In the list of directors that every film lover keeps with him, the filmography of Christopher Nolan certainly cannot be missing , who became known among many mainly for the trilogy of "The Dark Knight" - in which we find a Batman as mature and realistic as was never seen on the big screen - but also for a large number of titles now recognized as cult titles, including his debut "Memento", the sci-fi film "Interstellar" and the war-themed title "Dunkirk".
Overwhelmed in recent weeks by the media phenomenon of "Barbie", Nolan's latest film better known as "Oppenheimer" has had to sustain a not indifferent comparison in the United States , being released at the cinema on the same day as its rival by Mattel and arousing a chatter of mass of enormous dimensions, as well as having contributed significantly to the enjoyment of the aforementioned titles by the public.
According to the most recent criticisms, "Oppenheimer" - by now released in theaters almost all over the world and arriving in Italy on August 23rd - would already be credited as the director's most mature and competent work , considered by some even as "The film of the century” and almost certainly the title in which the director has placed the utmost commitment and dedication.
But despite his reputation as an incurable perfectionist - given the accuracy with which he produces, directs and writes his films, with very long shooting and post-production phases - it would seem that Nolan, in addition to having marked the cinema of the twenty-first century, left behind a series of projects that never saw the light of day . Of these, IndieWire magazine identifies three.
After the release of the psychological thriller "Insomnia" in 2002, Nolan began brainstorming some ideas for a biopic inspired by the life of Howard Hughes - the American film producer and aviation enthusiast - mainly focusing on the problems related to an obsessive compulsive disorder that the would have profoundly conditioned in the course of his experiences. For filming Nolan planned to involve Jim Carrie as the protagonist, in what according to the director - as stated in 2007 to The Daily Beast - would have been the best film he had ever written. However, we know that Martin Scorsese also worked on a very similar project, with his "The Aviator" played by Leonardo Di Caprio. Finding himself behind the times of his competitor, Nolan was regrettably forced to shelve development.
The British director also took care of writing a screenplay inspired by Ruth Rendell's 1996 novel "The key to the street" . Based on a story that sees a woman investigating mysterious murders among the homeless in Regent's Park, Nolan was supposed to have adapted the adaptation for Fox Searchlight, but considering that - according to him - the film would have seemed too similar to his title released some time before, he preferred to break the agreement and go to work for Warner Bros.
Finally, the third project never realized dates back to 2009: it should have been the remake for the big screen of "The Prisoner" , a science fiction series written, conceived and interpreted by Patrick McGoohan centered on the events of the secret agent Number Six, considered by many to be the best series ever conceived of its kind. For apparently obscure reasons, Nolan soon abandoned the project, getting rid of a potential remake that, in fact, would never find any replacement.
Giovanni G. Scanu