Christopher Nolan Originally Envisioned INCEPTION as a Horror Film
While we all wait to see what film project Christopher Nolan takes on next, he recently revealed that he would love to play in the horror genre. When asked by a fan if he would ever consider making a horror movie, he said:
”I’d love to make a horror film. But I think a really good horror film requires a really exceptional idea. And those are few and far between. So I haven’t found a story that lends itself to that.”
In a past interview with The Telegraph, Nolan revealed that at one point he was developing a horror movie, and that horror movie ended up being Inception. The initial concept came from the idea of subconscious terror. He explained:
"I was thinking along the lines of a horror movie at first, but it eventually became this project. I was looking for a device whereby the dreams would become important to the story, and the thought that someone could invade your dream space and steal an idea is immensely compelling to me. The concept that dreams feel real while we're in them underlies the whole film."
That sounds like it would’ve been a really interesting and cool techy riff on A Nightmare on Elm Street. There’s something certainly wild there, and well… the movie did end up being pretty crazy! But, that gives us some insight into his thinking when it comes to horror.
When Nolan does make a horror movie, it’s going to be really interesting to see what kind of story it tells and what kind of elements it incorporates. Nolan also talked about what he finds interesting about the horror genre, saying:
“But I think it’s a very interesting genre from a cinematic point of view. It’s also one of the few genres where the studios make a lot of these films, and they are films that have a lot of bleakness, a lot of abstraction. They have a lot of the qualities that Hollywood is generally very resistant to putting in films, but that’s a genre where it’s allowable.”
I hope that Nolan jumps into the world of horror with his next film. I hope that he’s got an idea brewing that he’d like to move forward with. We’ll just have to wait and see.