Christopher Nolan Attacked By ‘The Prestige’ Writer, Thinks ‘The Dark Knight’ Is Badly Written

Christopher Nolan has been attacked by Christopher Priest, the author of The Prestige, a book that the Memento filmmaker adapted.

According to Comic Book, Priest has even declared that The Dark Knight trilogy, which consisted of Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and The Dark Knight Rises, is poorly written and shallow.

“I don’t like [Christopher Nolan’s] other work. I think its shallow and badly written. I mean, I’ve got kids who like superheroes, and they think the Batman films are boring and pretentious. They like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Iron Man’ because they’re fun.”

Priest went on to explain that he believes Christopher Nolan should try to emulate Alfred Hitchcock rather than Stanley Kubrick, as he doesn’t have the ideas to match the 2001: A Space Odyssey filmmaker.

“What he’s trying to be is some kind of modern [Stanley] Kubrick. And I think he’d be better off being a modern [Alfred] Hitchcock, basically. A maker of well-made films like ‘Memento’ and ‘The Prestige.’ And these blockbusters are just embarrassing, I think. I haven’t seen [‘Interstellar’] yet.”

Christopher Nolan decided to adapt Priest’s novel back in 2006. He cast Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, and David Bowie in the drama. However, Priest has now admitted that at first he wasn’t that interested in meeting with Christopher Nolan.

“I’ve only ever had one meeting with him, when the film was finished. Because I wasn’t very interested in him. We all have different points of view on the world. To the world he’s this great, innovative filmmaker; to me, he was a kid who wanted to get into Hollywood.”

Priest also explained that he picked Chris Nolan as the director of The Prestige over Sam Mendes. The author was told to watch Following, which was Nolan’s first film as a director, and when he received a copy of the movie it possessed a note that read, “Watch this film, and try to imagine what the filmmaker can do with a Hollywood facilities behind him.”

After watching Following, Priest decided to take a chance on Chris Nolan, as he realized that he “was probably going to be good.” He also wanted to try and support burgeoning young cinematic talent. And in the end, he is clearly pleased with the result, as he thinks that it is his best film, alongside Memento.

“Of the films he’s made,” Priest declared, “those two are supreme.”

[Image via GGPHT]