“Why so serious, 007?”
It turns out comparisons between Skyfall, the new 007 movie, and Christopher Nolan-directed Batman movies were on target. Skyfall director Sam Mendes says The Dark Knight, the second of Nolan’s trilogy of Bat movies, was an inspiration for the 23rd James Bond film.
The director is quoted by THE PLAYLIST:
Just as “Casino Royale” reinvigorated the Bond series, Christopher Nolan did the same with his ‘Dark Knight’ series and when asked, Mendes says he was “directly inspired” by what those films achieved.
“In terms of what [Nolan] achieved, specifically ‘The Dark Knight,’ the second movie, what it achieved, which is something exceptional. It was a game changer for everybody,” he explained about how it influenced his approach.
“We’re now in an industry where movies are very small or very big and there’s almost nothing in the middle,” he continued. “And it would be a tragedy if all the serious movies were very small and all the popcorn movies were very big and have nothing to say. And what Nolan proved was that you can make a huge movie that is thrilling and entertaining and has a lot to say about the world we live in, even if, in the case with ‘The Dark Knight,’ it’s not even set in our world.”
Comparisons between Skyfall and The Dark Knight began earlier this year when Skyfall’s teaser trailer came out. There was a silhouette of Javier Bardem’s villain Silva that resembled Heath Ledger’s Joker from 2008’s The Dark Knight. Ledger ended up winning a posthumous Oscar for best supporting actor.
The comparisons have continued, with a number of early reviews commenting on similarities between the Mendes-directed Skyfall and Nolan-helmed Batman movies. Nolan, meanwhile, is an acknowledged James Bond fan and his 2010 film Inception included an homage to 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Now, it appears, Mendes may have done an homage — at least in spirit — the other way to Nolan’s dark take on Batman, which concluded with this year’s The Dark Knight Rises.
To read the entire story by The Playlist, CLICK HERE.
Filed under: James Bond Films | Tagged: Batman Begins, Bond 23, Christopher Nolan, Heath Ledger, Inception, James Bond Films, Javier Bardem, Sam Mendes, Skyfall, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Playlist |
The Spy Command 
This is not making me feel good. I didn’t like “THE DARK KNIGHT” that much.
I just don’t get it how people – and specially Movie critics – always have to rely on something already achieved to then dare asserting they like a move .
If ‘ The Dark Knight ‘ truly inspired Skyfall – which I seriously doubt – then indeed ‘ LtK ‘ must have inspired ‘ True Lies ‘ ? Bullshit …
I do not intend to be a naysayer here, but as John Brosnan pointed out in the second edition of James Bond in the Cinema, the series used to influence other movies in the 60’s. In the later films, notably LALD, TMWTGG, MR, AVTAK, and LTK, the Bonds took their inspiration from, respectively, blaxploitation, kung fu, Star Wars, Superman and Miami Vice. The reboot has looked to the Bourne films and now DK. I know there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore, but Eon is not in Hollywood. Is it too much to ask for an fresh Bond film on the leading edge, rather than the trailing one?
Substitute “a” for “an” in the last sentence of my post.
Loathing The Dark Knight personally, I am not surprised. I couldn’t help but shake this TDK vibe from Skyfall with the MI6 building being under attack and the long haired Silva being in disguise as a policeman. On the other hand, from what I seen from all the tv spots and trailers, Skyfall doesn’t seem all too self important.
Mark: I truly wonder if EON was paying attention to Mission Impossible 4 which was a finely crafted love letter to Bond movies.
MI4 blew Skyfall out of the water.
The unoriginality and the predictability of Skyfall’s main themes made it an ‘ehhh, it was good’ experience when watching.
No one walked out of the theatre going, “THAT. WAS. AWESOME.”
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