[Editor’s note: This gallery was originally published in June 2019 but has been updated accordingly.]
Christopher Nolan has become one of the most celebrated directors working in Hollywood since launching his career in 1998 with the neo-noir crime thriller “Following” and breaking through two years later with “Memento.” All of Nolan’s movies are influenced by the films he holds closest to his heart, whether it’s a 1927 classic from F. W. Murnau laying the groundwork for “Dunkirk” or science-fiction classics like “2001: A Space Odyssey” providing a backbone for “Interstellar.” Then there’s Nolan’s love of the James Bond franchise and the spy genre fueling his most recent epic, the espionage thriller “Tenet.”
With “Tenet” now on VOD and with no confirmed Nolan project set as a follow-up, 2021 is a good time to catch up on the majority of films that inspired Nolan’s ambitious filmography thus far. IndieWire takes a look at some of the films the writer-director credits with changing his outlook on cinema. Below are 35 titles Nolan encourages moviegoers to watch, and why, in his own words.
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“Heat” (1995)
Image Credit: Everett Collection While hosting the Academy’s 20th anniversary screening of Michael Mann’s “Heat” back in September 2016, Christopher Nolan recalled being skeptical about the film when he had heard critics calling it a new American Classic, citing how tired the cops and robbers genre had become on the big screen. Fortunately, Mann’s crime film delivered on the promise. “I’ve drawn inspiration from it in my own work,” Nolan admitted. Many reviewers cited “Heat” as an obvious inspiration for Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” which had more in common with Mann’s grounded approach to action than the razzle-dazzle thrills of the superhero genre.
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“The Hateful Eight” (2015)
Image Credit: Everett Collection Nolan is such a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” that he hosted a 2015 awards screening for the Western drama for the Directors Guild of America. Nolan started his post-screening discussion with Tarantino by asking the audience, “Well that’s a hell of a movie, isn’t it?” Nolan was an outspoken fan of the movie’s roadshow presentation, in which “The Hateful Eight” screened in 70mm formats. “What an incredible thing and an incredible way to bring back the atmosphere and the beauty of seeing a film in a theater,” Nolan remarked. “Watching this film, it felt like it had an increased level of formalism. There is a real calm and thought for where the camera is always. It’s also in the music. There is a great sense of the history of cinema in it.”
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“Baby Driver” (2017)
Image Credit: Everett Collection Christopher Nolan loved “Baby Driver” so much he interviewed writer-director Edgar Wright for the Directors Guild of America podcast. “It was a phenomenal piece of work,” Nolan told the director. “For me, the action is so spectacularly well directed in this film. ‘World’s End,’ too. The fight scenes, I love the way you put those together. But all the foot chases and car chases in this, it’s like you really mean it. You really enjoy that. There’s something American about that. The showmanship of this movie.”
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“Chariots of Fire” (1981)
Image Credit: Everett Collection Nolan named Hugh Hudson’s Best Picture Oscar winner “Chariots of Fire” one of his favorites that inspired “Dunkirk,” telling the BFI, “The visual splendor, intertwined narratives and aggressively anachronistic music of Hugh Hudson’s ‘Chariots of Fire’ combined to create a masterpiece of British understatement whose popularity rapidly obscured its radical nature.”
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“Speed” (1994) and “Unstoppable” (2010)
Image Credit: Everett Collection In crafting the forward-momentum thrills of “Dunkirk,” Nolan sought inspiration from two similarly-minded thrillers: Jan de Bont’s 1994 action classic “Speed” and Tony Scott’s 2010 thriller “Unstoppable,” starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. In an interview with the British Film Institute, Nolan praised the latter title for its “relentless” pacing, adding it’s a superior example of using “the mechanics and uses of suspense to modulate an audience’s response to narrative.” As for “Speed,” Nolan called it a “ticking clock nail-biter” of the highest order.
Stream “Speed” on Amazon Prime.
Rent or buy “Unstoppable” on Amazon Prime; buy on Blu-ray or DVD.
