Movies - TV
Christopher Nolan Never Has A Cast In Mind While He's Working On A Script
By JOE ROBERTS
Christopher Nolan always seems to have a confident vision for each movie he makes, whether it's the finely-tuned narrative of films like “The Prestige” or the clearly defined styles of his Batman movies. Considering the preparation and well-calibrated approach Nolan takes to his films, it's kind of surprising that he doesn't actually ever write a script with a single actor in mind.
Even though the casting of Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman in 2006’s “The Prestige,” produced great chemistry, Nolan confirmed he actually makes a point of not writing characters for specific actors, saying, “I don't think of actors when writing a script, I think of the characters. I think it's short-changing the characters if you apply the visualization of an actor to them.”
This wasn't the first time Nolan had spoken about not limiting his writing by having actors in mind. When he remade the Norwegian crime thriller “Insomnia” in 2002, the auteur spoke about the film's stars Al Pacino and Robin Williams, stating, “I try not to have actors in mind because I think it limits your writing a little bit. You start writing other characters that they have played so forth.”
It's clear that Nolan champions character over actor when developing his movies. His approach to writing without actors in mind contains much of what defines the approach of method actors themselves, and as such represents a true appreciation for the story being told rather than the cultural appeal of the final product.