Christopher Nolan has ruled out ever directing a romantic comedy, telling Jimmy Fallon he would be “terrified” to attempt one of the toughest genres in filmmaking, even as he revealed he is recently open to trying his hand at horror instead.
During his first appearance d The Tonight ShowFallon jokingly floated the idea of a Nolan rom-com, which drew a firm response from the director.
“I think it would be incredibly difficult to do a rom-com,” Nolan said.
“I love watching those movies. But no, I think people who direct comedy, people who make comedy, I think it’s one of the hardest things in the world to make people laugh like that.”
He went on to explain what separates comedy from the genres he typically works in, pointing to the immediacy of audience reaction as the main risk.
“When you’re making a movie, if I show a movie to people and they might not respond to parts of it, I’m like, ‘Ah, they don’t get it. Whatever’. There’s no hiding behind that when you’re doing comedy. So I’d be afraid to do something like that.”
Nolan, whose filmography spans sci-fi epics, historical dramas and superhero blockbusters, has never made a straightforward comedy, although his films have romantic elements woven into larger drama or action frameworks.
While comedy remains off the table, Nolan has separately expressed a growing interest in horror.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reportersaid he is working on some of The Odyssey‘s more disturbing sequences had “greatly” whetted his appetite for the genre, although he cautioned that horror “must be treated very carefully” to be done well.
The Odysseystarring Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway, is now playing in theaters and has crossed $600 million at the global box office.
