Christopher Nolan

Often referred to as “the heir to Kubrick” (Leigh), Christopher Nolan is widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers working to this day. Nolan is not shy about expressing his love for Kubrick. The influence Kubrick has on Nolan’s filmography is enormous, from Nolan’s own space odyssey Interstellar to the innovative and groundbreaking conceptual ideas played within films such as Inception, The Prestige, and Tenet (Bose).

 

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Nolan’s most obvious nod to Kubrick is displayed in Interstellar, a science fiction drama that down to the basics of the plot is littered with the influence of 2001. It's hard not to notice the similarities between the two movies: both feature grand space missions to mysterious wormholes/ space portals placed there by unknown extraterrestrial beings; both feature artificially intelligent robots, in 2001 the machine attempts to kill the human characters, while in Interstellar, the machines assist the humans throughout their journey; and both feature strange, visionary rooms at their conclusions in which the main character find themselves surrounded by (Bose).

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However, while the films are extremely similar, Nolan manages to deviate from what's been done before with the inherently human core of his film, focusing more on human characters and their bonds to each other rather than ponderous existential questions about the universe. In this way, Nolan acknowledges the influence of Kubrick in his film and tries to take his story in a direction not present in 2001. For Nolan, Kubrick’s 2001 inspires him to keep pushing the boundaries of what can be accomplished within science fiction cinema, “You look at the cut in 2001, this vast jump forward — the confidence that takes to do that is actually enormous … Would I love to do things like that in my own work? Yes. But I don’t think I have the confidence to do that. Which is why there is only one Stanley Kubrick. I do believe he is inimitable. But you can be inspired. You can be inspired to aspire to be that confident” (Bose).

 

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And to this day, this is exactly what Nolan aspires to achieve: to push the boundaries of what can be portrayed in film, just like Kubrick. Nolan’s use of the theme and concepts of time mind-meltingly twists the entire science fiction genre in every film he releases. Innovation and pushing the envelope is Nolan’s motto, and it's all thanks to the spark lit by Kubrick (Bose).