How Christopher Nolan’s Favorite James Bond Film Found Its Way Into His Movies

Christopher Nolan hasn’t directed a James Bond movie yet, but 007’s adventures have long influenced his work. Nolan is a massive fan of the long-running action franchise, particularly having a fondness for the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which was George Lazenby’s first and only appearance as James Bond. Over the years, Nolan has spoken very highly of that James Bond movie, and traces of its DNA can be found in several Nolan-directed features; with the most obvious example being Inception. While promoting the sci-fi action blockbuster, Nolan made a point to discuss how much On Her Majesty’s Secret Service inspired his vision for Inception.

“I think, [On Her Majesty’s Secret Service] would be my favorite Bond. It’s a hell of a movie, it holds up very well,” Nolan said in a 2010 interview with Empire in the build-up to Inception‘s release. “What I liked about it that we’ve tried to emulate in this film is there’s a tremendous balance of action, scale, and romanticism and tragedy and emotion. Of all the Bond films, it’s by far the most emotional. There’s a love story and Inception is kind of a love story as well as anything else.”

Anyone who’s seen Inception knows how Nolan integrated those elements into that film. But Nolan has worked in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service influences throughout his career.

How On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Influenced Inception

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is still to this day considered one of the most emotional James Bond films ever made. The emotional core revolves around the romantic relationship between Bond and Tracy di Vicenzo; the two fall in love on their adventure together and get married. Sadly, their story ends in tragedy, as Tracy is killed when Blofeld and his henchwoman Irma Blunt attack Bond and Tracy in a drive-by shooting. The film ends with the heartbreaking image of a grief-stricken Bond mourning the loss of his wife and the future they had planned together.

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At the heart of Inception is Dom Cobb’s relationship with his family. Like Lazenby’s Bond, Cobb is overwhelmed by his own grief; in the film, it’s revealed that he caused the death of his wife Mal by planting an idea in her head when the couple were in Limbo together. He spends a majority of the plot consumed by guilt, which manifests itself with a projection of Mal that follows Cobb whenever he enters someone’s dream. Learning the truth about what happened to Mal (including how she framed Cobb for murder) is a gut punch and makes Cobb’s motivation in the story clear. He agrees to work for Saito in the hope that the job will give him a path to reunite with his children. For all the twisty concepts about layers of dreams, Inception is first and foremost a story about a man desperate to get back to his family. Cobb’s personal tragedy and his love for his children is the driving force behind it all.

Of course, Inception is still a summer tentpole that serves up plenty of spectacle — as is par for the course with Nolan. There’s plenty of action served up, whether it’s the opening sequence that lays out the rules of the dream world, the chase through the streets of Mombasa, or the thrilling third act that sees the team navigate through multiple dream layers against Fischer’s militarized projections. Eames evading enemies on a snow-covered mountaintop is a very obvious homage to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service‘s ski chase, illustrating that Nolan’s favorite Bond film was clearly at the forefront of his mind as he worked on Inception. But there are parallels to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service to be found in Nolan movies made before and after Inception.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service Has Influenced Nolan Throughout His Career

In addition to Inception, James Bond’s DNA can be found in Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. The obvious comparison there is spectacle, as all of Nolan’s Batman films feature standout set pieces that demanded to be seen on the biggest of screens. A longtime staple of the Bond franchise is the cold open, which immediately throws audiences into the middle of the action. The Joker’s bank heist in The Dark Knight and Bane’s daring stunt on the plane in The Dark Knight Rises fit this mold (the opening to Dark Knight Rises was even inspired by a similar scene in Bond film Licence to Kill). They’re obviously more integral to their respective films’ plots than a standard Bond cold open, but they help establish the tone and characters in an exciting way. There’s also a clear connection between Lucius Fox and Q; the latter fixes Bruce Wayne up with several handy gadgets.

When looking at On Her Majesty’s Secret Service in particular, the influences in The Dark Knight trilogy go beyond the action. The first two films place an emphasis on Bruce’s relationship with Rachel Dawes, his childhood friend who serves as his love interest. Though the two don’t ever get married like Bond and Tracy, it’s clear Bruce is interested in pursuing a future with Rachel whenever he can put Batman behind him (despite the fact Rachel is dating Harvey Dent). Any chance of that is cruelly taken away from Bruce when Rachel dies in The Dark Knight. Bruce becomes a broken man in the aftermath of the tragedy, as audiences find him a grieving recluse when the story picks back up in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s not a carbon copy, but there are traces of Bond and Tracy in Bruce and Rachel.

Interstellar is another Nolan movie that owes some debt to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. When people think about love stories in film, romantic couples are usually the first to come to mind, but there are other kinds of love directors can explore. The beating heart of Interstellar is Cooper’s close bond with his daughter Murphy. That dynamic helps ground Interstellar‘s mind-twisting sci-fi concepts, giving audiences a strong emotional throughline to follow. One doesn’t have to be a parent to get choked up at the scene of Cooper weeping as he checks his messages and sees an adult Murph begging him to come home. There’s plenty of spectacle to behold in Interstellar, but it wouldn’t have mattered as much if we weren’t invested in Cooper and Murph. What happens between them is tragic in its own way; when they finally reunite at the end of the film, Cooper sees an elderly Murph on her deathbed.

What parallels to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service have you noticed in Nolan’s films? Let us know in the comments!