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Of the Drivein Podcast. On today's episode, we discussed
the future of Christopher Nolan movies.
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episode 250 of the Drivein Podcast.
Howdy Doody, Welcome to episode 250 of TDI.
This is Doctorow on the horn to start, per usual, and as always,
I'm joined by my cohost, my best friend and Christopher Nolan
fanatic Ricky Flicks. Excited to hear from you flicks
you are going to be going through.
The Barbenheimer Experience tonight in theaters from the day
that we are recording this podcast, I want to get inside
your mind a little bit. I want to know your mindset.
I want to know if you've been watching YouTube videos of
atomic bomb detonations at Los Alamos.
Have you gotten the toys out of the attic, the Barbie dolls, and
have you played with them a little bit over the last couple
hours? Tell me your mindset going into
Barbenheimer. Well, it's good to hear from
you, Doctor. I cannot say I got any Barbies
to play with. We did think about doing a toy
draft. So I did go through some old
toys because I could not think of toys like the toys I was
thinking of. I have a list I just off the top
of my head, I did Nerf gun, water gun, Super Soaker, Wiffle
ball bat, Nerf Vortex football, Beyblades play DoH like it
wasn't going well, like. Rock'em Sock'em Legos, Hot
Wheels, a Barbie. Like I I was struggling for toys
because we played with action figures.
Like I didn't really play with toys.
Ricky, my list would have kicked your ass.
My list, Ricky, the only commonality I had pretty much
was Beyblades. Beyblades.
I put that on there and that was like an honorable mention for
me. But when I thought of toys we
play with as kids, I think about like we love superheroes, we
love action figures. A lot of times the toys we had
were. Coinciding with promotion of
films, the number one toy of our childhood was Hulkans and that
came that was the only good thing to come out of Hulk from
Angli. That was in the Eric Bana movie.
The only good thing to come out of that was Hulkans and if you
recall Ricky flicks. We had those for a few years and
they had a couple of sound effects to him, but eventually
they broke. One of them did at least and we
had to get like and re up. In 2007 when the Incredible Hulk
Marvel Cinematic Universe moved or 2008 right when the Marvel
Cinematic Universe movie came out, it was your birthday.
We reupped. But we use those up until like
we were 18 years old. It was just an excuse for us to
beat the ever living crap out of each other.
And like it didn't hurt that bad.
That was my number one. But I also had, nostalgia wise
Star Wars. Like action figures.
Like, not ours, but our dads that he passed on to us.
Like, yeah, the Death Star, but like, you could categorize it.
We had like an OG Death Star that was so fun to play with.
I had big wheels. Remember big wheels?
I was thinking. Power Wheels.
Same thing with like the the tricycles that are just badass.
Yeah, Yeah, basically, yeah. Dude, us rolling, dude.
I had that. Me.
Do and Big Mike rolling down the street with those there.
There was no bigger. There was no bigger high, you
know, than us just rolling in formation.
Flying VI also had nerve football.
Did you say nerve football? Yeah, nerve Like the but the
vortex, the vortex is cooler. Not the whistle one.
You can't just go nerve football, regular football.
No, but like, I think of making it a personalized pick where it
was like a nerve football, but it's like the Steelers one we
had. It's a little softer and it.
You threw a. Perfect spiral each time, but
the whistle one. You can't play like 2V2 or you
can't do offensive defense with like a whistle football.
That's just like throwing it high in the air and makes the
sound like I'm thinking about. It's awesome, Ricky.
When it comes down to it. We talk movies, but we're
sportsmen, we're sportsmen. We want to, we want to go out
there and compete and that's the thing you used.
I also had Bop it. Yeah, I bop it, I said.
Rock'em sock'em a slinky. Slinky terrible toy in my eyes
just because it works half the time I.
Basically wrote down either iconic historical toys or stuff
from Toy Story like I. Was going to say.
I had the army like toy army. Bop It was good though, because
the one we got, we got, I think we were five years old, like I
was five. You might have been three.
And we didn't change the batteries for like 15 years.
And it worked. Like the battery life on the
Bop, it is severely underrated. Great for the environment, no
one talks about that. I also the Batman action figures
combined with the bat cave that we had.
Amazing toy. Amazing.
That's my personal favorite, but I don't know if that's quit that
would qualify. Like I said, I didn't include
action figures here because I just feel like those aren't
toys, they're just like they're action figures.
Whoa, whoa. They are toys.
They are. Well, but, like, you know what I
mean? Like they're that's like a
cheat. Like we would basically just
have a draft of action figures. I felt like with that bat cave I
had, I set a better setting than Nolan did in The Dark Night.
Better bat cave, I will say a better bat cave.
If I became like a superhero director a la the Russo
brothers. I would have called back to
those moments. I was playing with the setting
of the Bat Cave. I don't mean like I I dreamt
about this. You know how they say, like,
like Steven Spielberg was like making films when he was like
like 10 years old. I was playing with the Bat cave
since I was six years old. And I knew what this, what this
scene was going to look like where the Joker breaks into the
Bat Cave, you know, you know, one.
Thing to kind of like pivot towards Ponoan a little bit that
not enough criticism for is the bat cave like Batman Begins he
falls down the hole or with like you know.
