The Prestige Author Blasts Christopher Nolan's 'Boring And Pretentious' Batman Films

Christopher Priest, author of ‘The Prestige’ - the novel which formed the basis of Christopher Nolan’s fifth feature film - has criticised the filmmaker’s subsequent Batman movies as “boring and pretentious,” and “just embarrassing.”

In an interview with Skript.fr, the seasoned novelist admits to meeting Nolan only once: “I’ve only ever had one meeting with him, when the film was finished. Because I wasn’t very interested in him.

"We all have different points of view on the world. To the world he’s this great, innovative filmmaker; to me, he was a kid who wanted to get into Hollywood."

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Even so, Priest ultimately chose the young Nolan over Sam Mendes to direct the film adaptation of his 1995 novel about arch-rival stage magicians (ultimately portrayed by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman), even though at the time Mendes had just swept the board at the Oscars with ‘American Beauty.’

Impressed by Nolan’s debut ‘Following,’ Priest says, “I’ve always believed in supporting young talent. Mendes was made, he was okay. But Nolan, I thought, ‘he’s good, let’s give him a chance.’ But of course, I don’t think he [Nolan] knows that.”

Nolan went on to make ‘The Prestige’ in 2006, between ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight.’ Priest was pleased, calling it “probably his best film, with ‘Memento.’” But that’s where the praise ends.

"Of the films he’s made, those two are supreme. I don’t like his other work, I think it’s shallow and badly written. I’ve got kids who like superheroes, and they think the ‘Batman’ films are boring and pretentious. They like things like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Iron Man’ because they’re fun.

"It’s a wrong move to take a superhero and give it psychological realism. There is no psychological realism. He’s a bodybuilder who jumps off buildings."

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Priest continues, “I’m sorry, I feel really strongly about this, and I think the proof is in the audiences. I’ve been to the movie house and seen things like ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight,’ and the audience – they’re mostly kids, they’re restless, they don’t watch the film, they talk to each other, they start texting and doing Twitter, they change seats, go to the toilet, kiss their girlfriends.

"And every now and then the guy jumps off the building on a rope, and they watch it and go ‘woo!’ Then they lose interest. To me, that’s a real, major lack of judgement in Nolan, to go for superhero films.

"What he’s trying to be is a kind of modern Kubrick, and I think he’d be better off being a modern Hitchcock; a maker of well-made films like ‘Memento’ and ‘The Prestige.’ These blockbusters are just embarrassing, I think. I haven’t seen the new one [‘Interstellar’] yet."

Something tells us Priest is not in for a quiet week after these remarks…

Thanks to Comic Book Movie for bringing this to our attention.

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Picture Credit: WENN, Warner Bros