I think-

think-Uh, Mr. Nolan, maestro, is a, a singular storyteller in that all of his movies, even at, you know, the most obvious one being the spinning top at the end of Inception, it's always inviting conversation.

He's always presuming the audience wants to be elevated to a place where there's a dialogue that continues on.

And then this is kind of the natural progression, you know? And I think about, like, what was Kubrick doing before he decided to make...

You know, pick one of his films, and you just, you're just glad that there is this progression.

But yeah, for sure, I mean, we're excited by it, and it's, it's a rollercoaster of just an experience cinematically, but it also is that thing that I think it's why you're responding the way you are.

I would love for you to talk about some of those moments that you made specifically to really sort of envelop this format and to expand it in ways that we haven't seen before.

Well, I've, I've used IMAX for years, and it, IMAX film is, is the highest quality imaging format ever devised.

That's some real ABC holding deal money.

Did I just sound like I have emphysema? Brother, I remember you driving by in that car to go into the parking lot.

And I was like, well, that's how the other half lives.

Like one day.

And yes, in history class, I'm surprised that we weren't drawn toward one another immediately.

But to answer your initial question, I was in school as infrequently as possible.

And I actually managed to figure out how to climb the only super tall fence.

But back

[upbeat music] [lasers firing] [laughs] [upbeat music] [lasers firing] Jarvis, where's my flight power?

Working on it, sir.

This is a prototype.

[upbeat music] [lasers firing]

Right.

So they give me, like, painted helmets and sometimes they weep.

You know, I mean, I'm, I'm 48 years old.

I'm looking at the back nine, I get to feel like a Beatle.

Yeah

... is a, is a, is the failure of the family to capitulate to its own, um, demise, and indulgence, and self-destruction, you know, uh, under the auspices of being, um, artistically pure.

Which really I think was co-opted by a n- genuine collective narcissistic, addictive type of entity.

So speaking of possessed, I mean that is, that's, you know...

But again, it was the, the, it was one of the spirits of the time, was not just counterculture but even like counter-reality.

And even in, you know, some recovery groups when they're talking about you have to find a power greater than yourself.

You know, some of you may be agnostic because in the past you were in organized religion, and I was like, my religion was we, we were essentially a drug cult.

Right.

He's the nicest man.

And he was, just as an offhanded kind of, "Oh, you know, are you aware of..." And he told us the story of how the crawl at the beginning of Star Wars happened, and it was because De Palma was in a screening up in San Fr- in the Bay Area where all these filmmakers, you know, Coppola, Spielberg, every- uh, all these folks were together, and just stood up and was like, "Ah, it doesn't make sense," and, "Where am I? Where in space? Is it the future?" And this and that, and so this open forum of discussion with our peers for Coppola, for Spielberg, for, you know, et cetera, was a matter of course because they didn't think not to do that.

And I believe that it was also if we're...

Let's imagine this is happening now.

There's an opportunity for a new generation of maverick storytellers to decide what kind of culture they want to live in and offer others the chance to experience.

And, um, maybe it's a sign of the times, and also maybe we just don't know about the people who work more that way.

But I'm glad that we have that memory and we can bring it into the future as at least an idea or, or say, "Hey, our version of this with...

Of course it does

You know, everything just leads to that.

In reading the script, you get a sense that there is a real plan for how to make this navigable to the viewer because it is a massive story and it's got the cast of Ben-Hur and it spans decades.

By the end, when all the elements that have been set up come together in this kind of symphonic trinity, you kind of have been guided along so you can fully experience the emotional value of it.

To be in that real place, very, very, very exceptionally moving, and that we can come and see where it took place and, uh, I think feel what took place.

If you're lucky, there's a few times over the span of, what for me now has been a pretty long career, where you are watching history happen as you're documenting something historical.

Being at Princeton, shooting those scenes, and seeing the people from the Institute for Advanced Study kind of gathering around, there was this incredible feeling of just kind of the magic of what we get to do in, in telling stories.