The lasso down, whatever. And then all the bats come and
the the Zimmer score hits right and all the bats are flying over
his head and he just accepts them right faces his fear right?
Besides that, we don't really get a glimpse of the bat cave
again throughout the rest of the trilogy.
It burns down. Yeah, it burns down Dark Knight.
It's he's at a like an offsite bat cave.
That's incredibly fancy. But then the third one, he's not
even Batman anymore. It's like Dark Knight Returns
type of type of movie. And do we even get the bat cave
in that, like? Not until, not until Robin
enters it at the end with Joseph.
So that's something that we don't talk about, where he just
robbed us of a bat cave, and with his practical effects, he
could have done something with it there.
He gypped us. He get those from the Bat cave,
but this is going to actually tie in even further.
Ricky flicks is a great transition, thanks for talking
about toys boys. But when it comes to like The
Dark Knight and you have like that futuristic looking type of
like pseudo bat cave that we have, it actually is kind of
James Bondish. You know, where it's like
newish, stylish and then like all these new gadgets that are
in there that maybe weren't in the first film secluded, like it
feels like it could be right in. To where like Daniel Craig's
movies where he would go and get new gadgets felt like very
underground kind of felt like that to be honest.
Okay. But what have you.
You're seeing Barbenheimer tonight.
Can I, can I get some like sentiments, some feelings that
you're having going into this. Are you nervous?
Nervous. No, I'm not.
I think I was nervous for Oppenheimer, not because I I
wouldn't like it, but I was more nervous for the consumer
projection of it. Like people were just saying
like this might. I might not like it like tenant.
I like tenant is good, I'll die on that hill.
Tenant is good. I I was thinking like I might
have a tenant situation where this is a good movie but I might
have to defend it till I die. But it feels like the consensus
is that it's good, not just good but great.
So I'm really excited. But how would what am I doing to
prepare today? It's a great question.
So I woke up, didn't eat anything till 12, right?
And then I I worked out, ate, ate a big lunch.
A big lunch, right? And then now it's like
recording. Around 3:15, I'm going to have
like a small snack to dinner. Small though.
I'll have a coffee. And I've been I I usually drink
over a gallon of water a day. I've had less than 20 ounces of
water today. I am not peeing in Oppenheimer
or in Barbie. I'm not going to do it.
Not until the intermission. Intermission I will.
So I'm seeing Oppenheimer and at 5:00 o'clock.
And I'm seeing Barbie at 10:00. O'clock.
I am not peeing in either of those films, so I am not
drinking water today. I'm just having a coffee right
beforehand. Right.
And go in five. O'clock.
Ready to go for Oppenheimer. I'll do a little dinner pre
Barbie. More like a snack, maybe a drink
1/2 and 20 oz. Yeah, apps.
And then going to Barbie ready to go again.
So what I'm nervous for is that you haven't really.
Elaborated on your plan between the films.
And what I'm nervous of is that we go to a theater that's right
near an Applebee's. Are you going to go to
Applebee's, right, and get a 20 ounce Bud Light, suckle a couple
of those down and then walk in to Barbie?
When I go see you later on this evening, are you going to be
right? Have a couple couple of beers in
you and you're going to have to go pee 20 minutes into Barbie
and all of a sudden you're playing a shot?
As I said on this podcast, I don't pee in good movies.
I just don't. Or movies that are important
Barbies. You should.
You should review movies based on whether you pee or not during
them, yes. Strictly, I should like we come
out for the. Review you like.
It's just like Ricky and he's like, yes, OK, end of review.
No bathroom breaks. I, I, I I can, I can hold it in
though. Like, I still remember John Wick
four. I had to pee 25 minutes into
that movie and that's like almost a three hour movie.
And I was not missing a single minute of that movie and I held
it in the rest of the way. I haven't held it in for the
post credit scene and the like, The very Last Post credit scene,
which and there were for so many stunt extras in that movie
because he killed so many people.
I we waited a long time and I was just pacing back and forth
down the aisle, you remember? So I am not.
One time we get a post credit scene.
So yeah, and Christopher Nolan does not make movies that often.
I am not peeing during a Christopher Nolan movie, so.
I'll be ready to go for Oppenheimer.
For Barbie. I'll dabble.
Maybe a beer, too. Maybe a beer too.
Not too much, though, or else I will have to pee.
Or I'll just pee my pants if Barbie's that good.
Yeah, I've never seen someone move so much but stay in one
seat during that John Wick 4 viewing right You you were ants
in the pants type of movement going on and you got to get
ready because you never know when that Albert Einstein post
credits going to be happening during the post credit for.
Oppenheimer, so just be ready for that.
But Speaking of Barbenheimer, we have been a lot of, we've been
giving a lot of credit to these two films for the promotion that
they've gone on and it's a Tour de force from both and it really
feels like an event that has led up to the premiere on the of
these two films. I was going to, I think it's a
good idea to talk about Christopher Nolan today.
Because we don't really get to hear a lot from Christopher
Nolan, aside from when he's promoting films.
And they've been years between, right?
Sometimes three years, sometimes luckily 2 years, sometimes four
years. We are getting a lot of quotes
from Christopher Nolan and we got some absolute blockbuster
quotes, some absolute headliners from Nolan.
