Table of Contents

Christopher Nolan

Birth

On July 30, 1970, he was born in London. Edward is his middle name.1)

Parents

Brendan James Nolan, his English father, was an advertising executive, while Christina, his American mother, worked as a flight attendant and English teacher.2)

Dual Citizenship

He spent his upbringing in both London and Chicago, and he holds dual British and American citizenship.3)

Young And Interested In Filming

At the age of seven, he began making films by stealing his father's Super 8 camera and shooting short films with his action figures.4)

Star Wars

Growing up, Nolan was a huge fan of Star Wars (1977), and when he was eight years old, he created a stop motion animated imitation called Space Wars.5)

Uncle At NASA

His uncle, who worked at NASA and designed guidance systems for Apollo rockets, provided him some launch film. “I re-shot them off the screen and edited them in, hoping no one would notice,” Nolan later explained.6)

Early work

He wanted to be a professional filmmaker since he was 11 years old. When Nolan's family moved to Chicago during his adolescence, he began creating films with Adrien and Roko Belic.7)

Genghis Blues

He has continued to work with the brothers, and was given credit for his editorial services for their Oscar-nominated documentary Genghis Blues (1999).8)

Safari

In the early 1990s, Christopher Nolan collaborated with Roko (and future Pulitzer Prize winner Jeffrey Gettleman) on recording a safari through four African nations planned by the late photojournalist Dan Eldon.9)

Education

Christopher Nolan attended Haileybury and Imperial Service College, both independent schools in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, and went on to study English literature at University College London (UCL).10)

Union Film's Society

Christopher Nolan was president of the Union's Film Society, and he exhibited 35 mm feature films with Emma Thomas (his lover and future producer) during the academic year and utilized the money generated to develop 16 mm films over the summers.11)

Tarantella

Nolan created two short films during his undergraduate years. Tarantella (1989), a surreal 8 mm film, was the first to be screened on Image Union (an independent film and video showcase on the Public Broadcasting Service).12)

Larceny

The second was Larceny (1995), filmed over a weekend in black and white with a limited cast, crew, and equipment. Funded by Nolan and shot with the society’s equipment, it appeared at the Cambridge Film Festival in 1996 and is considered one of UCL’s best shorts.13)

Headline

Nolan directed his debut picture, Following, in 1998, which he independently funded and shot with friends. Following follows a jobless young writer (Jeremy Theobald) who follows people across London in the hopes of gathering material for his first novel, but becomes entangled in a criminal underworld when he fails to keep his distance. Nolan was motivated to make the film after having his flat burgled while living in London.14)

Memento

Following's success provided Nolan with the opportunity to produce his breakout smash Memento (2000).15)