Christopher Nolan wanted to direct a James Bond film but rejected due to one specific reason 

As one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in Hollywood, Christopher Nolan has enjoyed his share of success in the industry with his signature style of complex narratives and authentic adaptations of real-life and fictional characters to the screen.

While Nolan has quite a few masterpieces under his belt, it has now been revealed that he could also have a James Bond film under his resume, but creative differences led to him parting ways with the project. The director has previously, in 2010, expressed his admiration for the spy series and named On Her Majesty's Secret Service as his favorite film. He also talked about how Inception was inspired by the spy series and elaborated on what he liked about the franchise so much. Speaking to Empire, he said,

“This is absolutely my Bond film. I’ve been plundering ruthlessly from the Bond movies in everything I’ve done, forever. They’re a huge influence on me. I think On Her Majesty's Secret Service would be my favorite Bond. It’s a hell of a movie, it holds up very well. What I liked about it that we’ve tried to emulate in this film is there’s a tremendous balance of action, scale, and romanticism and tragedy and emotion. Of all the Bond films, it’s by far the most emotional."

The one thing that proved to be a roadblock between Bond and Nolan was Barbara Broccoli, who, along with Michael Wilson, owned the rights to the franchise. As reported by Variety, Nolan expressed interest in a Bond project but was turned down by Broccoli, who refused to give the rights to the final cut to any director while she has control. The same happened with Steven Spielberg, who was denied the rights to a Bond film by Barbara's father Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, who turned the Jurassic Park director because he was too inexperienced.

As of now, Amazon MGM studios own the franchise as both Broccoli and Wilson have stepped down.

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Christopher Nolan's next project

The Oscar-winning director is currently working on a screen adaptation of Homer's epic poem Odyssey, which stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway.

The studio describes the film as

“mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new Imax film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to Imax film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.”

Damon portrays the lead character Odysseus, the first look of which was revealed earlier this month. It is not yet revealed what characters the rest of the cast is playing. Filming for the same is taking place in Sicily for now.

The film is all set to release on July 17, 2026.