And through these press interviews that he's doing, he's
revealed a lot about potential future films that he'll be
working on. And he's had interviews
questioning him about superhero films, James Bond movies, and
Star Wars films. Like Christopher Nolan.
Obviously we know has hasn't SHIELD away from IP before.
He's the man who resurrected Batman with The Dark Knight
trilogy, so he stated strictly. That he will not be interested
in making a superhero film in the future of his career.
He has left the door open for both James Bond and Star Wars
Rickiflox. Before we get into the juicy
parts of these interviews, I think we should talk about him.
Pushing aside superhero films, were you shocked at all that he
decided to do this Ricky flicks? Do you think there's a hero that
he might have aligned with? Maybe in the Marvel Cinematic
Universe he already did DC? What do you think about the idea
of no one basically brushing off superhero films?
So no one? This is another reason why he's
like my favorite director is because of also his strategy,
his tactic like his tactical moves of what type of movies he
does. Right.
He's diversified. He diversifies his, like, resume
and around his creativity, his creativity.
Yeah, that's. Yeah, I said that, right?
He always has to have a compelling story.
So he has to find something that he thinks he could put his
creative twist on it, right. And superheroes, it's harder to
do that. It just is.
And the reason why he picked Batman is because.
There's so many different ways to attack that character.
That comic book, that comic book hero, he's not truly a
superhero. His only real power is his
wealth, right? And you could really be flexible
Batman. You could do a young Batman, you
could do a prime Batman, You could do a a dad Batman.
You could do a Dark Knight Returns.
You could do so many different things.
And the practicality of it, the grounded nature of a Batman
movie, is just different than a guy flying through the air or a
guy that has a ring that could project any object on.
OK, so a Batman just fit his style so well versus when he was
offered to do Superman Man of Steel, he passed on it right?
So it makes sense he doesn't want to get grounded once again
to a franchise like that. Most likely specifically
probably a Marvel movie since he's already been on the DC side
and James Gunn who he's pretty much in control and.
Christopher Nolan needs to be in control.
He's an auteur. There's a reason why The Dark
Knight wasn't a part of the DCEU.
It was a separate entity like Matt Reeves is doing with his
Batman. And I think the analogy that I
like to use with Christopher Nolan is soccer players they
love. To go to different leagues and
like quote UN quote, conquer or test out their limits in
different leagues. I like to go to England, they go
to Spain, La Liga, they go to Germany, the Bundesliga.
They like to test out their skills and see if they match up
with the best of the best and all these different great
leagues. Crisper Nolan, he's done a war
film. He's already he's done a scifi
film, He's done a superhero movie already.
He's done a period piece biopic Now, biopic now, right?
He likes to test out different genres, right?
That's why I love this guy so. No superhero.
I totally think he's not bluffing.
Only Batman for him. I thought it would have been
absolutely hilarious if like when that person in the
interview would ask him all these different franchises.
If the guy just said Chronicles and Narnia and he would said,
like, I absolutely would be open to it knowing that credit Garlic
is directing the next. Couple movies for.
Netflix I I think that would have been absolutely genius.
But I he will never make a movie for streaming too, I guess.
Something we can always count on for Christopher Nolan.
But you're right about Batman. It was perfectly lined up for
him. He is someone who likes to go
into this fantastical world of movies, something that seems
impossible. He wants to make it seem as real
as possible, you know, Especially when you look at what
he did with Batman Interstellar. He wants to apply so many.
Accurate astrophysics on that film to make it seem like this
could happen, right? He wants to make it seem as
legit as possible, and it seems like the Batman today is taking
up right that space with Matt Reeves.
He's taking up that space that Nolan occupied, right?
And there's no greater feat that he can accomplish with a
superhero character than what he did with The Dark Knight
trilogy, right? If he goes back like the bar has
been set too high. There's and there's no way he
can go to the Marvel Cinematic Universe because he likes to
build something on his own. Batman was in the doldrums when
he took that on, right? Coming off the campiness, this
fantastical type of like normal superhero story, he saw like,
OK, that didn't work in the 90s. I can do and really put my stamp
on this and give us something that is grounded the superheroes
today in the MCU, he has like more of his vision to the MCU.
He doesn't want to play by anyone's rules but his own,
right? So he doesn't fit in that world
either. That's why I think when we talk
about Star Wars, it may not be the best fit.
But the state of Star Wars right now I think lends some openness
potentially for him to do a Star Wars film.
We will get to it. Ricky flicks OK, so no superhero
films, but James Bond potentially on the table here.
This has been talked about previously, I don't think.
Or I can't recall Christopher Nolan ever saying out loud that
he would do a James Bond movie. Or at least for us, his fans
would be able to hear. This is the quote he had in an
interview. The Happy Sad Confused podcast.
I believe it was, he said quote the influence of the James Bond
movies in my filmography is embarrassingly apparent.
It would be an amazing privilege to do one at the same time.
When you take on a character like that, you're working with a
particular set of constraints. It has to be the right moment in
your creative life where you can express what you want to express
and really bury into something within the approach appropriate
constraints. Because you would never want to
take on something like that and do it wrong.