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“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
Image Credit: Mgm/Stanley Kubrick Productions/Kobal/Shutterstock Stanley Kubrick’s science-fiction masterpiece left a huge impression on Nolan as a child. The director told Entertainment Weekly he saw the film in theaters as a young boy and was blown away. “I just felt this extraordinary experience of being taken to another world,” Nolan said. “You didn’t doubt this world for an instant. It had a larger than life quality.” Decades later, Nolan would be instrumental in touring a restored version of “2001” around the world.
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“12 Angry Men” (1957)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Nolan told Criterion that few films examine the dynamics between men as Sidney Lumet’s 1957 courtroom classic “12 Angry Men.” Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb star as members of an all-male jury who must decide whether or not to convict a teenager for the murder of his father.
Rent or buy on Amazon Prime; buy the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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“Alien” (1979)
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock Along with Kubrick, Ridley Scott was another filmmaker that left a big impression on Kubrick as he came of age. As Nolan told Media Company, “The director I have always been a huge fan of… Ridley Scott and certainly when I was a kid. ‘Alien,’ ‘Blade Runner’ just blew me away because they created these extraordinary worlds that were just completely immersive.”
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“All Quiet On The Western Front” (1930)
Image Credit: Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock “‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ said it first and best: war dehumanizes,” Nolan told the BFI. “Revisiting that masterpiece, it is hard to disagree that the intensity and horror have never been bettered. For me, the film demonstrates the power of resisting the convention of finding meaning and logic in individual fate.”
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“Bad Timing” (1980)
Image Credit: ITV/Shutterstock Nicolas Roeg’s 1980 psychological thriller stars Art Garfunkel and Theresa Russell as a psychology professor and an American woman who get thrown into a turbulent relationship. Nolan told Criterion, “Nic Roeg’s films are known for their structural innovation, but it’s great to be able to see them in a form that also shows off their photographic excellence.”
Rent or buy on Amazon Prime; buy the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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“The Battle Of Algiers” (1965)
Image Credit: Casbah/Igor/Kobal/Shutterstock “The Battle of Algiers” was another major influence for Nolan while making “Dunkirk.” Nolan has called Gillo Pontecorvo’s 1966 historical drama “a timeless and affecting verité narrative, which forces empathy with its characters in the least theatrical manner imaginable. We care about the people in the film simply because we feel immersed in their reality and the odds they face.”
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“Blade Runner” (1982)
Image Credit: Ladd Company/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Scott followed the 1979 release of “Alien” with his landmark science-fiction film “Blade Runner” in 1982. The Harrison Ford-starring dystopian thriller was a direct influence on Nolan as he crafted the look of “Interstellar.”
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“Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” (1977)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan told IndieWire that Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was a driving source of inspiration when he was developing “Interstellar.” As the director explained, “With films like ‘Close Encounters’ and the way that addressed the idea of this moment when humans would meet aliens from a family perspective and a very relatable human perspective. I liked the idea of trying to give today’s audiences some sense of that form of storyline.”
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“First Man” (2018)
Image Credit: Universal On Damien Chazelle’s 2018 Neil Armstrong drama “First Man,” Nolan raved, “It’s a masterfully staged re-creation of the space program with utterly compelling physical detail and layers of cinematic immersion that command credence and ensure that the radical and intensively subjective nature of Chazelle’s point-of-view comes as a gradually unveiled shock.”
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“For All Mankind” (1989)
Image Credit: Criterion Al Reinert’s 1989 space documentary “For All Mankind” draws on original footage of NASA’s Apollo program. Nolan told Criterion the film is “an incredible document of man’s greatest endeavor.” Nolan offered up his own space movie with “Interstellar,” and “For All Mankind” is required viewing for any fans of that title.
