Showbiz

Christopher Nolan reveals the film genre he would be 'terrified' of directing

The Odyssey director Sir Christopher Nolan reveals his career ambition
Bang Showbiz - Vertical / VideoElephant

Christopher Nolan has directed some iconic films and tackled a range of genres during his career - but there's one kind of film he admits he's "terrified" of taking on.

The two-time Academy Award winner's best work includes sci-fi movies such as Interstellar, Tenet and Inception, as well as historical dramas like Dunkirk and Oppenheimer, with his latest film The Odyssey adapting Homer's ancient Greek epic poem into an epic action fantasy lasting almost three hours.

Nolan appeared as a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where he explained the elaborate process of shooting the entire film on 70mm IMAX cameras, to which Fallon quipped asking if Nolan will do an “easy” film next.

“How about a Christopher Nolan rom-com?” Fallon questioned.

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To which Nolan responded, “I think doing a rom-com would be incredibly difficult," adding, "I love watching those movies. But, no, I think people who direct comedy, people who do comedy, I think that’s one of the hardest things in the world to make people laugh that way.”

“Particularly the risk they take,” he added. “When you make a film … you know, if I show a film to people and maybe they don’t respond to bits of it, I’m like, ‘Ah, they don’t get it. Whatever.’ There’s no hiding behind that when you do comedy.”

On tackling the rom com genre, Nolan confessed, “I would be terrified of doing anything like that.”

So we shouldn't expect to see a Christopher Nolan rom com in cinemas anytime soon.

But the director has previously hinted at another genre he may be interested in exploring in future, with elements of the horror sub-genre actually appearing in The Odyssey.

"It very much whets my appetite for more," Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter. "But I’ve always believed that horror as a genre has to be approached very carefully from a conceptual point of view. In other words, you have to have an amazing idea."

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