You wouldn't want to take on a film without being fully
committed to to what you bring to the table creatively.
So as a writer casting everything, it's a full package.
You have to really. Needed and wanted in terms of
bringing the totality of what you bring to a character.
Otherwise, I'm very happy to be at first in line to see whatever
they choose to do. Ricky Flecks, he's directing a
James Bond movie. If Christopher Nolan wants to do
this, he's going to do it. It's it's lined up perfectly for
him. So I've been saying this for a
long time. I've always wanted Christopher
Nolan to direct the James Bond movie with Tom Hardy as the
leader. Unfortunately, Tom Hardy's
gotten older, right that my take has been 14 years later, 13
years later. It's a little out of date now,
but Christopher Nolan still stands.
The person that's lined up to play James Bond, A former
collaborator with Christopher Nolan?
Aaron Taylor Johnson. Not confirmed yet, but that
looks like it will be confirmed sooner than later.
Christopher Nolan has it had ample opportunities to state his
openness to a James Bond movie. Right.
This is him saying he's open to it.
He literally says he'll be first in line.
This is him saying after this movie, I have nothing lined up.
I am open to do a James Bond movie, if not two to three,
three Max. He would never do more than a
trilogy. I said it here.
It's an open spot right now. There's no director for that
movie. Barbara Broccoli is looking
ferociously for the director. Christopher Nolan is basically
saying, have you forgotten about me?
I'm Christopher Nolan. I'm British.
James Bond plays a special, has a special place in my heart.
I always involve in my movie something characteristics from a
James Bond movie. Right?
Has a James Bond element. I mentioned the British link
with Christopher Nolan. It is too perfect.
And it's like Batman where there's so many different ways
to attack that character. It's not a superhero.
Right. And it's not like Ethan Hunt,
where you could only have Tom Cruise do that because of the
ridiculous stunts that they do, right?
He can make sure that James Bond into his James Bond and have
complete control over it. I love this.
I've been waiting so long for these comments.
Love to hear this. He should direct the James Bond
movie, if not more. Because the only IP he's been
connected to in his career has been well directed is Batman.
That's the only one, right? He produced Man of Steel.
He's been involved with a couple other DC projects.
The only one he's directed is The Dark Knight Trilogy.
I think he would have such an openness to this because he's a
man who is exemplified British pride, right?
He it shines through a Dunkirk right?
And imagine like he takes like one of the most important events
or proud moments for England in the 20th century.
And then he wants to take one of the proudest real life moments
and then take also one of the, I guess, the proudest fictional
character that belongs to England.
I think he would absolutely jump at this opportunity.
It certainly sounds like it. And you're right, Daniel Craig's
time is over. He overstretched his time as
James Bond, right? He went one movie at least over
what he was really anticipating himself.
To execute so he has a chance to start from scratch.
He can choose to do whatever he pleases and the constraints of
the James Bond franchise does not seem like it is as strict as
let's say A Star Wars right? He has a lot more room to
operate. He can either.
He can make a one off movie and I would be okay with it.
Aaron Taylor Johnson you brought up.
He's a rumor. Next Bond.
It makes me think, was Barbara Broccoli playing a little bit of
chess here when they cast Aaron Taylor Johnson because he had
worked with Christopher Nolan and Tennant?
Did she think there was a possibility Nolan would direct
Aaron Taylor Johnson and that's why he is rumored and never
confirmed yet to be the next Bond, but rumored right?
What if they had confirmed a Bond and it hadn't been approved
by Christopher Nolan? I think they left their options
on the table and now there's certainly an openness and.
I want to hear any other further thoughts before we go into Who
would you connect Christopher Nolan Bond movie to an actor?
Yeah, like you said it, Star Wars, the MCUDCEU just way too
tied to they. They literally are part of
franchises and like DCEUMCU they would have to connect to other
characters in the franchise. Yada yada yada.
The only superhero thing I could see him doing, which I can't,
would be an Elseworld project. But the problem is.
He already used Batman the only non true superhero.
So it just won't happen. So the only thing that come
close is like a spy's espionage IP type of thing and that's
James Bond. But Barbara Broccoli has let
that let the creators run wild with James Bond and Christopher
Nolan like you said has that pride that British link that and
any as an appreciation towards Steve Bond.
Like he said in the interview that the quote that you
mentioned, he's going to ring true like he's going to come
through for Barbara Broccoli and James Bond.
He's not going to make a bad James Bond movie.
He's going to put his heart and soul into it.
And again, he has nothing lined up himself.
So these comments he's had his entire career since literally
momentum 2000 to mention James Bond, his willingness to do it
and he hasn't. Why, He's had other ambitions,
right? He needed to get bigger, more
complete filmmaker this that. Now he is the big swinging blank
on the block here and he could do whatever he wants and he
could. He's only 52.
So right now is the time to develop a James Bond, get a good
creative vision like he did with Batman, right.
The meta was 2005 years until Batman Begins, right?
Yeah. And then he did 2 movies during
the Batman franchise. So it's not like it's James Bond
and that's it he's doing. He did The Prestige in O 6 and
he did its inception in 2010 in between the Batman movies, the
trilogy. So he gets to do other movies,
right? But this is just the perfect
time for him. And then if he wants to dive
into an individual film like a Prestige or an Inception, then
so be it. He can do it.