Rent or buy on Amazon Prime; buy the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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“Foreign Correspondent” (1940)
Image Credit: United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan is also a huge fan of Alfred Hitchcock, and as the “Dunkirk” director told the BFI, “No examination of cinematic suspense and visual storytelling would be complete without Hitchcock, and his technical virtuosity in ‘Foreign Correspondent’’s portrayal of the downing of a plane at sea provided inspiration for much of what we attempted in ‘Dunkirk.’”
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“Greed” (1924)
Image Credit: Glasshouse Images/Shutterstock Erich von Stroheim’s 1924 silent film “Greed” is “a lost work of absolute genius,” according to Nolan. Von Stroheim famously shot 85 hours of footage for the drama, which follows three friends come undone by greed after winning a lottery.
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“The Hit” (1984)
Image Credit: Criterion “Few films have gambled as much on a simple portrayal of the dynamics between desperate men,” Nolan raved to Criterion about Stephen Frears’ 1984 British crime movie. The film, starring Tim Roth and a comeback performance from Terence Stamp, follows two hitmen as they transport a criminal to Paris for his execution.
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“Koyaanisqatsi” (1983)
Image Credit: Ire Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock “An incredible document of how man’s greatest endeavors have unsettling consequences,” Nolan told Criterion about Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 experimental documentary. “Art, not propaganda, emotional, not didactic; it doesn’t tell you what to think — it tells you what to think about.”
Stream on Amazon Prime; buy the Qatsi Trilogy Criterion Collection.
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“Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)
Image Credit: Anonymous/AP/Shutterstock In his fight to preserve celluloid against the onslaught of digital filmmaking, Nolan has often turned to David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” to prove why shooting on film provides a cinematic experience like no other. Nolan used “Lawrence” to advocate for celluloid during a talk at the 2015 London Film Festival, bringing attention to “the very subtle shadow detail and the particular tonality of skies” that pop because of Lean’s vision. “Here you can see them on the camel as they first come out of the desert far sooner than you can on Blu-ray,” Nolan said.
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“Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” (1983)
Image Credit: Recorded Pic-Cineventure-Asahi/Oshima/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan cast David Bowie in his magician thriller “The Prestige” after first falling in love with the musician as an actor in Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 war film “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.” Nolan has said that “few films have been able to capture David Bowie’s charisma, but Oshima’s wartime drama is tailor-made for his talents.”
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“Metropolis” (1927)
Fritz Lang’s iconic 1927 silent film “Metropolis” is referred to by Nolan as a “key touchstone” in the history of cinema. The effects of Lang’s expressionistic cinematographer and character design continue to ripple into cinema today and inspire a wide array of different directors across genres.
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“Mr. Arkadin” (1955)
Image Credit: Sevilla/Mercury Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock Orson Welles’ “Mr. Arkadin” often gets overlooked compared to his other major directorial works, but Nolan praises the 1955 drama for how it preserves “the heartbreaking glimpses of Welles’ genius.”
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“The Right Stuff” (1983)
Image Credit: Ladd Company/Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock “You can’t pretend ‘2001’ doesn’t exist when you’re making ‘Interstellar,’ but the other film I’d have to point to is ‘The Right Stuff,'” Nolan told IGN about Philip Kaufman’s space drama. “I screened a print of it for the crew before we started, because that’s a film that not enough people have seen on the big screen. It’s an almost perfectly made film. It’s one of the great American movies and people don’t quite realize how great it is — probably because it’s four hours long!”
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“Saving Private Ryan” (1998)
Image Credit: Dreamworks/Amblin/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan is such a fan of “Saving Private Ryan” that he actually consulted with Steven Spielberg before mounting his own war movie “Dunkirk.” Speaking to Variety about Spielberg’s WWII drama, Nolan raved, “The film has lost none of its power. It’s a truly horrific opening, and there are later sequences that are horrible to sit through. We didn’t want to compete with that because it is such an achievement.”
