Christopher Nolan Says He Wouldn’t Make a Movie for Netflix
There are currently three Christopher Nolan movies available on Netflix: Following, Memento, and The Prestige. But if Nolan, who is notoriously protective of the theatrical experience and a tireless defender of shooting films on film rather than digital, gets his way, he will never make a movie specifically for the popular streaming service.
In an interview with Indiewire, Nolan said he’s not interested in working with Netflix, even though the site is giving major filmmakers like Bong Joon-ho large sums of money (and even bigger amounts of creative freedom) to make exciting movies like Okja. Asked whether he’d make a Netflix Original if he had a project that studios didn’t want to finance, Nolan didn’t mince words:
“No. Well, why would you? If you make a theatrical film, it’s to be played in theaters.
Nolan did make it clear that he’s not opposed to all streaming services. For example, he liked the model currently employed by Amazon Studios, which typically gives their original films a run in theaters before premiering them on the Amazon Prime streaming service. In Nolan’s words though, Netflix...
...has a bizarre aversion to supporting theatrical films. They have this mindless policy of everything having to be simultaneously streamed and released, which is obviously an untenable model for theatrical presentation. So they’re not even getting in the game, and I think they’re missing a huge opportunity.