Christopher Nolan has been eyeing a James Bond movie for years and after some failed efforts, it’s worth looking at what a Nolan-directed Bond would look like and if there’s any chance of it still happening. Christopher Nolan is one of the most successful and influential directors of our time. After the roaring success of his Batman trilogy, many big franchises aimed to copy his grounded aesthetic for their films. Spider-Man tried to go dark and gritty with The Amazing Spider-Man, Nolan produced and helped develop the story for DC’s Man of Steel, and even Bond himself took cues from Nolan with Casino Royale and Skyfall. While these franchises chased his style, Nolan took his blank-check status to move away from IP.
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The director went on to make Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer in his post-Batman career, all films that are wholly original and have yet to be franchised in any capacity. There’s real potential for sequels to Tenet or even Interstellar with the right stories, but Nolan hasn’t ever publicly entertained the idea. Nolan’s next movie will be an adaptation of The Odyssey, which maybe isn’t “original,” but it still shows an aversion to franchises after Batman. However, Nolan fans have long been interested in a James Bond movie from the director after his take on Batman.
This apparently was much more than just a fan fantasy, though. It was recently reported that Christopher Nolan met with Bond producers about the prospects of a 007 movie after the release of Tenet. Notably, this would’ve been after Daniel Craig concluded his run as the beloved spy, but still possibly before the release of No Time to Die due to COVID-related delays. In theory, this would mean that Nolan was being considered as the man to re-launch James Bond and likely define the next decade (at least) of the character. Sadly, things didn’t get very far as the Broccoli family refused to give Nolan final cut on the movie, meaning he wouldn’t have full creative control.
For better or worse, this is the way Bond has always been. The Broccolis held a very firm grasp on James Bond and that allowed them to steer clear of some really bad decisions, but it also created a stubbornness that didn’t allow someone like Nolan the opportunity to take a crack at things. It was a missed opportunity and one that maybe could’ve kept Amazon off their back given Nolan is both a critical and commercially viable director. To put things in perspective, instead of doing Bond, he went and made Oppenheimer — a 3-hour, R-rated biopic that does away with the big set pieces he is largely known for in favor of intense scenes of guys talking in rooms. The movie went on to win seven Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture, and made just shy of a billion dollars at the box office during a busy summer movie season.
Will Christopher Nolan Direct a James Bond Movie?
With that said, let’s take a minute to imagine a Bond movie from Christopher Nolan and what the chances are of getting such a thing. Unfortunately, if it were to happen, it would still likely be a few years. Christopher Nolan just began filming The Odyssey and is likely not thinking about anything besides that. It’s an incredibly expensive, large-scale production, so he can’t be taking meetings with anyone to discuss any other projects right now. Fortunately, Amazon also can’t even make any deals with anyone at this very moment as its creative takeover of James Bond hasn’t fully closed. It could be a matter of months before that happens.
However, Bond 26 is the most opportune moment for a Christopher Nolan 007 movie. For starters, Amazon has a lot to prove. Up until now, Bond has been controlled by a family who helped maintain a vision and standard for the character. Whatever Amazon does first with complete creative control will set the narrative on how they feel about James Bond. Do they care just as much as the Broccolis or is this another commodity to milk dry with spin-offs and rushed films that lose touch with the brand’s identity? If Amazon wants to make a statement, they need to bring in someone who can really direct and who has passion for the franchise.
That’s Christopher Nolan. However, it’s extremely unlikely he would come in and do Bond 27 without doing Bond 26. Given Nolan’s need for total creative control, he’s likely going to want to cast Bond himself, set the tone for future films, and make all of the big calls. Whether he would stick around to direct sequels is really a mystery, it’s possible Nolan wouldn’t want to be stuck on another franchise for a decade again, particularly as he approaches his 60s.
