Christopher Nolan Says ‘No’ to Directing Another Superhero Movie, Criticizes Studios for Viewing Films as Plot and Not an ‘Audiovisual Experience’

Christian Bale is probably not going to play Batman again after Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. The Oscar-winning actor toldScreenRantlast summer that he would only play Batman for a fourth time if Christopher Nolan was directing, but Nolan doesnt appear to be interested in returning to the comic book genre. YouTuber HugoDcrypteasked Nolan point blank if he would make another superhero movie. Nolan bluntly answered, No.

The question came during a speed round in which HugoDcryptealso asked the Oppenheimer filmmaker if he could make a TV show one day. Nolan also answered no. The director wasnt as definitive when asked if he would want to direct a Star Wars movie. Nolan passed on giving an answer.

Bale said in June 2022 when asked about reprising his role as Batman, No ones ever mentioned it to me. No ones brought it up. Occasionally people say to me, Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this. And Im like, Thats news to me. No ones ever said that.

I had a pact with Chris Nolan, Bale added at the time. We said, Hey, look. Lets make three films, if were lucky enough to get to do that. And then lets walk away. Lets not linger too long. In my mind, it would be something if Chris Nolan ever said to himself, You know what, Ive got another story to tell. And if he wished to tell that story with me, Id be in.

Making another Batman movie would require Nolan to jump back to Warner Bros., which owns the rights to the DC superhero. Warner Bros. was Nolans studio home for more than a decade until he left following its controversial release of Tenet during the COVID pandemic and its decision to debut all of its 2021 movies in theaters and on HBO Max on the same day. Nolan jumped to Universal for his upcoming atomic bomb drama, Oppenheimer.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, Nolan lamented over Hollywood studios missing the point when it comes to cinemas essence. In his eyes, the studios mistake cinema for plot and not its audiovisual elements.

Whether for budgetary reasons or reasons of control, studios now look at a screenplay as a series of events and say, This is the essence of what the film is. And thats completely at odds with how cinema developed, right from the Lumire brothers train pulling into the station, as a pure audiovisual experience, Nolan said. But its a very popular fallacy sometimes with critics as well, quite frankly that all that matters is the scale of the story being told.

People will tell you that the success of Star Wars had nothing to do with its visual effects, and it was all down to its great story, Nolan continued. But, I mean, clearly thats not the case. It is indeed a great story, but its also an incredible visual and aural experience. So this willful denial of what movies actually are has set in. People will say, Why would you have to see something like Aftersun on the big screen? But of course you have to. It also plays wonderfully on TV, but thats not the point.

Nolans Oppenheimer opens in theaters July 21.