Nolan Joins Spielberg for SF Feature
Jonah Nolan, brother of “Batman Begins” director Chris Nolan has joined the Steven Spielberg production of “Intersteller,” the space adventure/thriller about a team of intergalactic explorers who travel through a wormhole to discover a new dimension.
Jonah is set to write the script for the film whose themes will be based on the theories of the acclaimed astrophysicist Kip S. Thorne from Caltech. Thorne was one of the first to come forward with the controversial concept that wormholes could be used for interdimensional and interstellar travel.
Jonah is no novice to writing screenplays. He is responsible for much of the script used in “The Prestige” and has written the script for brother Chris’ highly anticipated Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight.” However, the screenplay that caught him the most attention was the imaginative “Memento,” the film that made his brother Chris a household name.
Work on the Spielberg project will start as soon as Jonah is through with penning his current work for Warner Bros. called “The Chicago Fire.”
sounds like a good match, Spielberg seems to be in a phase of making movies that questions our trust & dependency in government & technology
Jonah didn’t write the script for Memento: he wrote a short story with a similar main character and presented a similar way (i.e. in reverse), and after that Chris Nolan wrote the screenplay for the Memento film.
Hearing that Jonah didn’t write the script for Memento makes me a bit skeptical of his writing ability. Afterall, the Prestige was far too predicable. I worry how he might ruin the next Batman movie by doing the same. Christopher should be the only one at the helm; the brother seems to be just getting a favor.
Well, to say he didn’t write the screenplay for Memento is stretching it a bit and not quite fair to Jonah. He and brother Chris worked together on the script which was based on Jonah’s short story called “Memento Mori.” In the film’s credits Chris was acknowledged as the screenwriter and Jonah as the creator of the story, and production assistant.
In reality it was Jonah’s idea, his story and brother Chris helped significantly to make it work on film (which is the director’s job). Jonah was nominated for an Oscar for his writing of Memento, along with his brother, in 2002. This year Jonah is nominated for best writer by the Online Film Critics Society for his Prestige script.
I wouldn’t be too concerned about Jonah’s ability to write screenplays. He proved himself very capable with the script for “The Prestige,” which got him studio approval to write the script for the next Batman flick “The Dark Knight.”
Whether or not you felt the plot for The Prestige was predictable (I too felt that way — at certain points in the film), it was still highly entertaining as indicated by movie critics from the above mentioned society. They don’t nominate just anybody for their awards…no matter who may share your genetic information.