Christopher Nolan's brother told him not to be "chicken sh*t" when on the fence about making The Dark Knight

Apr. 9, 2024

“Dude, don’t be a chicken sh*t! Let’s do this!”

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It looks like we have Jonathan Nolan to thank for The Dark Knight, as he has revealed that he had to convince his brother, Christopher Nolan, to agree to direct the second Batman movie, telling him not to be “chicken sh*t” about it.

The Nolan brother explained during a recent interview on Dax Shepard’sArmchair Expertpodcast that although the filmmaker’s first Batman movie Batman Begins was such a huge success, he was hesitant to make another comic book over fears of being “pigeonholed”.

“Chris was on the fence about making another one, he didn’t want to become a superhero movie director,” Jonathan told Shepherd, adding “but, to me, it was like we built this amazing sports car, and I’m like, ‘Let’s take it for a drive. Don’t you want to make another one?'"

However, after the movie was released, the director, who in previous years helmedMementoandInsomnia, returned to his roots with the 2006 crime thrillerThe Prestige. But his little brother, who also worked on Nolan’s Batman trilogy (as co-writer on The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises), saw the potential of more movies.

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