From Inception to The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan has launched his own cottage industry of fans dedicated to deciphering some of his most maddening and bewildering endings.
But, as Nolan explains, there's a very good reason why he refuses to weigh in on the ambiguity of his movies' finales – some of which rank among Hollywood's most famous and iconic final shots.
"The first time we really took a film out there and did a bunch of interviews on it was Memento," Nolan recalled during an interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. "That's a film I wrote based on a short story my brother [Jonathan Nolan] had written. He came with us to the Venice Film Festival… Right afterwards, I was asked a bunch of questions and they asked me about the ambiguity of the [ending]."
Nolan continued, "I said, 'Well, it's meant to be up to you, but I think it's this and this. [My brother] took me aside and said, 'Nobody heard the first part… all they hear is what you say. Your interpretation trumps everything. You can never do that again.' And he was right – and I never have since.'"
Memento, Nolan's biggest early release on the way to becoming one of Hollywood's leading filmmakers, follows Guy Pearce's Leonard, a man with amnesia who is working to uncover the truth behind his wife's murder. The movie plays around with time, presenting two timelines – one working forward, one backwards – with its final reveal about his wife and her murderer casting doubt over Leonard's intentions throughout Memento.
Next up for Nolan is The Odyssey, which opens on July 17. Don't expect any breakdowns about the ending from the director, but do expect an adaptation of Homer's epic that, hopefully, lives up to the hype. The Odyssey's first reactions are overwhelmingly positive, too.
For more, check out The Odyssey beginner's guide to get you started ahead of the journey home. Then dive into our own interview with Christopher Nolan, where he explains the choices behind using American accents and modern dialogue in The Odyssey.
