In an interview with Creative Screenwriting Magazine’s Jeff Goldsmith back in 2006, Jonah Nolan said: “If you have enough success as a screenwriter, sooner or later someone will allow you to make a fool of yourself by directing a film. I fully expect to take advantage of that opportunity.”
Jonathan (Jonah) Nolan is the brother and partner in crime of Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight Trilogy and up there with Spielberg and Cameron as one of the biggest filmmakers in the world. You know when you’ve achieved this because people forget that you have a first name. When you become “Nolan”, “Anderson” and “Fincher” rather than Christopher, Paul or David, you’ve made it.
In the case of Nolan, it may one day become an issue not to have the forename front and center. Jonah Nolan is fast becoming as big a name as his brother, due in part to him co-writing the latter Batman films The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, but also because since branching out on his own, he’s created one of the coolest TV shows around: Person of Interest.
From Memento Mori to The Dark Knight Rises
Truth be told, the rise of Chris and Jonah Nolan started with a short story written by Jonah. Back in 2000, a crazy movie that runs in reverse chronological order named Memento blew everybody away and earned Oscar nominations for Best Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. The bleached noir was directed and written by Christopher Nolan, but it was based on a short story called Memento Mori, which Jonah had written whilst still at college. Jonah pitched it to Chris as they drove from Chicago to LA when Chris was moving to Hollywood in 1997. Suffice to say, the brothers Nolan owe each other a lot for their successes!
Since Memento, Jonah has co-penned the screenplays for The Prestige and the final two Dark Knights. But question marks remained as to whether he could cut it alone: Cue Person of Interest.
Person of Interest: A Dry Run for Directing?
A lot of people in the movie-verse believe that Person of Interest is a dry run for directing in Hollywood. But Nolan hasn’t directed an episode of the top drawer series yet, he’s the creator, writer and show runner. It seems that at the moment, he’s quite happy to soak up the knowledge and experience that he’s picking up from being on set with his brother Chris on $100-250m movies, and the tough schedules that go hand in hand with network TV shows.
There was a rumor around the release of The Dark Knight Rises that suggested that Jonah Nolan may take the reins for the reboot or continuation of the Batman franchise. It seems highly unlikely, and if Nolan is going to make strides in becoming a director, it seems a great deal more plausible that he would cut his teeth on Person of Interest before tackling a huge Hollywood movie.
Only time will tell. But it’ll be exciting to see it unfold.
