Filmmaker Christopher Nolan has never shied away from his love of the James Bond franchise, and even his desire to potentially direct a Bond film of his own someday. And now that Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007 is over, the timing seems ripe for the “Inception” filmmaker to put his stamp on the series.
“It would be an amazing privilege to do one, at the same time when you take on a character or work like that, you’re working within a particular set of constraints,” the “Oppenheimer” director told Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “It’s the kind of responsibility I felt very much taking on Batman.”
Nolan has previously said he’d only want to dip his toe into the Bond franchise if he could start from scratch – meaning cast his own Bond and write the script – so the timing after “Oppenheimer” could be fortuitous as the franchise is in reset mode after “No Time to Die.”
“You wouldn’t want to take on a film not fully committed to what you could bring to the table,” Nolan told Horowitz, again reiterating that if the opportunity to make a Bond movie presented itself, he’d want to be heavily involved from its inception.
“I love those movies,” Nolan said, acknowledging their influence on his own films. “The influence of those movies on my filmography is embarrassingly apparent.”
Indeed, everything from “Inception” to Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy wears Bond on its sleeve, and his 2021 film “Tenet” is essentially his own version of a sci-fi James Bond film.
Nolan is currently in the midst of releasing his latest epic “Oppenheimer,” which is racking up wildly positive reviews and on track for a huge opening weekend. He contends he only ever thinks about one movie at a time and hasn’t yet decided what he’s doing next, but there are plenty of Nolan fans who would love to see what he’d do with 007.