

Not only can an ideal world be captured, but struggles.

54. One of the things you do as a writer and filmmaker is understand resonant symbols and images without necessarily understanding yourself.

Have a very broad view of the world and what surrounds us.

55. At some point, when you start thinking too much about what an audience is going to think, when you're too aware of it, you make mistakes.

Sometimes you have to put certain things aside so that they do not affect us.

56. There are points where you worry that you might be putting in too much and alienating the audience. But interestingly, some of those fears are not correct.

Many fears are generated by our own negative thoughts and do not represent reality.

57. What you don't understand is that people are basically no good.

People are neither good nor bad. Because we can commit good and bad deeds.

58. When it comes to the world of dreams, the psyche, and the potential of a human mind, there have to be emotional risks.

When dealing with very human issues, emotions cannot be left out.

59. The term 'gender' becomes pejorative over time because you are referring to something that is so codified and ritualized that it no longer has the power and meaning that it did when it started.

Speaking of the beginning of the categorization of movies.

60. I think there's been this growing misperception that kids aren't going to respond to something because it's also for adults.

Children can understand different contexts.

61. Superheroes fill a void in the pop culture psyche, similar to the role in Greek mythology.

Superheroes are a representation of that figure that can save us, without us being responsible for it.

62. Whether or not I agree with what they've done, I want that effort there, I want that sincerity. And when you don't feel it, that's the only time I feel like I'm wasting my time at the movies.

You don't have to agree with something to recognize that it's a good deed.

63. I think audiences feel too comfortable and familiar in today's movies. They believe everything they hear and see. I like to shake that.

Taking an unexpected turn that surprises the audience.

64. For me the most satisfying experience is to see a movie, if it is done very well. And so that the aspiration is always for me, if I have the opportunity to do so.

It is always satisfying to see that we have created something magnificent.

65. I have always been fascinated by the idea that the mind, when asleep, can create a world in a dream and you are perceiving it as if it really existed.

A world of illusions that is within reach of our mind when we rest.

66. Movies are subjective: what you like, what you don't like.

Each one gives the meaning they want to the works they see.

67. Superman is essentially a god, but Batman is more like Hercules: he's a human, very flawed, and he bridges the gap.

The differences between Batman and Superman.

68. The movies had to adhere to a fairly linear system, so you can fall asleep for ten minutes and go answer the phone and not actually lose your spot.

About the way movies were built before.

69. I feel like I've learned something while looking at things I've done in terms of what I'm going to do in the future, mistakes I've made, and things at work or whatever.

There is no better way to learn than to correct our mistakes.

70. There are very few actors who can do that, and Christian is one of them.

Flattering Christian Bale's chameleon in his role as Batman.

71. If I could steal someone's dream myself, I'd have to go for an Orson Welles one.

Showing his admiration for one of the greatest of fantastic and surreal narratives.

72. You will learn something as deeply as when it is purely out of curiosity.

Curiosity leads us to explore topics that end up enchanting us.

73. We are basically selfish. We push and cry and cry for worship and beat everyone else to get it.

Each person fights for what he wants. Although not always in the most appropriate way.

74. I've always believed that if you really want to try and make a great movie, not a good movie, but a great movie, you have to take a lot of risks.

Risks are what allow us to do things in a big way.

75. It's not that often that you have a huge commercial success and then have something you want to do that can get people excited.

Sometimes success can become a burden.

76. Life is a competition of blackened peacocks entranced in inane mating rituals.

An interesting metaphor about life.

77. As a film director, it's a very healthy burden for me to be able to articulate what I want to do, to inspire the actors, instead of just saying, trusting that I'll be able to do something worthwhile.

A responsibility that makes him love his work.

78. I think a lot of what I think you want to do with research is just confirm things you want to do.

Research should be like a kind of guide to get where you want to go.

79. This, for me, became a three-part story. And obviously the third part becomes the end of the boy's story.

Speaking of his commitment to the 'The dark night' trilogy.

80. If the investigation contradicts what he wants to do, he tends to go ahead and do it anyway.

It is there when we must make use of our creative capacity.

81. He's not a fully formed character like James Bond, so what we're doing is following the journey of this boy since he is a child who goes through the horrible experience of becoming a character extraordinary.

About his inspiration to show the development of Bruce Wayne's life as Batman.

82. The only work that has interested me besides filming is architecture.

The other direction from him if he hadn't taken the path he chose.

83. It's always a fun collaboration with my brother. I am very lucky to be able to work with him.

Talking about how much he enjoys working together with his brother.

84. What I try to do is write from the inside out.

His way of writing his stories.

85. I love to photograph things and put them together to tell a story.

Photography is the way in which Christopher unites his ideas to tell us something.

86. There is an honesty in collaboration. There is a lack of gender or ego in our conversations. And then you can really throw anything.

When you work with someone, things should flow, not get stuck.

87. A hero can be anyone. Even a man who does something as simple and comforting as putting a coat around a child's shoulders to let him know the world hasn't ended.

We all have the ability to be heroes.

88. That's what makes a character like Batman so fascinating. He plays out our conflicts on a much larger scale.

Batman is the representation of a person with a conflicting emotional charge that he always carries with him despite his achievements.

89. The actors, in particular, analyze the script in great detail from the point of view of their specific character. So they have an exact idea of ​​where the character is in the timeline of things.

The actor must not only know his lines, but bring the character to life as someone real.

90. The actors become your best control over the logic of the play and the way it all fits together. They become essential collaborators.

The actors are the main pieces for a story to make sense on the screen.

91. Sometimes you take an objective approach to help you get through things, and you take a subjective approach at other times, and that allows you to find an emotional experience for the audience.

Objectivity does not need to be at odds with subjectivity to create a compelling story.

92. The main thing is that you have to work with very smart actors.

Actors who love their work and know how to adapt to their characters.

93. Writing, for me, is a combination of objective and subjective approach.

Something that can come out of the wildest imagination, but that makes sense.

94. I really try to jump into the world of the movie and the characters, I try to imagine myself in that world instead of imagining it as a movie that I'm watching on the screen.

For Christopher, it's about creating a story as if it were happening in a real place.

95. I believe that motion pictures are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime.

Movies have the ability to bring people closer to an art form without them knowing it.

96. When I was 10 or 11 years old, I knew that he wanted to make movies.

A dream that was with him until it came true.

97. Heist movies tend to be a bit shallow, glamorous, and funny. They do not tend to be emotionally attractive.

Not all movies have a deep plot to analyze or draw a moral from.

98. The cinema is my home, and the idea of ​​someone violating that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way devastates me.

Talking about how sacred cinema is for him.

99. My interest in dreams stems from this notion of realizing that when you dream you create the world you're perceiving, and I thought the feedback loop was pretty amazing.

Explaining where that fascination with dreams and the mysteries behind them comes from.

100. Film is the best way to capture an image and project that image. It simply is, without a doubt.

It is a way of making an image the protagonist of a world.