Biography of legendary director Christopher Nolan

Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is of British descent. He was born on 30 July 1970 in the Westminster district of London to a Catholic family, but spent his childhood in Highgate. Christopher's father Brendan Nolan Englishman, was an advertising manager, and his mother Christine Jensen American, first was a stewardess, but then changed her job as an English teacher. During his youth Christopher visited Evanston (USA, Illinois) many times, he had a dual citizenship.

Nolan is the middle child in the family. His older brother's name is Matthew and his younger brother's name is Jonathan, who also became a film director.

As a child, Christopher was impressed by the director's work Ridley ScottIn particular, he enjoyed science fiction films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars. Nolan first tried filming at the age of seven. He used his father's camera to make short metres using figurines as actors. These were videos based on the technique of frame-by-frame animation, and the subject matter was Star Wars related. The environments and environments in these works were created from everyday objects that came to hand: brother Jonathan helped build the sets out of clay, egg cartons, flour and rolls of paper.

Start of a career

The uncle of the future director was a NASA employee who was involved in the development of the rocket guidance system for the Apollo programme. One day, his uncle sent Christopher footage of a rocket launch, so the young amateur filmmaker edited the footage into his film, assuming that no one would notice.

At the age of 11 Christopher finally decided on his plans for life - he decided to become a film director. In 1981, Nolan enrolled at Weybridge Catholic School in Surrey. As a teenager, with the support of friends, he shot his first film, Tarantella.

Some time later, Christopher continued his education at Hertford Heale School, and then he went to University College London, where Nolan's focus was British literature. Christopher explained his choice by the fact that with the help of his knowledge of literature he could see the world in a different way, as well as broaden his horizons.

In 1993 Christopher graduated with a BA in English Literature, after which he got a job as a director, writer and short film cameraman. In 1995, Nolan began filming short films "Stealing."which managed to be completed over the weekend in black and white with little equipment and a small cast.

Two years later, the young director shot a third short film with the title "Rocking Beetle."starring a friend of Nolan's Jeremy Theobald.

Christopher Nolan's first major project

Christopher had the desire to make his debut full-length feature back in the mid-90s, but the project never came to fruition. Instead, the director made his big-screen debut with the film "Stalking." in 1998.

The film was produced by Syncopy Films, a production company that Christopher founded with his wife. Almost all the participants of the project were Nolan's acquaintances, filming lasted one year, production went only on weekends. The thriller was well received by critics after screenings at film festivals, the work was compared to the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Nolan's second major work was the film "Remember." with Guy Pearce. It was a story about a character who had problems with short-term memory. He had the goal of finding a way out of his predicament, while at least partially retaining ideas about his life and recent events. Christopher was helped to prepare the script by his brother Jonathan. The film received a nomination for "Oscar." for editing and scripting.

I like the work to Steven Spielbergand then he nominated Nolan to direct a psychological thriller. "Insomnia.", in which actors Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams have been announced. The company Warner Bros.responsible for the film's release, wanted to see someone more experienced as a director, but Spielberg managed to approve the participation of a young specialist.

The film was conceived as a remake of the Norwegian film of 1997. As a result of the work done, the film was liked by critics and collected a good box office.

The ups and downs of being a director

After two successful films, the director's career was on the decline. recession. First, Christopher decided to work on a drama based on real events from the life of Howard Hughes - this man was a businessman and innovator in the field of aircraft construction and engineering. For the main role was considered Jim CarreyHowever, it soon became clear that Martin Scorsese wanted to make almost the same film - it was a full-metre with a Leonardo DiCaprio in a starring role. Christopher then decided to switch to something else.

The next unfinished project was an adaptation of Ruth Rendell's book "Keys to the Street.". Christopher developed the script with the expectation of a multi-episode story in the framework of the show for television, but in the end the work had to abandon because the film turned out to be similar to existing adaptations of the same book.

In 2003, Nolan took on the task of filming a reboot of the story of the DC Comics universe character Batman. The film turned out to be different from all previous adaptations, as the director decided to make a bias towards realism, in particular it concerned fights, chases, fights and superhero arsenal.

Despite its unprecedented approach, the film, released in 2005, became one of the most profitable in the US by the standards of its year. The film was critically acclaimed and proved to be one of the most significant films of the '00s, and it also received an Oscar nomination on-camera.

World fame

On the wave of success, Nolan could have continued working on the Batman movies, but he still decided to make a sci-fi film first "Prestige."whose screenplay is an adaptation of Christopher Priest's book of the same title.

In 2008, a sequel to Batman: Inception hit cinemas, titled "The Dark Knight.". Fans' expectations were met: the film was hugely successful, with box office receipts of . over one billion dollars. In addition to the audience response, the film won Academy Awards for its sound editing and supporting role played by actor Heath Ledger.

All the director's subsequent films became high-profile events and brought a lot of money at the box office, but they did not have the same recognition and excitement as "The Dark Knight". This applies including the third part of Batman. Among these pictures were also tapes "Inception", "Interstellar" and "Dunkirk". The most successful of these was a fantastic film about travelling through dreams "The Beginning.".

Nolan's Personal Life

Christopher married on Emma Thomas, whom they have known since they were students at college in London, when the future director was 19 years old. They have four childrenOliver, Magnus, Rory and Flora.