Simon Lawrence Directs Christopher Nolan

Simon Lawrence directs Christopher Nolan   


Christopher Nolan is the director of many blockbusters, such as the Batman Trilogy, Inception, Interstellar and Memento.Born in England in 1970, he is best known for his often non-linear style and thought provoking stories. His first feature film “The Following” kick started his career, earning him enough to make his second film “Memento”.
His big break came when he was tasked with reviving the Batman franchise, his choice to give the film its dark undertones and serious nature made the films a hit.

Main Directing Credits

Following    Memento    Insomnia    Batman Begins    The PrestigeBatman The Dark Knight    Inception    Batman The Dark Knight Rises    Interstellar
Christopher Nolan has a certain style of directing, he tends to tell a story in a non-linear fashion, such as with Memento, the film is told in reverse along with a linear story, he makes frequent use of flashbacks and tends to begin his films with a memory or past moment.

He also works with cast and crew he has worked with before, such as cinematographer Wally Pfister, Music Composer Hans Zimmer, and a range of actors such as Micheal Caine and Christian Bale to name a few.

Visually his films are dark and gritty, usuasally with a serious or solemn nature, he also likes to set up a character as a hero or  a person with morales and then by the end of the film show them to be an anti-hero or villain.

What Scenes I will Do - 

My initial plan was to recreate a scene from Batman A Dark Knight, but then whilst I was researching Nolan, I watched Memento, I loved the premise and the non-linear style of telling a story, I then had to make a decision on whether to film a scene from Batman or Memento.

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I looked at them in terms of achievability, whilst I would need more actors and locations for Memento, the Batman scene would require a lot in regards to costume and action, and whilst a great scene in terms of action and story development, I could have better flexibility and artistic choice with the scenes from memento.

The scene I want to re-create is the entire story of Sammy Jenkis. In the film, his story is told in a series of flashbacks, however I would like to tell the story as one whole, I would also like to include the scenes where Lenny is talking on the phone as it helps describe the scene and characters.

I would like to direct this scene as it is a pivotal scene in the film, it sets up a big reveal later in the film and makes the audience wonder why they are being told about Sammy, I also like this scene just for the emotional impact it has on the characters and on the audience.

The phone conversation is also interesting in the fact that we do not know until the end of the film who he is talking to, it also runs in a linear fashion as opposed to the rest of the film. It also exposes the story of Sammy.

I believe this scene, whilst not filled with action and suspense will help me learn about plot and experimental themes in terms on non-narrative plot structure and working with actors to get the right performance out of them.