Christopher Nolan Says He Would Be "Terrified" to Direct a Rom-Com - "One of the Hardest Things in the World"

Academy Award winner Christopher Nolan, best known for writing and directing epic films like The Dark Knight Trilogy, Memento, Inception, Interstellar, The Prestige, Dunkirk, Tenet, Oppenheimer, and this year’s blockbuster The Odyssey, has a knack for making beautifully shot and well-written films.

While some of his films have hints of a thriller or a love story throughout, his wheelhouse is obviously drama. But does he have ambitions for making other genres?

In a recent interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Nolan confessed he’d be “terrified” to jump genres and take on a romantic-comedy, explaining why it would be “one of the hardest things in the world” to make.

“I think doing a rom-com would be incredibly difficult. I love watching those movies. But no, I think people who direct comedy, people who do comedy, I think that’s one of the hardest things in the world to make people laugh that way.

“Particularly, the risk they take when you make a film—if I show a film to people and maybe they don’t respond to bits of it, I’m like, ‘Ah, they don’t get it. Whatever.’ There’s no hiding behind that when you do comedy. So, I would be terrified of doing anything like that.”

There are plenty of directors who could never do what Nolan does in his films, and it’s kind of reassuring to know that he isn’t an expert in everything.

I have heard from many actors as well that comedy is the more challenging genre to pull off, but it’s pretty funny to know that Nolan has an Achilles heel in the realm of filmmaking.