Christopher Nolan: The 60 Minutes Interview

Christopher Nolan's Career and Upcoming Film00:04

Christopher Nolan is among the great Hollywood directors of his generation. His blockbusters have won 18 Academy Awards and generated more than $6 billion in revenue. His next film is an adaptation of The Odyssey, the nearly 3,000-year-old story, scheduled for release this summer. At age 55, Nolan is a British American who works from an office in Los Angeles where he has written epic films including Oppenheimer, Dunkirk, Inception, Interstellar, and The Dark Knight.

A Nolan movie is a spectacle that is big and loud at the limits of what is possible. A Nolan story emphasizes grace through imperfect people revealing what it means to be human. The Odyssey represents Nolan's most ambitious project yet. He feels a real responsibility to try and get as much on screen for the audience as possible, giving viewers the fullest flavor and the fullest set of images and events that can be provided for a given story.

Essential Elements of a Nolan Film01:31

Nolan always tries to maintain a point of view on the story from inside the film. He avoids looking at characters from 30,000 feet and instead tries to be in the race and in the maze with them. This approach aims to give the audience a sense of what a place would smell like and what it would feel like. He also works to create the most involving and extreme version of a story possible.

Nolan's Odyssey is an extreme version of the Bronze Age war fought by the soldier King Odysseus with his Trojan horse deception and ten-year struggle to return home. The Odyssey is Nolan's 13th film in 28 years. Unlike many directors, he writes the screenplays himself.