Christopher Nolan’s unparalleled vision as a filmmaker has inspired a slew of next-generation directors, including Academy Award winner Ryan Coogler. In a recent interview, the former revealed that Coogler had asked him for advice while making the Michael B. Jordan-led Sinners, which prompted him to take the 40-year-old to a screening of Dunkirk.
Christopher Nolan explains how Dunkirk inspired Ryan Coogler’s Sinners
While speaking with The New York Times, Christopher Nolan disclosed that Ryan Coogler contacted him before he decided to add the IMAX element in Sinners.
“Ryan [Coogler] called me before he committed to IMAX [for Sinners],” the Odyssey director noted. “I think Dunkirk was the first time I dragged him to a screening of an original-made film print of IMAX. I love to show filmmakers the potential of the format. So he called me when he was prepping, but really, I think he was sort of looking for someone to tell him it wasn’t crazy to shoot his vampire film that way. I was like, no, I’d love to see that.”
Nolan’s advice seems to have worked wonders for the California-born filmmaker, as Sinners not only made huge waves at the global box office upon its release, but also swept multiple titles during award season. Sinners finished its theatrical run with a worldwide collection of $370 million, as per Box Office Mojo, before taking home the Oscar for Best Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Best Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Best Cinematography (Autumn Durald Arkapaw), and Best Original Score (Ludwig Göransson).
During the interview, Nolan also added, “One of the great satisfactions of my career has been being part of an evolutionary process of a [filmmaking] system. My excitement for having finished the film entirely in IMAX is: what other filmmakers might want to do that. I just want to go see somebody else’s film when they do it this way.”
The British-American filmmaker is returning to the big screen this summer with The Odyssey, which is on track to hit theaters on July 17.
