In Focus
October 2006
This article reprinted by permission of the
National Association of Theatre Owners, © 2006.
That Old
Bat Magic
The filmmaker charged with reviving the big-screen Batman takes a break from the franchise to adapt ‘The Prestige,’ a tale of rival magicians in an era of emerging sciences.
Christopher Nolan loves to fool you. The 36-year-old director is a master of misdirection. “Memento” played with time. “Insomnia” played with reality. “Batman Begins” played with identity.
Point out that all his films trick their audiences, and he’s delighted to agree. “That’s one of the things movies are really good at,” he says. “There’s nothing better than when you’re sitting in a cinema and a film surprises you somehow. Not necessarily with a narrative twist; it just does things you don’t expect … that make sense.”
The 36-year-old director is a master of misdirection. “Memento” played with time. “Insomnia” played with reality. “Batman Begins” played with identity.
Point out that all his films trick their audiences, and he’s delighted to agree. “That’s one of the things movies are really good at,” he says. “There’s nothing better than when you’re sitting in a cinema and a film surprises you somehow. Not necessarily with a narrative twist; it just does things you don’t expect … that make sense.”
And, true to form, Nolan says he and his brother “constructed the narrative along the lines of a magic trick. Our film’s structure builds to a final reveal.”
He’s less revealing when it comes to dishing on any of the tantalizing films he has in the pipeline — including his “Batman Begins” sequel “The Dark Knight” and a big-screen remake of the legendary spy-fi TV series “The Prisoner.” But we thought we’d ask anyway.
_______________
THE MOVIE AS
MAGIC TRICK
THE MOVIE AS
MAGIC TRICK
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: Well, my brother and I have been working on “The Prestige” a very long time — six, seven years. We were going to make it before “Batman Begins,” actually, but it didn’t work out time-wise. When we finished “Batman,” we were very keen to get back to it. I’ve been fascinated by magic and how magic is made for a long time.
I think there’s a strong narrative element in the way a trick unfolds. We really wanted to build the narrative along those lines, rather than trying to present stage magic on film.
The novel sort of does that too, doesn’t it?
Yeah. The novel’s large and complex. We had to simplify it greatly.
Hugh Jackman’s character has a line in the film where he says, “If I saw a woman in half onstage and the audience thought it was real, they’d run screaming.” Once you step beyond that as a magician, you’re in the realm of a psychic or medium, which is very different.
Yes. I think a lot of them saw it as an abuse of their talents — their power to make magic on a stage. Presenting it as reality was unethical.
The novel gets into that much more than the film does. We don’t deal in the film with psychics and mediums and so forth. But we do explore the burgeoning revolutions in science — the early days of electricity — and the tension between things that appear to be magical and are just real.
It surprises me that Nikola Tesla’s life hasn’t been covered more extensively on film. His work was so important, and his rivalries so extreme — and there are so many crackpot tales and conspiracy theories floating around the man.
Nikola Tesla, in our film, is a very small but pivotal character. He’s Mephistophelean — a wizard, essentially, who can give you what you want. That’s very much the reputation that’s grown up around the real Tesla.
We fictionalize certain events, but the background and essence of the character are fairly true to life, really.
There are various things that Tesla is supposed to have done that have not yet happened at a reproducible level in science. He’s really the ideal character for taking you in more of a science-fiction direction — because quite literally, there are aspects of his career that are still residing in that realm. [laughs]
For example?
Well, the wireless transmission of electricity, where you can grab it from the air. That’s something he’s supposed to have done in various quite extraordinary experiments that have yet to be duplicated.
I’m reminded of the Arthur C. Clarke quote about sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic.
That quote is extraordinarily applicable here.
_________________
NO, HE
REALLY DOESN’T
NO, HE
REALLY DOESN’T
You want to talk about “The Prisoner” at all?
[laughs] I don’t really have a lot to say about it. “The Prestige” is the thing I’m sort of buried in right now. David and Janet Peoples are off writing the script while I do other things.
Will it embrace the absurdity and broad satire of Patrick McGoohan’s take?
It’s too early-days to be in any way specific. But I will say that the approach I applied to “Batman Begins” is that you have to find a contemporary equivalent for everything. You have to be creating something fresh.
Given McGoohan’s level of authorship on the original, will he be consulted in any way? Think he could be lured out of retirement to play Number Two?
You never know.
Will the 21st-century Rover be a big decommissioned weather-balloon ball?
[laughs] It depends on the budget.
_________________
BUT HE WILL TALK A
LITTLE BIT ABOUT BATMAN
BUT HE WILL TALK A
LITTLE BIT ABOUT BATMAN
What do you mean by “modulate”?
