Christopher Nolan’s brother told him not to be “chicken sh*t” when on the fence about making The Dark Knight
“Dude, don’t be a chicken sh*t! Let’s do this!”
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It looks like we have Jonathan Nolan to thank for The Dark Knight, as he has revealed that he had to convince his brother, Christopher Nolan, to agree to direct the second Batman movie, telling him not to be “chicken sh*t” about it.
The Nolan brother explained during a recent interview on Dax Shepard’sArmchair Expertpodcast that although the filmmaker’s first Batman movie Batman Begins was such a huge success, he was hesitant to make another comic book over fears of being “pigeonholed”.
“Chris was on the fence about making another one, he didn’t want to become a superhero movie director,” Jonathan told Shepherd, adding “but, to me, it was like we built this amazing sports car, and I’m like, ‘Let’s take it for a drive. Don’t you want to make another one?'"
Based on the originalDC comics,Batman Beginsstarring Christian Bale, Michaell Caine, Liam Neeson, and Cillian Murphy, is Nolan’s first superhero movie co-written by himself and David S. Goyer. The 2005 film follows Bruce Wayne’s (Bale) return to Gotham as superhero Batman to rid the city of big bads Ra’s al Ghul and the Scarecrow.
However, after the movie was released, the director, who in previous years helmedMementoandInsomnia, returned to his roots with the 2006 crime thrillerThe Prestige. But his little brother, who also worked on Nolan’s Batman trilogy (as co-writer on The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises), saw the potential of more movies.
“So, I was literally sitting with [producer] Charles Roven and Chris and being like, ‘Dude, don’t be a chicken shit. Let’s do this!'” Jonathan remembered telling Chris. “Once we had the script done, I was like, ‘This is going to be great. This is exciting. We gotta make this movie.’ And eventually, he came around. He did manage to avoid being pigeonholed.”
And so one ofChristopher Nolan’s best movies,The Dark Knight, was born, starring Bale once again as the vigilante, this time against a new force in the shape of the late Heath Ledger’s The Joker. The movie was released in 2008, then the third and final flickThe Dark Knight Risesdropped in 2012 with Bale’s Bat donning the black cape once again to face off with Tom Hardy’s Bane. It sounds as though we have Jonathan Nolan to thank for all of that!
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For more, see our writer’s piece on howBatman changed their life, or keep up to date withupcoming DC movies and TV showsheading your way in 2024 and beyond.
I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering TV and film for SFX and Total Film online. I have a Bachelors Degree in Media Production and Journalism and a Masters in Fashion Journalism from UAL. In the past I have written for local UK and US newspaper outlets such as the Portland Tribune and York Mix and worked in communications, before focusing on film and entertainment writing. I am a HUGE horror fan and in 2022 I created my very own single issue feminist horror magazine.
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