Long before Batman was fighting fear in Gotham’s shadows, two young brothers were waging a galactic war in a suburban basement. Their weapons were a Super 8 camera, a box of firecrackers, and a few toys that were about to get blown up.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, filmmaker Jonathan Nolan shared a funny and cool piece of movie history about his older brother, the famous director Christopher Nolan. They were talking about Christopher’s upcoming movie, ‘The Odyssey,’ when the conversation shifted to how his career first started. And it turns out, it was written in the stars, or more like a galaxy far, far away.
Jonathan Nolan Reveals Early Memories of His Brother’s Filmmaking
Jonathan said, “My earliest memories literally are of Chris making movies.” He and his brother have worked together on big films like ‘The Dark Knight‘, ‘The Prestige‘, and ‘Interstellar‘. But back when they were kids in the Midwest, things were a lot simpler.
Related: Why Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ Black Armor May Be More Historically Accurate Than Fans Think
“Our take on Star Wars, of course, in the basement, blowing up some of my toys with firecrackers,” Jonathan explained. He said Christopher was “probably 8 or 9 years old at that point.” That puts the famous director’s very first movie in the late 1970s, right after the original ‘Star Wars‘ came out in 1977. Jonathan was only about 3 or 4 years old, basically the scared special effects guy for his older brother’s project.
For a director known for using real effects like a spinning hallway in ‘Inception‘ or a real Boeing 747 in ‘Tenet‘, this story makes perfect sense. Long before he was crashing trains or building spaceship copies, Nolan was blowing up action figures with firecrackers.
Are the Lost Nolan Super 8 Movies Saved on a Hard Drive
Christopher Nolan turns 56 this July. He has said before that watching ‘Star Wars‘ when he was seven years old changed his life. That movie, along with ‘2001: A Space Odyssey‘, made him want to tell stories with a camera. He has also revealed his dad owned a Super 8 camera, which he used to shoot “stop-motion animation tributes.” One early film called ‘Space Wars‘ had sets made of “clay, flour, egg boxes, and toilet paper.” However, the 60 Minutes interview adds a new detail: the firecrackers.
In case you missed it: How a Forgotten 1940 Alfred Hitchcock Film Inspired Christopher Nolan’s Most Intense War Movie
Now for the bad news: those old movies are probably gone. But in a 2014 interview, Jonathan hinted that they might not be. He said the Star Wars spoofs they made as kids were actually not lost. “They are currently on my hard drive,” Jonathan teased.
So, as Christopher Nolan gets ready for ‘The Odyssey‘, those little basement explosions are a good reminder that every great director started as a kid with a dream and a camera. Jonathan said it best: “He’s always been doing this.” Hopefully, one day, maybe as a DVD extra or at a special event, we’ll get to see the first time the Nolan brothers broke through space and time, one firecracker at a time.
You might also want to read: Christopher Nolan Tried to Stop Zack Snyder’s Most Controversial Superman Scene in ‘Man of Steel’