When you think about it, he never really had the opportunity
to jump into Bond. As like a kickstart right to the
next trilogy or the next James Bond actor?
Like you had Memento, right? And then Insomnia.
Like that's like early 2000s. Pierce Brosnan is Bond at that
time and Chris Nolan hasn't created a name for himself.
And then you jump to Casino Royale in 2005.
Christopher Nolan is worried about creating, right this
iconic Batman trilogy. Right.
And then Daniel Craig has remained that Bond, or was that
Bond until 2021, right? Christopher Nolan not tied down
to any franchise or any sequel or any trilogy, right, Since
2012. This does not line up any better
in terms of who should be James Bond.
Aaron Taylor Johnson is the rumored guy.
I wouldn't hate it, but I have certainly a few other ideas and
what I was thinking Ricky Flex is.
He doesn't have to make a trilogy.
I was thinking maybe we go T don't.
Maybe we go like George Lazenby. Maybe we go one movie, 2 movies,
maybe an aging James Bond, maybe one who is going for one last
ride and therefore Tom Hardy. He is a Oh my, he is a someone
who hasn't collaborated since Nolan since 2017 with Dunkirk.
We know how much Nolan loves Hardy.
The only thing is every time. Aside from Inception that Hardy
shows up in the Nolan movies covering his goddamn face,
right? So hopefully Nolan be open to
having Hardy show off right his mug for an entire film.
But I would not hate the idea of having a one off Tom Hardy,
Christopher Nolan? James Bond.
How could you say no, it's happened before in the
franchise. I'll play devil's advocate.
The problem is we just had the old James Bond for the past 10
years, Skyfall Spectre. We look at 3 movies.
Of old James Bond, right? So that might be a a nonstarter.
That's probably his only hiccup here.
But if you make it a unique enough, different enough, right
then the Daniel Craig James Bond and who better to make something
different and creative than Christopher Nolan then yeah, I
think it's open. But he he would have to have a
good pitch to be like this is how it's different.
Yes, there's a similar age, similar story going on, but This
is why it's different. Yes, then I would see it.
And I would say that my one of my bonds that I wanted before I
knew his actual age was Killian Murphy.
And if Oppenheimer is as good as the critics say and Killian
Murphy shoulders this movie to a zillion Oscar nominations,
potentially Best actor, when. Be intriguing if he was James
Bond, but I think after Oppenheimer people are going to
have a certain visual of killing Murphy.
He is a person that was preparing for Oppenheimer by
eating an almond a goddamn day and like, how are you going to
see this guy play an aging James Bond like that doesn't seem
likely. Tom Hardy can much more
visualize in the character. But in terms of like a trilogy,
like I like, I don't think no one wants to make one movie and
then pass the buck right to another director.
That's not his style. He wants to execute his vision.
So it's like depending on the success of Oppenheimer,
Oppenheimer wins best picture. What if or he wins best Best
director? Could he make 3 James Bond
movies? I think that's definitely a
possibility. Or if Oppenheimer falls flat,
maybe doesn't get all the accolades that we anticipate at
the Oscars this year. Maybe, he says, does a one off
where he pushes aside James Bond completely.
But I think it's too juicy of an opportunity.
He cares too much about it. If I had to put odds or put a
percentage on Does Chris for Nolan, Chris for Nolan make a
Bond movie? I'm going 70 percent, 70%.
This quote again, he has never been out outspoken about Bond.
There's a reason and there's a reason when he said he would be
first in line I I I I'd go 75. There's no reason before
yesterday these quotes came out yesterday.
I think the 20, the 19th before then I would be like 25%.
Now I'm all the way up to 75. I I I'm so back, I'm all the way
back. And I think when you go to
actors it's tough. Yeah, just keep going.
With their actors like I, I, I like the ones you brought out.
Might as well just bring out like Christian Bale if we're
going to go on the older side, frequent.
Collaborator might as well. Might as well if you go kind of
middle age again, probably won't happen.
Robert Pattinson would be ideal. Again, tenant.
Rick would be perfect like if this if how much of A flex would
it be if you were playing James Bond and Batman at the same?
Time. Christopher Nolan can pitch it
because he could be like. I'm Christopher Nolan.
Yeah. And I was like, I did Batman
Begins in 05, did The Prestige with Christian Bale and Hugh
Jackman in 06, did The Dark Knight, and I'll wait.
Then did Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Killian
Murphy and crew in 2010. So I could do this if you are
in. Nolan loves him, too.
Like Nolan, Nolan has said that part of his influencer making
Oppenheimer is him getting the book.
Of like the the biography, right?
Or was autobiography, I believe maybe it was biography of
Oppenheimer from Robert Pattinson during like the final
like party like the after the shooting was done for Tenant.
Now that's kind of nuts. And he was asked like, why isn't
Robert Pattinson and Oppenheimer.
His response was he's a busy guy, right.
So it's not like he doesn't want to work with him and like when
we look at him in tenant. You could totally imagine that
guy as James Bond and he's still mid 30s, thirty four, I think
right now, maybe 35. Barbara Broccoli has said they
want a younger James Bond, like maybe early 30s, late 20s.
