Nolan slams post-credit scenes

[The Laughing Fish]

Christopher Nolan Slammed Marvel's Post-Credits Scenes In The Snarkiest Manner Possible

I'm a credits watcher – I don't feel like I've properly watched a movie unless I know who the third grip was and which dozen effects companies worked on the film. So, I've always appreciated Marvel's post-credits codas. Even if I didn't enjoy the movie itself much, I know I've got a fun little teaser coming at the end if I stick things out.


Well, you know who doesn't like fun? Christopher Nolan, that's who. Warner Bros. may be desperately trying to copy the Marvel Studios formula, but Nolan was insistent that Man of Steel not feature a post-credits scene. According to The Guardian, Warner Bros. badly wanted to add a coda to the movie that would set up Batman V Superman, but Nolan gave them a very terse, one-line response...

"A real movie wouldn't do that."

So, that implies Nolan thought Zack Snyder's take on super powered beings destroying a major city was a real movie while Joss Whedon's was not. Because Man of Steel was more grey I guess? I dunno – maybe it's for the best than Nolan has stepped away from the superhero thing.

http://uproxx.com/gammasquad/2014/11/christopher-nolan-slammed-marvels-post-credits-scenes-in-the-snarkiest-manner-possible/

If you ask me, a real movie wouldn't include a protagonist who flip-flops on his moral code whenever its convenient to the story, take the blame for crimes he didn't commit, and fakes his death so he can get together with a murderer. Nor would a real movie rely on constant exposition to tell a story or have idiotic plot contrivances to lengthen the film i.e. Two-Face going on a killing spree to avenge Rachel...while sparing the man who was responsible for killing her in the first place.

Nolan, just go away and stop dumbing down your audience.

[The Laughing Fish]

He's denying the comment now.

Christopher Nolan Denies Marvel Studios Dig

Despite a recent report, director Christopher Nolan denies ever slamming the films released by Marvel Studios as not "real," BuzzFeed News has learned.

Nolan, whose filmmaking clout and renown skyrocketed off the billion dollar grosses of his Dark Knight trilogy, also produced and co-wrote the story for the 2013 Superman reboot Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder. In a profile in The Guardian posted on Tuesday pegged to his latest film Interstellar, Nolan reportedly slammed Marvel Studios' trademark end credits sequences after Warner Bros. suggested to him and Snyder that Man of Steel conclude with a similar "comedy coda ending." Nolan's reported reply: "A real movie wouldn't do that."

Nolan, however, emphatically denies ever saying that.

"I would never say someone else's film isn't 'a real film,'" Nolan said in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "The quote is inaccurate." The concern for Nolan and Snyder was adhering to Man of Steel's overall darker and more serious tone, and to forge a cinematic path separate from Marvel Studios, according to a source with knowledge of the production. (Nolan and his producing partner and wife Emma Thomas are executive producing the 2016 sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.)

A spokesperson for The Guardian in the U.S. did not immediately return a request for comment.

Nolan's purported quote — and quick denial — touches on the decades-long rivalry between DC Comics (home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the rest of the Justice League) and Marvel Comics (home of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the rest of the Avengers). Both Warner Bros., a corporate cousin of DC Entertainment, and Marvel Studios, owned by the Walt Disney Company, recently announced ambitious movie slates that stretch through the end of this decade. Whether the marketplace can sustain that many superhero movies remains an open question; some elbow-throwing in the press would make sense, and make headlines. Just not, apparently, this time.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/christopher-nolan-denies-marvel-studios-dig

Regardless, I stand by my earlier comment. 

This isn't anything new but I wish WB/DC would seek creative storytellers and not let Nolan dictate what they do.

[johnnygobbs]

If Nolan did make that comment, he's a jerk.

However, whatever one thinks of his films (and I know he has a lot of detractors on this site), Nolan has generally tended to stay classy and refrain from criticising other filmmakers' work, unlike say Joss Whedon, Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith, filmmakers who are very candid (sometimes too candid) in their opinions regarding their contemporaries (and that's certainly not a knock on Whedon and Tarantino's work which I greatly appreciate...).

So I'd be very surprised if Nolan said anything of the sort.

[Catwoman]

Wow. Egooooooooo.

Has he always been like this or is it since he became the anointed one?

[mrrockey]

Didn't I read somewhere that he was a fan of Michael Bay? If so, it's rather hypocritical of him to like one filmmaker's work which is just non-stop explosions, porny shots of hot girls, and product placement and then say a film isn't a film simply because it has a post-credits scene. What a douche.

[johnnygobbs]

Didn't I read somewhere that he was a fan of Michael Bay? If so, it's rather hypocritical of him to like one filmmaker's work which is just non-stop explosions, porny shots of hot girls, and product placement and then say a film isn't a film simply because it has a post-credits scene. What a douche.

One of the critics on "Film 2014", UK TV's main film review programme, said that "Interstellar makes Armageddon look like Solaris (the Tarkovsky version)".  Maybe Nolan would regard that as a compliment. 

[Slash Man]

I'm going to believe him... Actually saying something that would be a real blow to anyone's character, even someone as accomplished as Christopher Nolan. I know that James Cameron takes that kind of condescending viewpoint when he singled out some low budget films as cheapening the art of 3D films.

Nolan always seemed like a film enthusiast in general, and certainly a master of the art. He's never struck me as the cocky type to take shots.

[riddler]

I've yet to see Nolan criticize other film makers works. Seems to be a Goyer thing to talk trash. Remember Nolan did praise Tim Burton's films.


Still I don't doubt he'd quash a credit scene. The avengers did pretty well for not being a real movie 

[johnnygobbs]

I've yet to see Nolan criticize other film makers works. Seems to be a Goyer thing to talk trash. Remember Nolan did praise Tim Burton's films.

Agreed.  Nolan is a class act, particularly compared to Goyer.

Still I don't doubt he'd quash a credit scene. The avengers did pretty well for not being a real movie 

The Marvel Studios films have their own style.  Post-credit sequences don't really fit well with Warner Bros' rumoured 'no jokes' policy.

I like both styles, but if pushed I'd say I prefer Marvel's lighter, more colourful tone over DC's currently brooding, de-saturated style.

[The Laughing Fish]

I like both styles, but if pushed I'd say I prefer Marvel's lighter, more colourful tone over DC's currently brooding, de-saturated style.

I'd say Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a perfect example that Marvel can go serious if they want to. The difference is they know how to avoid making a film dull and dreary and depriving it from any levity, unlike the DC movies. And what's good about The Winter Solider is the themes they introduce (i.e. surveillance, trust, conspiracy etc) all reflect in the dialogue AND the action that takes place on screen. Cap questioning SHIELD for taking drastic measures to prevent terrorism, SHIELD itself being compromised from the inside by HYDRA, the terrorists are involved in a conspiracy to use SHIELD's satellite defense systems against anyone who threatens their plans for global domination, Cap and co. don't know exactly who they can turn to because of the corruption entrenched within SHIELD. All of these events relate to the characters' struggles and are relevant to the plot.

The only levity I found from DC movies recently is Bane's comical portrayal and Superman plowing Zod into a gas station in Smallville. It's all unintentionally funny to me.