Christopher Nolan Admits Directing A Rom-Com Is A ‘Terrifying’ Thought

Still, the director has insisted that he’s more in his comfort zone doing something as strenuous as his latest big-screen epic than he would be something seemingly more straightforward, like a traditional romantic comedy.

During a new interview on The Tonight Show about just how much his latest film put him through his paces, host Jimmy Fallon joked to Nolan: “Did you ever think to yourself, ‘man, next movie I want to do an easy one?’. How about a Christopher Nolan rom-com?”

“I think doing a rom-com would be incredibly difficult,” the Oscar winner responded. “I love watching those movies, but I think comedy, people who direct comedy, people who do comedy, I think that’s one of the hardest things in the world – to make people laugh that way.”

He explained: “You know, if I show [one of my films] to people and maybe they don’t respond to bits of it, I’m like, ‘ah, they don’t get it’. There’s no hiding behind that when you do comedy.”

“I would be terrified of doing anything like that,” he insisted.

Over the years, Nolan has tried his hand at a range of genres, including the sci-fi offering Interstellar, his superhero Dark Knight trilogy, the war movie Dunkirk and the psychological thrillers Memento, Insomnia and The Prestige.

In 2023, he unveiled the historical biopic Oppenheimer, which was lauded by critics, made almost a billion dollars at the box office and picked up a string of prizes at the Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and acting prizes for cast members Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.

His latest offering is similarly star-studded, led by Matt Damon alongside the likes of Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Lupita Nyong’o.

The Odyssey is in cinemas now.