But she's not going to like, close off the idea.
She's going to like, like if Christopher Nolan wants to make
a movie, you know, like I think she's going to like be flexible
if Nolan has a certain vision and she cannot pick a better
filmmaker for it. Yeah.
So Robert Pattinson is 37, OK. And I think he would be open to
doing James James Bond. One, because again, British
important to him, Two because of Christopher Nolan, But three,
he's already shown that he's willing to make movies in
between The Batman. He has Mickey 17 coming out next
year with Bongchun Hones. Steven Yeun.
It's not like Daniel Craig, you know, like Daniel Craig was like
Bond and only Bond excite from like every couple years made
another movie and like. God, Christian Bale did a Batman
movie and then he did The Prestige.
Like you could do it like it's so there.
And I think Christopher Nolan has the respect in the industry
and all these actors. Look at Matt Damon.
Matt Damon told his wife and kids, I'm going to take a break
from acting unless Christopher Nolan calls.
He accepts Christopher is him. He is him.
So it's Robert Pattinson as my
number one. Obviously Tom Hardy.
I've had that in my, like, wow, my, like dreams.
Like, no pun intended inception since inception, but like Robert
Pattinson, like is the guy if no one does it.
I want to throw a couple names just because people are going to
ask like, why didn't you bring up these names that have been
heavily rumored for years? He worked as a producer on Man
of Steel. Henry Cavill is going to be
brought up. I don't know if he's a big
enough name at this point. It's be kind of like a little
bit of a comeback, actually. Like a if he became James Bond
after like the tumultuous run he had as.
Superman these last few years, last decade, I should say.
I want to pitch you something else.
Ricky Flex. People have talked about how can
we make Bond different? I'm not necessarily in favor of
it, but I don't hate this if we he was not work with a young
actor highly sought after, but to do something different and
make it female Florence Pugh. I think Florence Pugh would be
an interesting choice for James Bond because of her ties.
She's British, She has a smaller role in Oppenheimer.
Nolan has an affinity for her, obviously.
Maybe he wants to have her in a league role for one of his
films. And if you wanted to do
something that is flipping the franchise on Ted having a female
lead, but also someone that is warmly received by all, I
wouldn't hate if they went female and did Florence Pugh.
Also, she has experienced Yolana Buckalova.
Bolova Bolova is Maria Bacalova Borat 2 Bolova.
And those stunts seen, she's the best part of Black Widow and
she's going to have her own quote UN quote movie, her own
quote UN quote movie and Thunderbolts next year so she
won't be as attached to the MCO. So I love that idea.
I love that idea. I think you make it.
I don't know. Jamie Bond.
I don't know. I don't know.
Trying to. Think of something.
You just have to do something. I love that you flipped it on
his head. You kind of restart the
franchise that with a younger actor instead actress.
I love the idea. And Christopher Nolan and we
trust. In Christopher Nolan, we trust.
Yeah, a lot of energy to it. Def Patel is also someone that
is been on your radar for at least a year, maybe more at this
point. And you know what?
Ricky flicks. Let's throw Sean Avery's hat in
the ring. He dictates the draft of the
Barbenheimer draft. He's been a tenant.
And now he is in. He's trying to.
Now he's an Oppenheimer. Let's get him in there, Ricky
flicks. Come on, Sean Avery.
His career is on the op and op at this point.
Well, for you, I'm surprised you haven't said this name, Nicholas
Hall. He's been turned down for
everything. He must might as well go for
James. Man, I, I in the whole hive we
can only take so much. He would go for some pointing
news dude. I think all he would be good.
He would be good. He would be good.
He's a little he's a little skinny almost no.
But it's in build. Hey Renfield, he showed he can
do the stunts. He could do them.
Don't, don't break my heart. It's been, it's been broken too
many times at this point. All right, so that goes the Bond
front for Christopher Nolan. But he also had some thoughts on
potentially helming another major franchise.
He was asked very briefly, so we don't have to spend too much
time talking about it. He was asked, like, would you do
a TV show? He said no.
Would no one do a superhero film?
Again? He said he's responded no.
But then when it came to would you do a Star Wars film?
He said pass. Meaning pass on the question and
Ricky. A lot of people swarm the
Internet once they saw this video because what does pass
mean in our language? Ricky was passed when he says
pass in that situation. They're in talks.
It means I can't talk about this, right?
So I don't think he meant it in that way.
I honestly don't. And it goes also to the idea of,
I don't think there's going to be as much.
Openness or freedom for Nolan to execute his type of vision in an
established Star Wars lore, If he was going to do something
like James Mangold is doing, that might be on the table where
he's going thousands of years in the past to set like what are
the 10 commandments of the Jedi, the birth of the Force and the
the dark side? If you wanted Nolan go into the
future and do something crazy, I think that's possible too, but I
think Star Wars is in too much fluctuation right now.
However. It.
Would be sick if star if Christopher Nolan was the man to
resurrect Batman and then resurrected Star Wars.
You are forever the king of IP cinema.
Yeah, all right, so. Let me go with why he would do
it, right. And I'll just keep going with
what you were saying that rebuild this franchise, right?
