‘Skyfall’ Director Says He Was Inspired By ‘The Dark Knight’ said:
Mendes’ decision to jump on board was a risky one, since he rightly points out that the reception to Bond’s last adventure was lukewarm at best. But those who felt that the first Skyfall trailer revealing the diabolical Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) seemed more ‘Nolan-esque’ than ‘Bond-ish’ may have been right on the money.
The strength of story, drama and compelling turmoil that director Christopher Nolan brought into the Batman mythos “directly inspired” Mendes in his view of the Bond series. Not just as a sign that tired properties can still have potential, but what can be attempted when studio dollars are on the line.
As Mendes sees it, the precedent has been set for directors like himself to bring more artistic flourishes to mainstream projects. What that means for Skyfall isn’t clear, but does sound promising:
“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…”
“We’re now in an industry where movies are very small or very big and there’s almost nothing in the middle [...] 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. It felt like a movie that was about our world post-9/11, and played on our fears, and discussed our fears and why they existed and I thought that was incredibly brave and interesting. That did help give me the confidence to take this movie in directions that, without ‘The Dark Knight,’ might not have been possible. Because also, people go, ‘Wow, that’s pretty dark,’ but then you can point to ‘Dark Knight’ and go ‘Look at that – that’s a darker movie, and it took in a gazillion dollars!’ That’s very helpful. There’s also that thing – it’s clearly possible to make a dark movie that people want to see.”