Regardless, this moment is the moment Nolan has been waiting for. In 2017, Christopher Nolan told Playboy that he had engaged in talks with the Broccolis about a Bond movie, but came away believing that he could only do it if the series “needed” him as a result of a desire to reinvent the series. In short, it sounded like he wasn’t interested in just being a gun for hire to forward the Daniel Craig Bond story.
“I’ve spoken to the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson over the years,” said Nolan. “I deeply love the character, and I’m always excited to see what they do with it. Maybe one day that would work out. You’d have to be needed, if you know what I mean. It has to need reinvention; it has to need you. And they’re getting along very well.”
Bond will be reinvented under Amazon, it’s just a matter of how and who is doing it. If it’s not Nolan, Amazon will surely miss the opportunity to get him until the next reboot, which could be when Nolan is almost 70 at least. Still, this all assumes that Amazon wants the legendary director. Perhaps Amazon isn’t willing to meet Nolan’s demands either, similar to the Broccolis, but perhaps for different reasons. The director is very big on the theatrical experience, shooting on film and IMAX, and has his hands in basically every aspect of the movie from script to marketing. While Amazon seems committed to keeping the British action hero on the big screen for future films, they are still partially a streaming company.
Christopher Nolan had a nearly 20-year relationship with Warner Bros., but walked away from the company after it dumped a bunch of big blockbusters on HBO Max day and date during COVID. He’s not necessarily an advocate for streaming during a movie’s initial release and he’s willing to potentially burn some bridges to prove that.
On top of that, Nolan had a big list of demands when he started shopping Oppenheimer around Hollywood, something virtually no one else could get away with without compromise. The Oscar-winning director demanded a 100+ day theatrical release, a six-week blackout that would prevent the studio from releasing any other movie during this time, and 20% of first-dollar gross of the movie. Universal reportedly agreed unconditionally while other studios tried to haggle. Would Amazon be willing to pause all of its film releases as a content mill and give him a nearly four-month window of theatrical exclusivity (if not longer)? It’s anyone’s guess, but Bond 26 does really seem like one of the closest chances we could get to a Christopher Nolan Bond movie.
What Would Christopher Nolan’s James Bond Look Like?
On the chance that it does happen, what would Christopher Nolan’s James Bond movie look like? Some have argued his 007 movie is redundant at this point after getting it out of his system in movies like Inception and Tenet. However, there’s probably room to grow. Nolan grew up on Bond before it went “dark and gritty,” so there’s a chance he could try and keep it lighter than some fans may anticipate. He has a love and care for the series that suggests he’s interested in the gadgets, the over-the-top spectacle, and larger-than-life stories of the older films. Still, he’d probably want to do it all for “real” or as close to real as possible given his love for in-camera effects.
It’s likely we’d get some of the flashiest stunts in the franchise’s history, all shot on glorious IMAX. Nolan has pulled from Bond for action sequences in movies like Inception, so to see him actually put his own spin on 007 canon with a big car chase or shootout would be absolutely thrilling.
It wouldn’t be particularly shocking if Nolan somehow centered his Bond film around time, as he’s known for most of his movies revolving around that concept. Whether it would be utilized in the actual plot like Interstellar or Tenet or simply used for structural reasons like Oppenheimer or Memento is totally up in the air, but it seems likely this theme would bleed into his Bond. After all, this is an agent that is usually racing against the clock to stop some catastrophic threat.
Of course, the question of who the next James Bond would be is the biggest one of them all. A lot of Nolan’s usual players like Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy are too old for the part now. If Robert Pattinson wasn’t playing Batman for at least two more movies, I’d say there’s a decent chance Nolan could select him. It’s possible Nolan goes for someone less obvious and more unknown. While he’s usually worked with stars, it was a bold move to put a movie like Oppenheimer on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy, someone who doesn’t headline many movies. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him take an equally surprising route with Bond’s casting.
Do you want to see Christopher Nolan make a James Bond movie? Let me know in the comments below!
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Image Courtesy of Warner Bros.
