14 DAY TRIAL // Christopher Nolan took years to really break into Hollywood, but he did it with hard work, commitment, passion and, most importantly, a certain stubbornness to do things his way, without compromising his art for immediate success.
So no wonder he won’t change something about a project he’s working on just because studio bosses want to copy the works from rival studios. Even if that other studio is Marvel and it’s already set the trend of post-credits scenes for superhero movies.
Warner Bros. wanted a post-credits scene in “Man of Steel”
On the occasion of the release of “Interstellar,” Nolan’s most recent film, The Guardian ran a profile on him that also touched a lot on the topic of his work in the superhero genre. Nolan directed the “Dark Knight” trilogy with Christian Bale as Batman, but he also executive produced last year’s “Man of Steel,” which was directed by Zack Snyder.
If you found that film a bit too Nolan-esque, now you know why that was: he was involved from step 1, calling all the important shots and getting Snyder to make the movie they had both envisioned.
So when Warners bosses came to them and suggested that they include a post-credits scene at the end of it, like Marvel has been doing with all its films since the first “Iron Man,” the famous Easter Egg that is both funny and packed with hints about the upcoming sequel, Nolan’s response was blunt: “A real movie wouldn’t do that.”
Shots fired!
Did he or did he not diss Marvel?
That is the question: did Nolan just act all pretentious in relation to Marvel’s superhero movies, by disqualifying them as “real” films? Did he just say that only his Batman films are real films, whilst Marvel’s insanely successful franchise is just kids’ play?
The Guardian initially attributed the quote to Snyder (as in, Snyder said this was Nolan’s response), but a footnote to the piece now reads: “Subsequent to publication, Nolan disputed the quote attributed to him by Snyder. According to Nolan, he had told Snyder, ‘We shouldn’t be chasing other movies, but stay true to the tone of Man of Steel.’”
In a statement to BuzzFeed, Nolan denies ever saying such a thing as printed in the original version of the article, explaining that he’s not the kind of guy who dismisses other people’s work as not “real,” let alone have the Audacity to claim that only his movies were “real” movies.
Regardless of the comment, the discussion on the post-credits scene proves Nolan’s a true heavyweight
From what we’ve read and seen of Nolan so far, he really doesn’t come across as the kind of person who would be this conceited as to make such a comment – at least not publicly.
Regardless of whether he said this or not, the entire discussion on the post-credits scene shows just how much of a heavyweight he is in Hollywood, and how he’s earned his right to do things his way. In an industry in which the almighty buck always calls the shots, that’s not a prerogative too many film directors have.
So Warners wanted Nolan and Snyder to include a post-credits funny scene at the end of “Man of Steel” and Nolan refused to comply, for whatever reason – either because he didn’t think “real” movies did that, or because he felt it wouldn’t be in line with the story of Superman. The reason really doesn’t matter.
The bottom line is that he refused – and the movie was released without one such scene. This wasn’t even Nolan’s project, he was only executive producer.
Again, studio executives aren’t flexible and they’re most definitely not in the habit of letting directors make a movie the way they envision it. This is probably one of those rare times when it happened, and it confirms Nolan’s power in Hollywood.