Well, at the end of the first film, he sort of comes to terms with what he’s doing. He’s got this mission now. So I’d imagine that mission will have to evolve a bit.
Oh, yes. Or the world … Let me put it this way, without being too specific: When you embark on a mission, it’s extraordinarily rare that things turn out according to the mission plan. [laughs] The world is going to react in ways you don’t expect.
He did indeed achieve a certain sense of purpose or a certain resignation, in terms of how his life is going to wind up being dedicated to this — which is something that we begin with. But the world itself responds to our actions in ways we don’t anticipate.
You said something interesting about introducing The Joker at the end of “Batman Begins”: “That’s the point of the final scene. That [fighting evil] is not going to be easy. It’s going to get harder.” Is that a touchstone for the sequel?
Very much. Obviously, I can’t really talk much about it at this stage — but I think if you watch that last scene, it gives you a very, very clear direction of where the story’s going.
Yeah.
Are the villains going to try to define themselves as extremely as Batman defines himself?
Yeah, in their own way.
We’re drawing from the entire canon. I don’t want to talk too specifically about it. The thing I will say is that if you go back to the very first appearance of the Joker in the comics …
Which I’ve read. And he’s a bastard.
[emphatically] Yeah. And there’s a very clear direction … It’s pretty surprising how clearly drawn that character is in that book.
If you’ve read those early stories, Heath Ledger makes sense as a casting choice.
It certainly makes sense to me.
We got to see a lot more of Bruce Wayne out of costume in “Batman Begins” than in the prior “Batman” movies. He was also a lot more fun — buying hotels and engineering corporate takeovers. Will Batman’s alter ego play as prominent a role in the sequel?
Yeah. I mean, Bruce, to me, isn’t just Batman. There are also aspects of Bruce Wayne that are private and public.
Given how muted “Batman Begins” was, in terms of tone and color, do you see any risks in overstuffing a movie with colorful villains?
Well, you have to be careful about everything. [long, long pause]
[laughs] Well. You’ve said, “I actually see myself as a very mainstream filmmaker and always have.” Why do some people keep pegging you — even after “Batman Begins” — as an art-house director?
God, I have no idea. [laughs] The press tends to pigeonhole filmmakers from where they begin — which is actually not necessarily completely wrong — but I directed a “Batman” film, and people still talk about my independent-filmmaking roots.
Ridley Scott is a favorite filmmaker of mine — and for years, anything he did was immediately related to advertising, because he started out there. He’s only just about past it.
I certainly don’t have any complaints if people relate what I do to the independent films I started with. I would hope that all my films would have a personal and sincere foundation — whether they’re on a grand scale or not.
Well, Batman is an interesting case in point, because you’re dealing with a mythic character. And one of the qualities of mythic stories is familiarity — and, to a certain extent, predictability.
I don’t mean “predictability” in its usual pejorative sense. I mean it in the sense of the inevitable thing — the thing that allows a story to take on the character.
There’s a tension in the storytelling between the familiar elements that make up the myth and being able to surprise people. What it ultimately amounts to is a need for the filmmaker to achieve the inevitable in surprising ways.
Right. Superhero movies are prone to discussions of whether they’re “faithful” or not … Superhero fans want their characters to be comforting, in a way.
That’s exactly the tension I’m talking about. It’s something I find very interesting. Because to me, being faithful to the character in the story is not about slavishly following a particular treatment of one comic or graphic novel — it’s about distilling the essence of the myth.
That’s always been the challenge of Batman, and its strength. You treat the essential elements as mileposts, and all the elements in between — all the other layers and threads — can be fresh and different and surprising. Get that stuff right, and you see the myth in a powerful way.
On a superficial level, when we approached re-designing the Batmobile, we weren’t too specific about what it had to be — other than that it had to be the most powerful car you’ve ever seen. And it had to be black. Other than that, we didn’t say, “It has to have a fin,” or anything like that. And so you’re able to create something completely original and fresh — a renewed concept of “the most powerful car.”
Well, having read the original comics, we’re just lucky you didn’t make it a red sedan. Is the script for “Dark Knight” finished?
I couldn’t tell you that.
A script’s never finished with me. I write even as we’re shooting. But we’ve been working at it for quite a while now.
Will the title be “The Dark Knight”? Or do you think it will end up being “Batman — colon — The Dark Knight”?
No, it’ll be “The Dark Knight.”
It sets such a tone.
Yes. Well, that’s the idea.
You’ve said you’re not a huge Internet hound. Were you able to stay away from the ’net during the “Batman Begins” pre-release brouhaha?
Yeah, yeah. Certainly, when you’re making a film that everybody’s watching, you’re going to read a lot of stuff about your film and you’re not necessarily going to like all of it. So. If you’re happy doing that, fine. If you’re not…
When you take on something like Batman, that increases exponentially, and you’re already being hit from all kinds of other directions … I don’t have e-mail.
