{
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "bskyPostRef": {
    "cid": "bafyreia6bv2uvbmnokfqvh6hqgqwf6u2cuckihzxugjzjdghhiluwecn4y",
    "uri": "at://did:plc:4jjxx3max7tcdxwmdkjrnyj4/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlxr6pa7vmx2"
  },
  "coverImage": {
    "$type": "blob",
    "ref": {
      "$link": "bafkreifh7vn5usbgbkqylxel4zebprqjlr6ewqj4pe2w3korwfov3l5qre"
    },
    "mimeType": "image/webp",
    "size": 24570
  },
  "path": "/christopher-nolan-tarantino-retirement",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-15T16:40:02.000Z",
  "site": "https://nofilmschool.com",
  "tags": [
    "Quentin tarantino",
    "The odyssey",
    "Oppenheimer",
    "Score",
    "Sound and music",
    "Directing",
    "Christopher nolan",
    "ReelBlend Podcast",
    "youtu.be",
    "Stanley Kubrick",
    "Super 8 at age 7",
    "a real ship for The Odyssey",
    "reportedly shorter runtime",
    "the art of film composing"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\n\nNolan didn't go to film school. Neither did a lot of people reading this, and we obviously love that.\n\nWe’re also super excited for _The Odyssey_ coming up, and while that release date ticks closer, we’re going back to some of Christopher Nolan’s _Oppenheimer_ press appearances to get some inspiration ahead of his epic adventure story.\n\nWe love to learn from this auteur, who has paved a path, making his films his way.\n\nCheck out this appearance on the ReelBlend Podcast and the key takeaways from Nolan’s answers.\n\n- YouTube youtu.be\n\n## \"There's No Substitute for the Real World\"\n\nNolan drew a line between admiring films and actually making them. For him, theory and practice have always run in parallel, not in sequence. He called filmmaking an “infinitely complex” art form.\n\n“You learn by doing,” he said. “I think it was Stanley Kubrick who famously said the best way to learn how to make films is to make a film. Certainly, that was my path, was doing, and then thinking about it and looking at other people's work, and that would inform your process. But really, there's no substitute for the real world for actually doing things and seeing how things play out. And you know that's something that can be difficult to explain to the studios sometimes.”\n\nHe started borrowing his dad's Super 8 at age 7.\n\nDo the thing. Don’t wait. Just start.\n\n## \"The More Areas in Which You Can Embrace Reality ... the Richer the Film Becomes\"\n\nAlong those lines, he also talked about the importance of “reality” and immersion on his sets. He wants a real rotating hallway and a real ship for The Odyssey and a real Boeing 747 crash.\n\nHe said, \"For me, the more areas in which you can embrace reality, the more areas in which you can allow the real world to inform your process, the richer the film becomes.”\n\nNolan preps a lot, but by being open to reality and the world, his locations can change, actors’ performances can change, and the approach to cinematography can change. Flexibility breeds creativity.\n\nWhat does embracing reality look like for us on a low-budget shoot? These could include real locations, strong casting, letting actors surprise you, and not taking shortcuts as much as we can.\n\n'The Odyssey'  Credit: Universal Pictures\n\n## \"The Decision Was Made at Script Stage\"\n\nNolan was asked about making _Oppenheimer_ R-rated. The runtime and rating for _The Odyssey_ have not been revealed, but speculation is that it could be another R, with a reportedly shorter runtime.\n\nR ratings and hours-long movies can be deterrents, but Nolan wasn’t fazed.\n\n\"The key thing to answer in that question is that the decision was made at script stage,” he said. When we approached Universal about making the film, it was very clear. We said, ‘Okay, it's going to be an R-rated film.’”\n\nWith a film like _The Dark Knight_ , he said the strategy is different.\n\n“Those are films that you go into with the studio knowing full well that that's the rating you're aiming for. You're aiming for that audience, that breadth of audience, and so you have to change things to make it work, and you have to get clever about how you do things and how you present violence in the action.”\n\nYou hopefully know what level of violence or sex your story actually needs as you’re writing it—and who your audience is. You should be able to justify those choices if you land a distributor.\n\n## \"When It's Working ... It Becomes Very Much a Character\"\n\nAt one point, Nolan cited Ridley Scott via the _Thelma & Louise_ commentary, when the director relays he’s heard that you shouldn’t notice a score in a film. Scott and Nolan both hate that idea. (A lot of TikTok editors would likely disagree with that philosophy, too.)\n\n“He says, ‘You know, people will say that if the music's working well in the film, you don't notice it,’ and he's like, ‘That's complete bollocks,’” Nolan said. “It's nonsense. It's like, the music should lift and elevate. I remember listening to that many years ago thinking, ‘That’s absolutely right.’”\n\nLearn more about the art of film composing and how it ties to story.\n\nNolan said, “When it's working, when it's something that you feel as a filmmaker you want to put in there in a passionate and an obvious way, it becomes very much a character in the film. I love movies that do that.”\n\n'The Odyssey' Credit: Universal Pictures\n\n## The Tarantino Question\n\nThe hosts asked Nolan where he falls in the retirement debate, specifically calling out Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino has publicly said he plans to stop after one more film; Martin Scorsese's stated position is the opposite, as he’s still trucking on new projects at 83.\n\nNolan said that the reasoning behind Tarantino’s wish to go out on his own terms is that late-life work by some directors does not always hold up to work produced in their earlier years. It seems he doesn’t want to see a fall-off in quality as he gets older, although that isn’t guaranteed to happen.\n\nNolan continued, \"I'm not sure that I would trust my own sense of the absolute value of a piece of work to know whether or not it should have been brought into existence. I'm a big fan, as is Quentin, of films that maybe don't fully achieve what they try to, but there's something in there that's a performance or a little structural thing or a scene, you know, that's wonderful.\"\n\nThe interviewers point out that if Ridley Scott followed the same philosophy, he wouldn't have made _Gladiator_.\n\nWhat Nolan is saying is that the filmmaker is a bad judge of their own work's place in history. The standard of \"does this measure up to my best\" is the wrong filter. We want to have perfect careers, sure—nine feature films, nine successes topped by a magnum opus. But that’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself as a filmmaker, especially when the creative process can be a reward in itself.\n\n_The Odyssey_ opens in theaters July 17 from Universal Pictures.",
  "title": "Christopher Nolan Doesn't Know If He Believes Tarantino's Retirement Plan"
}