How Was Christopher Nolan Involved In The Development Of 'Skyfall'?

For having nothing to do with movie, Christopher Nolan's name has popped up a surprising number of times in early "Skyfall" reviews. A few critics have cited "The Dark Knight" when praising "Skyfall" and its serious handling of an iconic character.

In their review, The Playlist even went as far as to say that Nolan would never have to direct a Bond film, something he has previously express interest in doing, because Sam Mendes essentially made a Nolan-directed Bond film.

As it turns out, that's kind of what Mendes was going for. He told The Playlist that Nolan's "Dark Knight" films "directly inspired" his approach to "Skyfall."

"In terms of what [Nolan] achieved, specifically 'The Dark Knight,' the second movie, what it achieved, which is something exceptional," Mendes said. "It was a game changer for everybody."

Mendes continued by saying that "The Dark Knight" proved that a big movie could also be a deep one. "We're now in an industry where movies are very small or very big and there's almost nothing in the middle," he continued. "And it would be a tragedy if all the serious movies were very small and all the popcorn movies were very big and have nothing to say. And what Nolan proved was that you can make a huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in, even if, in the case with 'The Dark Knight,' it's not even set in our world. If felt like a movie that was about our world post-9/11 and played on our fears and discussed our fears and why they existed and I thought that was incredibly brave and interesting. That did help give me the confidence to take this movie in directions that, without 'The Dark Knight,' might not have been possible. Because also, people go, 'Wow, that's pretty dark,' but then you can point to 'Dark Knight' and go 'Look at that ' that's a darker movie, and it took in a gazillion dollars!' That's very helpful. There's also that thing ' it's clearly possible to make a dark movie that people want to see."

Do you want to see a Christopher Nolan-direct James Bond movie? Let us know in the comments below and on Twitter!

Tags christopher nolan, james bond, sam mendes, Skyfall