He did it with Batman. He did it with superheroes.
Really. Yes, Spiderman.
Tony Mcguire's beforehand, but like DC, like he, he did kind of
do it and he kind of set up the new template for superhero
movies in the future. So that would be crazy, right?
To work to kind of set up a new Star Wars world.
You know, build. Yeah, world builder here with
Star Wars with all the crazy fan base, the craziest fan base
there is, the Easter eggs and small character reactions that
this fan base would have. Christopher known.
He would just get creative and go go the F off.
All right. I think we saw with Interstellar
he could do some incredible visual effects here with
especially with the powerhouse budget of a Lucasfilm.
Disney to help like that would be that would be amazing.
And I think somewhere to Bond. Star Wars is huge for him.
He saw Star Wars 12 times in theaters like when it first came
out 2001, a space size. Is that in the book that I got
you? No, but I just know that off the
Dome. But he he loves.
He loves Star Wars and scifi in general space, so that's why you
would do it. All right.
But he's not doing it. He is not doing it.
He's not the the past was not one of those passes that we have
have come for passes to be. There's no rumors.
There's no talks. James Bond though, that's that's
on the table. That's where he elaborated, you
know, different interview, but still he elaborated.
Like Star Wars again. It's a franchise like MCU or
DCU, right? It, Lucasfilm and Disney would
happen by the boss every day. Be like, why are you spending
this much money? I just you.
Can say this, this, this. You can't say this this this
right and. He could have done Superman.
They literally, DC was like or Warner Brothers were like, hey,
you're done with Batman, you want to do Man of Steel.
And he was like. Nah, but I'll produce the movie.
He's anti you give you some names.
He gave them Zack Snyder's name. He is the reason why we have
snack Snyder. If you go like what's it called
You back like backtrack. You know he is the reason.
And again, he's getting older. He already did a trilogy right?
Bond is different. That's not as much wear and
tear. Star Wars would be like holy
crap that would take forever to do that he that he would be only
doing Star Wars movies. He would not have that
flexibility where you do a James Bond and then the prestige of
next year, then do a Bond again, then Inception.
He would not be able to do that with Star Wars.
And he's already done a space movie.
I talked about how he wants to build out a complete director's
resume where he's done a war movie, a superhero movie, a
detective movie. He's already done something in
this realm, a superhero. A Jedi is basically a superhero.
So he's already done something like this, so.
I just think it would be weight like way.
I think it's way out of the question.
And I think working with Disney, just the CGI FX they would try
to force down his throat. Like look at Interstellar.
There was barely any CGI or VFX in Interstellar.
Like think about that. Look what Disney would try to
do. Secret Invasion has a $200
million budget like Interstellar.
I only had like 130. Like it is crazy to look at
those, like I think about that. I would just, I would need to
see the behind the scenes video of him making a Star Wars film.
So I'm like, he's probably asking, I need a real Death
Star. I need a real lightsaber, right?
I need a blaster that's actually firing something, you know, I
feel like. He's not opposed to it because I
think he loved the experience of making Interstellar and you talk
about like what he could do for Star Wars that they haven't
seen. It's like make in this day and
age the practicality of the effects, like what could he
bring and make it look legit In this age of of superheroes and
Star Wars shows and movies, he can make it look real compared
to what they are. These movies are continuously
criticized for time and time again, you know.
I just think he likes, as I said before, he wants to have
control. He wants to steer the ship.
He doesn't want to have to like ask permission to do things.
He's Christopher Nolan. He doesn't ask permission.
He makes the. He makes the rules, you know.
So that's why it's like, I don't see it happening.
I don't think even if Christopher Nolan said he'll do
it, Kathleen Kennedy is still going to say, OK, here's a list
of what you can and cannot include, right.
It does like Bond. He won't get that.
He won't do that and people like.
Like people hate on the broccoli for the rights that they have
and like the the the Titan grip they have on James Bond.
You can start from scratch. You can just say Chris Reno,
what do you want to do? Confirm it?
Yes, go. I just think it's a totally
different sphere. It's totally different.
And I think also just like look at all the issues with
leadership that Disney has, right?
Like Bob Iger, he just extended his content 2026.
Right. Kevin Feige behind MCU, he's
still there. Kathleen Kennedy, we talked
about at at Disney, sorry, at Lucasfilm you still have Dave
Filoni, Jon Favreau right there, right.
There's so much disarray going on with Disney at A at executive
level but also in Lucasfilm with just their with their slate of
releases coming out, you forget there's a skeleton key series
coming out. We have a Ray movie, we have
like we have so many different things there's.
It is incoherent, The slate, there's nothing connected except
the mandoverse, which is on a down on downward slope right
now. Downward trajectory.
Like no one would need to be in total alter control just like
he's used to and he wouldn't be. And I just think with the
disarray that Disney's going through at a company level,
executive level and Lucasfilm who are just in complete
disarray, I don't even think there's an opportunity for him
that he would be able to rebuild this franchise.
Like he did with Super Like the Bat with Batman in DC.
Mango took the spot. Yeah, there's just, there's
literally no opening. We talked about opening for
James Bond. There's literally no opening
here. So it just makes no sense.
