It’s been over 20 years since Christopher Nolan made a movie for a studio (other than Warner Bros). In that time, the filmmaker collaborated on nine critically acclaimed features, all which accumulated billions of box office dollars.
However, it looks as though WB’s handling of the pandemic could bring an end to the long, fruitful partnership. Nolan is now shopping his latest project all over Hollywood, sure to ignite a serious bidding war. Returning to the genre of historical drama (something that served him well with Dunkirk), the architect of the Dark Knight Trilogy is developing a biographical story focusing on J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in the development of the atomic bomb.
As per Deadline, several outfits around town — including Sony and Universal — have read the script and opened talks with Nolan’s representatives (a true blow for Warner Bros), should they lose their golden goose.
The five-time Academy Award nominee was highly critical of the entire 2021 slate of releases debuting simultaneously on HBO Max, which wasn’t a surprise when he’s one of the theatrical experience’s staunchest defenders.
Netflix’s head of original film Scott Stuber admitted a few months back that he was planning on making a serious play for Nolan’s next directorial effort, but it’s unlikely that the mind behind Inception and Interstellar would take his talents to streaming that soon after his scathing comments aimed at Warner Bros. His regular home studio may end up offering him a deal he can’t refuse to have him stick around.
