Nolan has generated the clout to bring even big-budget passion projects like Inception to the screen, so there aren't too many stymied dreams in his mind locker. One exception is the Howard Hughes biopic he was inching towards fruition until Martin Scorsese's The Aviator stole the bearded one's story away from him. With Jim Carrey poised to don the great man's goggles and Michael Drosnin's Citizen Hughes: The Power, The Money And The Madness chosen as the source material, it promised to be a darker take on the legendary flying mogul. Sadly we'll never know; happily, the director found another way to scratch that particular itch. "Luckily I managed to find another wealthy, quirky character who's orphaned at a young age," deadpanned Nolan in an Empire interview.