So we're. Out on Star Wars for Christopher
Nolan. We are 130% in on James Bond and
Christopher Nolan Ricky Flex. Before we wrap up today's
podcast, I wanted to just ask you plain and simple.
Nolan makes three types of movies, bro.
He makes IP, he makes scifi spectacle, or he makes
historical epic. What's his next film, man?
I want to say James Bond but. Not even that specifically.
What category does he go in? All right, if I get away from
James Bond, his best is psychological thriller Okay.
And if you look it back at Memento, you can include Batman,
you can include The Prestige, Inception.
Those are all his like, crazy twist.
That's because we're knowing why we love him, right?
I would love to see some sort of another detective movie, but in
one of my favorite genres, Maybe a courtroom drama.
Oh, he ain't making a courtroom. Drama.
So it's a detective movie, but then you splash in some
courtroom scenes. Would love that.
I just have a hard time seeing him scale down.
Yeah, he wouldn't. He wouldn't, to be clear.
But he has to have effects. He has to have some type of
effects in his movie, like it would be cool to see.
I think he has a bar he has to hit every time he makes a movie.
Now I would love to see him make something like The Prestige next
though something smaller but still in a long epic.
I like dueling characters, maybe like.
Scale back the effects and make something small scale.
That's what I want to see. Or he's making James Bond.
I I think I put money on James Bond like.
It's hard for him to. Up this.
We said that after but it is really hard to up like this run
the war movie Dunkirk tenant the mind or mind shifting, world
shifting backwards in time movie.
Like I think he's done like amazing job scaling up.
He needs to scale down and get back to his roots.
Insomnia, another twist, twist movie.
I would love to see something like that.
I just said courtroom just to dabble in.
It kind of fits in with a detective and also the hey, you
have two guys that are two people doing it out similar
style. Just bring down the stakes,
bring down the size of the cast, do something that's not going to
like, absolutely destroy you, you know, It's just like an
absolute exhaust, like all of your energy.
Let's just see you like. Can let's go back to can you go
back to the old you can you do that like that would be
impressive in my eyes if he was able to do it.
Like I would, I would honestly love a different shade of
Memento where it's honestly like more like a I would love that.
Yeah, that would be really interesting.
The detective story like Memento but more like A7 where it's not
like sure it's mine. You could be like mind shifting
and everything, but still we get back to our roots.
Two people going at it and you could still have some great like
action sequences like all these other movies have and you could
kind of make it. I don't know.
I don't know you can make it. I'm not, I don't want to say
serial killer. I'll just use seven as an
example. Like it could be something like
that. There's other genres.
I would love to see him kind of dabbling, but kind of get back
to our roots. He doesn't have an Oscar.
He's probably trying to go for one.
So he probably isn't going to scale down if.
If because those movies won't win an Oscar, so the Heels keep
scaling up until he gets one, or he'll ship to James.
Bond, that's why I think like if he wins for Oppenheimer do he's
making he's making Bond, that's that's what's going to happen.
You know, it's just like he has gotten that much elusive Oscar
and he did it making a very much Christopher Nolan movie, you
know, I think he'd be very proud of that.
That's going to do it. For our conversation on
Christopher Nolan, Ricky Flecks, any thoughts before you head to
the cinemas tonight to see the double feature?
Of the Millennium. Double feature of the
Millennium. Biggest movie day of the pod for
me. Movie day for me of the year and
that includes doing Part 2. Killers of the Flower Moon.
Just seeing both these movies on the same day.
Barbenheimer. It's the peak of movie theater
experience of the year. Maybe like I can't remember the
last time nonsuit like when was the last time If you like you
were seeing Barbenheimer. This like the social media
effect. The promotion, Everything around
this. The hype Non superhero.
When's the last time I was that excited?
It's a good question, Ricky Flex.
I would have said if this movie came out in theaters, it would
have been an Irishman, honestly. I was.
So I have two answers. Both it was a so for me.
It was Fallout Once Upon a time in Hollywood.
Once Upon a time in Hollywood's good.
So like those two are really like the last time I was like,
holy crap. But the problem is like both
those movies again. Both both around my birthday
birthday movies for me, but also like a nonsuperhero that.
By great directors or movie. Joker.
Oh, that's superhero. I was gonna say Joker.
Superhero billion dollars. Didn't feel like it.
Yeah. But yeah, like, I don't know.
But it's just their Bohemian Rhapsody was actually a big deal
because it was Queen and it was Freddie Mercury and that movie
was an interest production hell for a long time.
And I remember going to see that.
We went with a bunch of friends. It was great.
What, you went with those, right?
When we saw Bohemian Rhapsody, I didn't.
Wow. I went with a huge squad of
friends and it was like going to a rock show.
It was kind of cool. That's pretty cool.
I like that shout the movie itself.
Yeah, no, it's just the hype level when you head into the
theaters like this is going to be a fun time.
And that was kind of the start of like the music biopic
Renaissance and this century, you know, that's a good show.
Inception was really cool. I remember going to see that
back in 2010. That was that was epic.
All right, that's going to do it for episode 250 of the Drivein
podcast Ricky Flicks. What we have coming up, we have
the Barbenheimer double review. On Monday, make sure you're
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