“One of the things I’m proudest of”: Christopher Nolan’s Proudest Accomplishment Has Nothing To Do With Oppenheimer or His Oscar win
Based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Christopher Priest, Christopher Nolan’s 2006 psychological thriller The Prestige starred Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. The story follows the feud between two rival magicians in Victorian London over a perfect teleportation illusion. Nolan wrote the screenplay alongside his brother Jonathan Nolan.
The movie’s theme revolved around obsession, secrecy, and sacrifice-fueled battles. Upon its release, The Prestige received a positive response and received nominations for Best Art Direction and Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards. Christopher Nolan shares about casting one character in the movie he is extremely proud of.
Christopher Nolan recalls pursuing David Bowie to act in The Prestige
David Bowie played Nikola Tesla, a real-life inventor who helped Hugh Jackman’s Robert Angier in completing the teleportation trick. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan recalled how he managed to convince the English singer-songwriter to act in his movie. According to an X account, Christopher Nolan Art & Updates, Nolan explained that when he tried to cast Bowie, he had refused, but Nolan knew his agent, so he tried to ask him if there was a way to convince Bowie. The filmmaker added,
I flew to New York and met him, and thankfully, I managed to convince him. It’s the only time I’ve ever gone back at somebody who has said no, because generally they’ve got their reasons and you don’t really want to convince somebody, and they have conflict on-set, but there was just no one who could play that part in the way that he would with the same resonances.
Nolan shared that there have been a lot of Tesla projects in development over the years at different studios, but The Prestige offered a very tangential way of looking at the fascinating character. He noted that the character in the movie looked through the prism of magic and deception and was also a genius ahead of his time, which is why David Bowie seemed like a perfect choice for the part.
The filmmaker added that in his career, he has worked with a lot of big stars, and they eventually become normal in his mind as they get to know each other while working on a project. But Bowie was different—the only one who was just as elusive at the end of working as he was from the start. The director shared,
The whole crew was fascinated by the guy. He was being perfectly friendly—I mean, a very lovely guy—but he just carries this weight of everything he has achieved. It’s one of the things I’m proudest of is to be able to say I worked with him.
David Bowie passed away on January 10, 2016. He was diagnosed with liver cancer 18 months before he passed away, and he kept his illness private.
Christian Bale starring with David Bowie convinced his mother that he’d made it
Actor Christian Bale played Alfred Borden in The Prestige against Jackman. In an interview with Empire, the actor mentioned that it was David Bowie’s appearance in the movie that had his mother over. He mentioned,
When I told her I was in the same film as David Bowie, she said, ‘Oh, finally, you’re doing an important film’. I said, ‘Well, I have worked with Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman..’ and she was like, ‘But this is David Bowie’. And I don’t even have a scene with him.
Upon his death back in 2016, Nolan shared with EW that they were stuck with Nikola Tesla’s part because he wanted Bowie to play it. After the late singer finally agreed to play, Nolan shared that he told him that he would not have known where to go if the singer had not been convinced. Nolan added, One could say, ‘I begged him.’
The filmmaker recalled that despite spending four to five days with David Bowie on set, he managed to sneak a couple of moments to chat with him, which he will cherish forever. He concluded that everyone who worked on The Prestige has fond memories of getting to spend time with him, even if it was brief.
The Prestige is available for VOD on Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, and Vudu.