You know, with “The Prisoner,” you’re going to go through that again with an entirely different obsessive cult.
Yeah. Well. You know. I’ve been through it once before. You have to get on and do what it is you’re going to do. Which is not the same thing as being in any way disrespectful of the material. You have to take responsibility for yourself and get on with it and do a good job.
Well, and certainly the recent “Snakes on a Plane” experience shows that catering to the ’net doesn’t guarantee a successful experience.
I imagine it would have made my experience on either “Batman” or “The Prisoner” a lot harder, had that been shown to be a way to make a film more successful.
_____________________
HOWARD HUGHES and
the GRIM COMEDIAN
HOWARD HUGHES and
the GRIM COMEDIAN
Well, no — because I haven’t seen “The Aviator.” I can’t bring myself to. [laughs] But from what I know of “The Aviator,” the key difference is that we deal with Hughes’ entire life. I think their film is about half of our film in terms of timespan.
You would actually have followed Hughes from cradle to grave?
Yeah.
Is it something you’ve put in the vault, to haul out and film somewhere down the line?
The truth is, I struggled massively with the script. It took about a year to write. And it finally came together just as “The Aviator” got a green light.
But the script just clicked. It’s the best thing I’ve written, that I’m most proud of. Hopefully, it’ll have its day. Patience is definitely part of this business.
You’ve also expressed interest in interviews in doing comedy.
Oh, God. Have I?
You have. Although it may simply have been in response to one of those questions like, “Would you ever do a comedy?”
The truth is, I find things in my films really funny. For me, the most enjoyable laughter has come from serious movies that find moments of absurdity.
There’s that great bit in “Memento” where Leonard asks himself, “Am I chasing this guy or am I running from him?”
Exactly. That’s my sense of humor. And there were screenings of “Memento” where the whole of that reel played like it was a Farrelly Brothers movie. Great fun.
__________________
THAT ‘MEMENTO’
LIMITED-EDITION DVD
THAT ‘MEMENTO’
LIMITED-EDITION DVD
I think it was definitely the right thing to do. My brother — along with some other very talented people — really conceived and was the brains behind how that DVD worked. We were absolutely delighted with it, because we felt it was very much in the spirit of the film.
I don’t know whether I should be admitting this, but he and I have had the experience of chucking the film in and forgetting how to make it play. [laughs]
This is kind of what I was asking about.
I’m not really sure if I should be admitting that or not. But really — all you’ve got to do is hit “Watch.”
The thing with DVD is that it was in the fairly early days of the medium; you could suddenly have all these extra features, all these things around the film. You can create something that expands the world of the film in all directions. And I think the special edition of that DVD did that really well.
When you see DVDs where they’ve slapped together features that are essentially re-cut EPKs, or they just put the trailer on … there hasn’t been a lot of thought on how to maximize the potential of the format. I think “Memento” made it very important that we try to do something extreme.
________
TWO
STRIKES
TWO
STRIKES
Uh…. Will the Joker be the only villain in “Dark Knight”? Can we safely confirm Ryan Phillippe as Harvey Dent and Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin/Cobblepot?
You struck out with your last question!
I know.
How sad!
My editor wanted me to ask.
Wasted! Wasted!
I’m sorry.
Is there another question?
Could you see your Batman interacting with Singer’s Superman? [Nolan laughs] Another strikeout?
Another strikeout!
Oh, Lordy.
One more. Third time lucky.
How did you come to collaborate with David Goyer on “Batman Begins”?
Wow. I’m sure I can answer that one.
I first met him years before, through mutual friends one morning at breakfast. I remember chatting with him and thinking he was an interesting guy, and then, years later, checked out some of his stuff — especially “Dark City.” I was really impressed with the ideas in that film.
And when I was looking for somebody who really knew the world of comics — who could set me off on the right foot and really get me going in the right direction — he seemed the obvious choice. But he was absolutely booked up, because he was about seven or eight weeks from going into production on “Blade: Trinity,” which he was directing.
So we just spitballed a few ideas. And he said, “Look, you can have these ideas. I can’t write the script for you. I’m just too busy.” And then, over the course of a week or two, I guess he just realized that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to write on the film. He loved the character so much. So he came on for a very short, intense period where we just thrashed out a story and he wrote the first draft. He had to work very, very fast. He’s a very quick writer.
Yeah, I’ve read that draft. There’s such a strong idea at the core of that thing.
Yeah. A lot of the fun we had — which we’re also having as we do “The Dark Knight” — is throwing ideas around before anything is written. Just talking about the script. He’s a tremendous collaborator.
This article reprinted by permission of the National Association of Theatre Owners, © 2006.
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