With Christopher Nolan‘s latest film Interstellar rolling into select theaters late tonight ahead of its official theatrical release this Friday, news about the film, its production, its stars, and its revered director can be found all across the internet. However, I get the feeling none of those news items will garner as much potential ire as this one will, especially among comic book movie fanatics. Let’s dig in…
You know those post-credit stingers at the end of Marvel movies? Well, despite the many people who enjoy them, and plenty who walk away talking more about the post-credits sequence than the actual movie itself, Mr. Nolan is decidedly not among that crowd. Now, obviously a Marvel-style stinger would run counter to the serious tone of Nolan’s films, and presumably the tone of any of Warner Bros.‘ forthcoming DC Comics adaptations, but it seems Nolan’s thoughts on the matter are a bit more encompassing.
“A real movie wouldn’t do that,” Nolan is quoted as saying when Warner Bros. asked if Man of Steel director Zack Snyder would add a comedy coda ending to his Superman film, in the vein of Marvel’s comic book movies. Given Nolan’s attempts to ground his films in some sort of reality, his stance isn’t too surprising, but it does make for interesting conversation, not to mention it is compelling to see the typically reserved director take a bit of a shot at one of the most successful movie franchises of all-time.
While I assume Nolan was partly suggesting such an ending wouldn’t fit Man of Steel specifically, he makes no caveat the idea works fine for other films, no inclination he was simply speaking to the tone he and Snyder were aiming to achieve with the movie. In saying, “a real movie wouldn’t do that,” it seems we are to infer that Christopher Nolan doesn’t think Marvel’s movies are “real” movies, presumably because they pander to the audience instead of challenging them. What do you guys think?
Although this small bit of the article is sure to generate the most buzz, I highly suggest you all give the full story a read over at The Guardian. It’s long, but well worth it. Aside from learning Nolan’s thoughts on cutesy 30-second post-credit sequences, it details an intriguing look at the blockbuster auteur, his directing process, his career thus far, and of course his latest film Interstellar, including the little tidbit below from Quentin Tarantino about a preview screening he attended for the film. I will be seeing Interstellar tonight, and given how well I’ve avoided marketing for the movie, I find Tarantino’s words run parallel to my own feelings about my 70mm IMAX screening tonight.
“We’re waiting for the movie to start and it hit me,” Tarantino begins. “I realized that it hadn’t been since The Matrix that I was actually that interested in seeing a movie even though I didn’t know what I was going to see. … It’s been a while since somebody has come out with such a big vision to things.”
And more:
It’s been a while since somebody has come out with such a big vision to things. Even the elements, the fact that dust is everywhere, and they’re living in this dust bowl that is just completely enveloping this area of the world. That’s almost something you expect from [Andrei] Tarkovsky or [Terrence] Malick, not a science fiction adventure movie.
I can’t yet say if Nolan’s “big vision” has paid off, but with my screening now only a few hours away, I find myself sitting here thinking how happy I am filmmakers like Christopher Nolan exist, even if his ambition sometimes extends past his reach.