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“The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977)
Image Credit: Danjaq/Eon/Ua/Kobal/Shutterstock The James Bond franchise is one of Nolan’s favorites, which is one reason his name has often floated around every time a list of possible 007 directors goes viral online. As Nolan said during a 2012 Q&A, “One of the first films I remember seeing was ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ and at a certain point the Bond films fixed in my head as a great example of scope and scale in large scale images. That idea of getting you to other places, of getting you along for a ride if you can believe in it — in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me,’ the Lotus Esprit turns into a submarine and it’s totally convincing, and it works and you go ‘Wow, that’s incredible.’”
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“Ryan’s Daughter” (1970)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock David Lean’s 1970 romance “Ryan’s Daughter” moved Nolan because of the “thrilling windswept beaches and crashing waves…The relationship of geographical spectacle to narrative and thematic drive in these works is extraordinary and inspiring. Pure cinema.”
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“Star Wars” (1977)
Image Credit: Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock Like many of his generation’s filmmakers, “Star Wars” changed everything for Nolan and drove him towards filmmaking as a young child. “That came out in the ’70s and I’d been experimenting using Super 8 films and stuff,” Nolan told Business Insider. “And then from the second I saw ‘Star Wars’ everything was spaceships and science-fiction.”
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“Street of Crocodiles” (1986)
Image Credit: Quay Brothers Nolan loves stop-motion animators Stephen and Timothy Quay so much that he brought together three of their films for a national tour on 35mm in 2015. The filmmaking duo’s 1986 short “Street of Crocodiles” remains a landmark for Nolan. “As soon as you see an image from that film you can’t take your eyes away,” Nolan has raved. “It has some of the most extraordinary things that have ever been photographed.”
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“Sunrise” (1927)
Image Credit: Fox Films/Kobal/Shutterstock F. W. Murnau’s 1927 silent romantic comedy-drama “Sunrise,” starring George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor proves the “endless possibilities of purely visual storytelling,” Nolan raved to the British Film Institute. “Sunrise” is far from the intense wartime thrills of “Dunkirk,” but Murnau’s visual storytelling prowess is something Nolan strived for while making his war movie.
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“Superman – The Movie” (1978)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Dc Comics/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan left his mark on the superhero film genre with his iconic “The Dark Knight” trilogy, and it was Richard Donner’s 1978 movie “Superman” that got him hooked on the genre. The filmmaker has said the Christopher Reeves-led superhero movie “made a huge impression” on him as a director.
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“The Testament of Dr. Mabuse” (1933)
Image Credit: Criterion Fritz Lang is another favorite of Nolan’s. The director says the German filmmaking icon is at “his most wicked and entertaining” in the 1933 crime movie “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse.” Nolan mentioned the film is “essential research for anyone attempting to write a supervillain.”
Rent or buy on Amazon Prime; buy the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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“The Thin Red Line” (1998)
Image Credit: Merie W Wallace/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock Nolan has called Terrence Malick’s 1998 World War II drama “The Thin Red Line” an “extraordinary vision of war.” The sprawling ensemble drama earned seven Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. “Thin Red Line” would be used as a source of inspiration for Nolan during the development of “Dunkirk.” Nolan’s film also picked up Best Picture and Best Director Oscar noms, among others.
Rent or buy on Amazon Prime; buy the Criterion Collection Blu-ray.
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“Topkapi” (1964)
Image Credit: United Artists/Kobal/Shutterstock “As style-over-substance movies go, this is fabulously entertaining,” Nolan told IMdB about Jules Dassin’s Technicolor heist movie, “I love it not just for its often imitated dangling-from-the-ceiling heist sequence but also for Peter Ustinov’s incredible comic performance.”
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“The Tree Of Life” (2011)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Nolan adores Terrence Malick so much that he agreed to take part in a special commentary feature for the release of “The Tree Of Life,” another peak Malick effort for the “Inception” director. “Terrence Malick, more than almost any other filmmaker I can name, his work is immediately recognizable,” Nolan said. “His films are all very, very connected with each other and they’re very recognizably his work, but it’s very tough to put your finger on why that is or what you’re seeing in that the technique is not immediately obvious.”
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