I’m probably the only guy on the internet who thinks that Christopher Nolan’s film career is on a slight downward path – I think Memento was a wonderful film, if a bit of a novelty, but I think that Insomnia was a fairly trifling movie, and one that doesn’t have the sheer impact of the original. And of course my opinion on Batman Begins is rather infamous. (I sadly haven’t seen Following, his first feature)
That said, I couldn’t be more excited about his next project, The Prestige. It’s a cool plot and it has some good actors in it, and now Ziggy Stardust himself, David Bowie, has joined the cast.
The Prestige stars Michael Caine and Christian Bale as two early 20th century magicians who are trying to kill each other. Now that’s a movie concept I can stand behind, since it opens the door for thrills, fun and bizarreness. Bowie will be playing a real guy, Nikola Tesla, a genius who was far ahead of his time. And if you believe the conspiracy theorists, whose ideas for free energy were suppressed. At any rate, he was also a touch batty, making Bowie a pretty strong choice.
The film starts shooting in January with a 40 million dollar budget, which is just the salaries of the two stars and director of Rush Hour 3, believe it or not. I wonder which film will be better?