Christopher Nolan Already Made His Bond Film With Inception

Speculation about which actor will play the next James Bond is at its highest point in years. No Time to Die saw the definitive end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007, and with it came the idea of his replacement. At the moment, Bullet Train star Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the favorite and may have been offered a formal contract. With the question of which actor will play James Bond comes the equally important question of who will direct the next James Bond film.

Fleabag creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge is famously Barbara Broccoli’s favorite for the directing gig. However, Bond fans have been desperate for iconic British director Christopher Nolan to take on the challenge. This adamancy has been fueled by comments from Nolan himself, saying it would be a “privilege” to direct a Bond movie – Nolan said to Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. But Christopher Nolan has been infusing his films with his love for 007 for over 20 years, and he’s already made his take on a Bond film.

Inception Was Created as Nolan’s Version of James Bond

Out of Christopher Nolan’s flawless filmography, Tenet and Inception feel the closest to Nolan’s rendition of a James Bond film. On the surface, it may seem like Tenet is more directly linked to James Bond, thanks to its nameless protagonist’s suave suits, spy-like persona, and world-saving mission. But Nolan has actually admitted that a large part of Inception was an homage to his favorite James Bond film.

Speaking to Denis Villeneuve, the legendary director of Dune: Part Two, to promote an IMAX screening of Tenet, Christopher Nolan revealed his favorite James Bond film. “Certainly, with the end of Inception, if you look at the end of it with the sky chase and the big fortress in the snow, that was a big homage to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which is my favorite of the Bonds,” Nolan told Villeneuve. After seeing the similarities between Inception and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, it becomes impossible to ignore them.

During the climatic final action sequence in Inception, where Cobb and his team enter multi-layered dreams of Cillian Murphy’s Fischer, the team are chased by Fischer’s subconscious defenses. In true Christopher Nolan style, these subconscious defenses come in the form of soldiers who chase Cobb’s team on skis. The scene is thrilling, action-packed, and taken directly from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Chase scenes are synonymous with the James Bond franchise. Famously, almost every James Bond film across its 50-year history features at least one chase scene. These often take the form of car chases or even plane chases. But in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Bond is chased on skis through the mountains of the French Alps. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service began a long-running and odd tradition of ski chases in James Bond films—of which there are now six in total.

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Depending on who you ask, many argue that Christopher Nolan’s iteration of the James Bond ski chase is actually the best one. Not only does Christopher Nolan bring his legendary directorial skills to maximize the potential for visual storytelling in each shot. His reluctance to use CGI adds another layer of realism to the ski chase in Inception. Of course, the ski chase in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a product of its time. Its CGI is vastly outdated by modern standards, and the green-screen work is obvious. But, to many, Nolan’s love for practical action and stunts is just another reason why the iconic auteur should be the next filmmaker to direct a James Bond movie.

Christopher Nolan Has Been Paying Homage to 007 for Decades

Tenet and Inception are the closest Christopher Nolan has come to making a film in the style of the James Bond franchise. However, Christopher Nolan has littered his filmography with James Bond references since the mid-00s. The most overt references come in the form of Nolan’s protagonists, as briefly touched upon earlier. The nameless spy in Tenet, Cobb in Inception, and even Bruce Wayne in the Dark Knight Trilogy are all visually inspired by Bond’s iconic suave apparel.

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However, Nolan’s James Bond influences and homages go far beyond costumes. Many of the stunts in the Dark Knight Trilogy are taken from the James Bond franchise. The most famous example is the practical plane stunt at the start of The Dark Knight Rises. Bane hijacking a plane in midair and dragging it vertically across the sky, is directly ripped from License to Kill. The same goes for Batman’s use of the skyhook to escape Shanghai in The Dark Knight. This stunt was taken from the final scene of Sean Connery’s Thunderball.

The Dark Knight trilogy features various other homages to the James Bond franchise. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), despite being a character from the comics, is a veritable stand-in for Q, the quartermaster in the James Bond franchise. Fans also liken the Tumbler, used in all three films in the Dark Knight Trilogy, to James Bond’s famous Aston Martins – although the idea of the Batmobile actually first appeared way back in 1939, 23 years before the first James Bond film.

It is currently uncertain whether Christopher Nolan will direct the next James Bond film. It is uncertain whether Aaron Taylor-Johnson will be the next Bond, as the British actor is very coy about the role. Christopher Nolan would certainly bring a unique style to his James Bond film. Fans can also expect to see his penchant for the science-fiction genre inform the gadgets and technology used in the movie. Inception is streaming now on Apple TV+.