Why Is Christopher Nolan So Secretive?

Movie Hans Zimmer by Joey Paur

Christopher Nolan is one of the most secretive directors out there. From his Batman films to Inception, he doesn't let anything out of the bag that he doesn't want let out, and there's a reason for that. I enjoy the fact that Nolan keeps a lot of things under his hat. It's awesome to know that when we go see The Dark Knight Rises, there's going to be a ton of surprises that we wont see coming. 

Dark Knight Rises Composer Hans Zimmer did an interview with Hero Complex recently in which he discusses his point of view of why Nolan is so secretive. 

There’s always this thing [that people say], ‘Oh, Chris is so secretive.’ Well, I think that there are two elements to this. One is, I think, to be able to do really good work, you have to have the chance to fail in privacy. And if everybody’s watching you on the Internet, I think it stifles creativity. And I think ‘Dark Knight’ is the perfect example of this idea. Everybody knew we were making a Batman movie. But until it came out they didn’t know it was going to be that sort of a Batman movie. 

And isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? We’re supposed to go and surprise you. And part of the experience has to be a surprise. It feels a little bit like we’re working very hard at protecting part of what is great about movies — the surprise. Because it seems like the world doesn’t want you to do that anymore. They want to know everything, they want to know about the stars and [this and that] immediately. And it’s not important to us. To us, really, the thing is the writing and the script and the ideas and the journey, and making it into something really good.

Surprises and not knowing what going to happen are all part of the movie going experience! Take that away and there's really no point in going to the movies. I wish more studios would hold back on the stuff they release for movies. In some cases there are so many trailers and film clips released that by the time the movie is released we've already seen half of the movie. Then there's the trailers that end up giving you the whole movie in less than 2-minutes. It annoys the hell out of me, but at the same time, being the person that I am, I can't help but watch it! So it it would be nice if they just didn't release it in the first place. 

I support Nolan in his efforts to keep things secret, and I hope he's able to keep it up. It's getting harder and harder these days with how fast information can be spread to the masses these days. I guess Nolan and other filmmakers just need to surround themselves with people they can trust. 

Do you like the fact that Nolan is so secretive about the movies he makes? Or do you wish he would lighten up a little and give us more?

To read more about how Zimmer created the musical score for TDKR click here

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