'Batman' helmer Christopher Nolan calls comic book films 'engine of commerce'

Christopher Nolan is best remembered for directing the comic book film 'Batman' trilogy. Undoubtedly, his trilogy remains one of the fondest among fans of the superhero. Nolan had recently shared that he felt lucky to work in a time when movies did not become 'an engine of commerce'.

Nolan dissed the current culture of turning comic books into films during the promotional tour for a book on his films, written by Tom Shore. For the uninformed, 'Batman Begins', the first movie by Nolan, came at a time when even Marvel Cinematic Universe was just starting up.

"When we did Batman Begins, we didn’t know we’d do one and it took three years to do it and then four years before the next one. We had the luxury of time. It didn’t feel like a machine, an engine of commerce for the studio. As the genre becomes so successful, those pressures become greater and greater. It was the right time," he was heard saying.

Nolan asserted that it was the right time. "It was the right moment in time for the telling of the story I wanted to do," he mentioned.

He elaborated on his project and shared, "The origin story for Batman had never been addressed in film or fully in the comics. There wasn’t a particular or exact thing we had to follow. There was a gap in movie history. Superman had a very definitive telling with Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner. The version of that with Batman had never been told. We were looking at this telling of an extraordinary figure in an ordinary world."

Nolan had worked on 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Dark Knight Rises'. It was the first and only time when Christian Bale worked on the superhero film. The actor has, in fact, made it clear that he would come back only if Nolan works on the franchise again.

Meanwhile, Robert Pattinson is the latest to turn Batman. The movie is directed by Matt Reeves.