Chris Nolan on Alien, Alien 3 and Blade Runner

 

 leading from

Further Alien echoes

and

Alien 3

and

Blade Runner 

 

 

 

 

 

a) Fan of Alien and Blade Runner

 

Chris Nolan had always been a huge fan of Ridley Scott. 

 

When he was a child both Alien and Blade Runner blew him away because they created these extraordinary worlds that he found just completely immersive. 

 

He found himself analyzing the fact that he loved both of these movies which were different stories with different actors but the same mind behind them. 

 

So it brought him to focus on the idea of the director and how the director could have a controlling effect on the creative side of the film that is undefinable, but still important and something that the viewer would be able to feel.

 

 

b) Alien 3

 

When he went to see the Alien 3 film, despite the fact that he could see it was a smaller movie that the sequel Aliens before it

 

He saw a shining talent, he came out of the cinema talking with someone he knew saying ‘I’ve just seen the new Ridley Scott. I know who the new Ridley Scott is, it’s David Fincher,’ and he was quite sure that he wasn't wrong.

 

David Fincher went on to become one of the biggest names in the film industry, but Nolan was quite sure that it was there in that movie whether Fincher should know it or not.

 

In the times that Nolan had been around him, he never dared mention this to him but he thought that Fincher was very aware of the flaws, as well as the appalling experience he had making it and how put upon he was. 

 

Nolan could only truly imagine how overwhelming that experience must have been.

1. Christopher Nolan: I've always loved films. I started making films when I was seven years old and I haven't stopped. I never really thought about doing anything else. What I love are films that create their own particular geography, a particular world and immerse you in it for a couple of hours. 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. I was also an enormous Stanley Kubrick fan for similar reasons. As I got older, I got more interested in films that I had not grown up with - sort cinema people like Nicolas Roeg, Sydney Lumet and John Frankenheimer. (Quote taken from post at http://www.nolanfans.com/) (According to.(http://www.mediafactory.org.au, this quote comes from Dado 2015; para 1 whatever that is) 
2. QUESTION: You mentioned that you have loved movies since you were a child. Who are some of the filmmakers whose works have influenced your thinking and feelings?
   NOLAN: It is difficult to single out just a few. I have always admired Stanley Kubrick, Terrence Malick, Ridley Scott and Nicholas Roeg to name as few. I loved 2001: A Space Odyssey, Chinatown and Lawrence of Arabia. Alien and Blade Runner blew me away. All of those films created extraordinary, completely immersive worlds.  (A Conversation with Christopher Nolan by Bob Fisher, interview to be found in a forum on Joblo http://www.joblo.com/)
3. Chris Nolan: I remember being very struck by Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner and noticing or sort of analyzing the fact that I liked [Scott's] Alien, as well — two totally different films, different actors, different stories, really, but the same mind behind them. And that’s what I was sort of focused on, the idea of the director and how the director could have a controlling effect on the creative side of the film that’s indefinable, but important and something you kind of feel.  (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/)
4.  Nolan went on to point out that The Fast and the Furious franchise satisfies the audience's need for "bigger" sequels.
   “The fun thing about those [Fast and the Furious] movies is even as they’ve gotten bigger and bigger, as sequels have to do – everyone always complains that sequels get bigger, but we are the people making sequels get bigger. We do want them bigger. You don’t want them smaller."
   The director then segued into what he called "the Alien 3 lesson," referencing the smaller-scale and critically reviled 1992 David Fincher sequel to Aliens.
   (Fincher famously is not a fan of Alien 3.)
   "I’ve never dared mention [Alien 3] to him," Nolan continued. "I think he’s very aware of the flaws and he’s very aware of the appalling experience he had making it, and how put-upon he was, and I truly can only imagine. But his talent shines through in that movie. I came out of that film and had a conversation with a guy I was with and I said, ‘I’ve just seen the new Ridley Scott. I know who the new Ridley Scott is, it’s David Fincher,’ and I wasn’t wrong. It’s there in the movie, whether he knows it or not." (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/christopher-nolan-tokyo-drift-alien-3-interview-b1769605.html)