Christopher Nolan is a certified rockstar among cinephiles. His blend of blockbuster filmmaking with artistically satisfying storytelling has made him one of the most unique filmmakers to be working in Hollywood right now. While he still works in the genre-film sphere, Nolan tries to bring in something novel every time.
The Inception filmmaker might be one of the few filmmakers working now who can pull $100 million budgets for a three-hour biopic, but this level of artistic freedom is the result of the magic he has created with his collaborators. And none have been as consistent and foundational for the filmmaker as his brother Jonathan Nolan.
Jonathan And Christopher Nolan’s First Collaboration
According to Jonathan Nolan, he had his ‘first collaboration’ with his brother when he was three years old and jumped in front of the camera as Christopher Nolan began filming something with his buddies with their father’s Super 8 camera (via Empire). The duo had a wandering childhood, with both of them dividing their time between the UK and the USA.
Since their childhood mess-arounds with the camera, the Nolan brothers have collaborated on various films of the elder Nolan. While taking a cross-country trip, the brothers reportedly spoke about a story of a man with anterograde amnesia, who remembers moments from his life by notes.Â
While Chris Nolan worked on the screenplay, Jonah Nolan worked on the short story Memento Mori. Chris reportedly mentioned this in an interview with IndieWire,
We’re both trying to escape the boundaries of the particular medium that we’re choosing to tell because we really want to create an experience that doesn’t feed into your head, that bleeds around the edges. I was going for something that lived in its own shape, that was slightly built from that standard linear experience. My brother in the same way, in writing the story, had wanted to randomize it somehow.
Though the younger Nolan’s short story was reportedly only done when the film was almost finished, the two shared their Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Jonathan Nolan’s Contributions To Christopher Nolan’s Films
While Christopher Nolan’s status as one of the most celebrated auteurs in modern cinema is undisputed, the filmmaker has collaborated with multiple writers before. He wrote the screenplay for Batman Begins with David S. Goyer, and then went on to collaborate with his brother Jonah on multiple films. They first worked together on The Prestige.
After their first official collaboration, the Nolans reportedly returned to write the screenplay for Chris’ magnum opus at the time The Dark Knight. While Nolan Sr. and David S. Goyer got story credits, the surprisingly political and realistic superhero film was written by the brothers.
Jonah Nolan reportedly had the greatest contribution to the film. Chris told Deadline,
My brother [Jonathan] wrote it. It kills me because it’s the line that most resonates. And at the time, I didn’t even understand it. He says, ‘You either die a hero or you live long enough to become the villain.’ I read it in his draft, and I was like, ‘All right, I’ll keep it in there, but I don’t really know what it means. Is that really a thing?’ And then, over the years since that film’s come out, it just seems truer and truer.
The line has been immortalized, and social media is rife with the quote whenever a prominent personality turns for the worse. The brothers also returned to write the screenplay of The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar, both of which have ranked high in the director’s filmography. While Chris Nolan has gone solo with his last few films, they reportedly still look at each others’ works and give feedback (via Forbes).
Jonathan Nolan’s Solo Work Deserves As Much Recognition As His Collaborations With His Brother
From Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan has written his own screenplays. Jonathan Nolan on the other hand has had his plate full with multiple TV projects. The writer is no less when it comes to exploring incredible ideas and realizing them in great cinematic fashion. However, due to his work primarily being in the TV and streaming space, he may not be getting the same recognition.
Take for instance his show Person of Interest. The show follows the story of an ex-CIA operative being hired as a vigilante by the creator of a machine that predicts crimes before they happen. It tackles similar themes of privacy and post-9/11 fears in the public that The Dark Knight tackled only on a deeper level. The series received rave reviews upon release.
Or his Emmy-winning sci-fi drama Westworld. Based on Michael Crichton’s novel, the HBO series centered on a Wild West theme park that has AI-powered android hosts allowing the guests to fulfill their wildest fantasies. The show, told from the perspective of the hosts, explored themes like artificial intelligence, autonomy, morality, and violence.
Much like his brother with his Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer, Jonah Nolan too explored the effects of nuclear warfare with Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout, which is set in an alternative retro-future after the events of World War II. While Chris Nolan may have an Oscar, his brother is not too far behind with his works and should be equally celebrated.
