Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan’s next film is Interstellar

When I first heard the director of Memento was taking on Batman years ago, I thought it was a great choice because he already proved he wasn’t a one hit wonder with Insomnia.

Yet even if Christopher Nolan had never taken on Batman, he would still be a top director today, and while I’m not exactly wild about the last Dark Knight film, Nolan’s filmography is still very strong overall. 

Putting aside the Batman trilogy, all of Nolan’s previous films are original stories, and he’s going back to an original story for his next film, Interstellar, which is apparently time travel film. The Onion terms it “appropriately complex,” with the publication calling it a “nerdy” time travel story that “sounds awesome.” So what exactly is Interstellar?

Well, from what we’ve been able to gather, Nolan will be working with his screenwriting brother Jonathan, who also co-wrote The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Prestige. (As Vulture notes, Jonathan also wrote the short story that turned into Memento). As far as the plot for Interstellar, the Hollywood Reporter confirms it’s a movie that indeed involves time travel and “alternate dimensions in a story that sees a group of explorers travel through a wormhole.”

One of Chris Nolan’s all time favorite movies is Blade Runner, and it would be awesome to see him tackle a full blown sci-fi epic that plays with time like Memento and Inception. The Reporter tells us that both Warner Brothers and Paramount may jointly release Interstellar, and the complex deal for the film has been in negotiations for months now. (At one point, Spielberg was also going to direct the film).

Apparently, Nolan is also drafting on a script that he plans to work into his brother’s version of Interstellar. Collider reports that the Nolans don’t write together, one brother finishes a draft, then the other takes a pass at it, and this could be a similar case where Chris will create the next draft from Jonathan’s work. 

If things work out for Interstellar, it would be great for Christopher Nolan to apply his great filmmaking, and non-linear storytelling skills to a sci-fi story, and a great way to follow up the Batman trilogy. After reinventing one of the greatest superheroes on earth, maybe the next place to go is to the farthest reaches of space.