Christopher Success Story

Childhood

Christopher ‘Edward’ Nolan was born on July 30, 1970 in London, England. Nolan took interest in filmmaking from the age of 7. He liked to take his father’s Super 8 camera and shoot short movies with his action figure toys. He went on to study at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College in Hertfordshire after which he went to study at the University London College (UCL). Here he pursued his B.A. in English Literature while using all his free time to make short films and documentaries. His work made him to be chosen as the Union’ Film Society President. During his college years he made two films, ‘Tarantella’ (1989) and ‘Larceny’ (1995). After his third short film called ‘Doodlebug’ in 1997, he made his first feature film called ‘Following’ which was released in the year 1998.

Early Life

The film ‘Following’ was made on a budget of just £3000 and was shot on weekends over the course of a year. The story was about a young writer who trails strangers through the streets of London. Nolan did the photographing, editing and scripting himself. This film went on to win several awards in the festivals it participated in. This got him the chance to direct a high budget Hollywood with a budget of $5 million. The movie was ‘Memento’ which released in the year 2000 and was considered as one of the best films that year. This went on to reach cult status getting various awards and also went on to gross $40 million. With this success, Nolan became the new poster boy of Hollywood.        

Career

With his first movie being such a massive hit, he went on to be careful about his choice of films as there were huge expectations on him. His next film was ‘Insomnia’ in 2002 which starred veterans like Al Pacino and Robin Williams. This film went on to gross more than $100 million and made him an overnight celebrity. He released his next film ‘Batman Begins’ three years later in 2005. This film was a critical success and also went on to make more than $350 million at the world wide box office. His next film ‘Prestige’ (2006) again opened to high critical acclaim. At such a young this director was able to make films that were both critically and commercially successful which was a rare skill.