The James Bond movies Christopher Nolan loves most of all: “One of the first films I remember seeing”

Posted On June 25, 2025June 25, 2025

Whenever the James Bond franchise is searching for a new director, the name Christopher Nolan is invariably one of the first to come up, which is understandable considering the filmmaker has never been shy in voicing his lifelong fandom of the iconic spy saga.

The British franchise is as much a part of the lifeblood of national culture as tea and crumpets. Bond’s influence on the country’s cinematic landscape is unavoidable, and Nolan is only normal in being swept up by the suave presence of the secret agent. Perhaps just as influential now, Nolan could easily walk into any Bond production.

The celebrated cinematic innovator Christopher Nolan would be the perfect individual to take up such a challenge, with his 21st-century filmography demonstrating that he is capable of both technical wizardry and proficient action storytelling. By giving Nolan the keys to Bond’s Aston Martin, the series will be sure to return with a commercial explosion of feverish excitement, where, just like his Dark Knight trilogy, he is given a trio of films to explore the mythos, allure and style of 007.

While he’s yet to take the plunge and steer the ship on a 007 blockbuster – with rumours continuing to swirl as the next instalment set to feature a brand new star begins to take shape behind the scenes – the two entries in the Bond catalogue that Nolan adores above all others could offer an indication of how he would approach the property were he to ever take the reins.

Somewhat surprisingly, though, Sean Connery doesn’t make the cut. Instead, during a Q&A session, Nolan named Roger Moore’s third outing under the tux in The Spy Who Loved Me as a formative Bond: “One of the first films I remember seeing was The Spy Who Loved Me, and at a certain point the Bond films fixed in my head as a great example of scope and scale in large scale images. That idea of getting you to other places, of getting you along for a ride if you can believe in it — in The Spy Who Loved Me the Lotus Esprit turns into a submarine, and it’s totally convincing, and it works, and you go, ‘Wow. that’s incredible.’”

The Spy Who Loved Me proved to be a huge moment for the espionage saga as a whole, with the indifferent response to The Man with the Golden Gun placing monumental pressure on its successor. Embracing what would soon become firmly embedded as unmistakable tropes of 007 – the girls, gadgets, hulking henchmen, and exotic locations – it turned out to be the highest-grossing film in the series yet upon its initial release in 1977.

For his other choice, Nolan shone a light on George Lazenby’s sole stint as the title hero in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Ushering in a brand new era as the first post-Connery Bond, Nolan admitted to Empire that it might even be his number one: “I think, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service would be my favourite Bond. It’s a hell of a movie, it holds up very well. What I liked about it that we’ve tried to emulate in this film is there’s a tremendous balance of action, scale, and romanticism and tragedy and emotion. Of all the Bond films, it’s by far the most emotional.”

Nolan has never been shy in voicing his enthusiasm for Bond, noting that “I’ve been plundering ruthlessly from the Bond movies in everything I’ve done, forever.” The snow-capped third-act action sequence in Inception is particularly indebted to 007, given its labyrinthine lair housing the antagonist, and army of goons clad in identically nondescript outfits, with the Dark Knight trilogy creator coming clean and saying that it was “absolutely my Bond film.”

Whether he makes a genuine feature with MI6’s finest front and centre remains to be seen, but the entries he holds dearest could point to how it could turn out should it happen.

Related Topics