"I've always been interested in architecture," enthused Christopher Nolan to a rapt
Wonder-Con crowd in 2010, "and [in] the relationship of films to architecture". Sure, sometimes that passion manifests in knocking over, folding up or generally exploding giant buildings - Nolan has never seen a monorail he didn't want to knock over - but look closely at his films and you'll see grand urban visions to parallel Metropolis, Intolerance or Blade Runner. Even in early work like Memento there's blueprint for later visions. "If M.C. Escher was going to design a motel, this would be it," says Nolan of Leonard Shelby's mazy pitstop. The influence of the Dutch graphic artist also features in Inception's moving staircase, while the modernism of Mies van der Rohe informs Gotham's circle-free cityscape.
The BFI's Christopher Nolan season runs at the BFI South Bank in London from July 13-22.
