Director Christopher Nolan has long cited the classic James Bond films as an influence on his Batman trilogy, and now it appears Nolan's Batman has influenced James Bond.

In an interview with The Playlist, Skyfall director Sam Mendes said he was "directly inspired" by Nolan's work on The Dark Knight. "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," said Mendes.

The filmmaker added "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," said Mendes. "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."

Thanks to MI6 for the heads-up!

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com